After going winless in 8 games the Soo Greyhounds seem to be turning the corner. In their last 4 games heading into last night the Greyhounds had managed a win, a tie, and an overtime loss along with a regulation loss. Coming off a 5-5 tie with the Sarnia Sting, a game in which the Greyhounds held a 5-3 advantage early in the third period, the Greyhounds met up with the Erie Otters last night at Memorial Gardens.
Despite a solid effort by local product T. J. Aceti, who was named the game's first star, the Greyhounds played a solid team game and came up on the winning end of a 4-2 score on the strength of 2 third period goals.
The opening 20 minutes saw the Greyhounds take the play to the Otters and if not for the play of Aceti, the Otters could easily have been down but the teams exchanged goals and went to the dressing room tied at 1. Jeff Carter for the Greyhounds and Noel Coultice for Erie, traded power play goals in the opening stanza.
The second period saw the Greyhounds again take the play to Erie only to see Aceti turn them aside. Despite not dominating the period as they had in the first period and only outshooting the Otters 12-7 in the period, the Greyhounds found themselves fighting to come from behind after Bard Bonello scored at 8:12 to give the Otters the lead.
Later in the period, with the Greyhounds on the power play, Trevor Daley went to work. After receiving a pass from Petr Taticek, Daley walked out of the corner and beat Aceti short side to tie the game up at 2.
In the third, the Greyhounds seized control of the hockey game and fired 17 shots at Aceti. Late in the period the Greyhounds finally re-took the lead as rookie Ryan Kitchen scored his second goal of the season to give the Greyhounds a lead that they would never relinquish. Petr Taticek put an exclamation point on the Greyhounds win scoring a shorthanded, empty net goal at the 19:59 mark of the third to seal the victory.
As mentioned Aceti was strong in the win stopping 39 shots in the loss. Joey Biasucci got the start for the Greyhounds and didn't see a whole lot of action facing just 16 shots. Hounds veteran Rob Hisey was a workhorse for the Greyhounds on this night as Hounds coach John Vanbiesbrouck had him on the ice in many key situations and double shifting him on many occasions as well.
The Greyhounds conclude their three game homestand on Sunday night as the Oshawa Generals make their only appearance of the season at Memorial Gardens. Start time for the game is 6 p.m.