They may not have got the result they wanted, but the Soo Greyhounds got a well deserved point as they tied the Ottawa 67's 3-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Friday night.
The game, which was the Hounds home opener and first game of the season, was a test for the young Hounds squad, who were going up against a team who came up short of winning the OHL championship last season, bowing out to the eventual Memorial Cup Champion Kitchener Rangers in the league final.
The Greyhounds got off to a slow start in the opening period getting outshot 13-6 and falling behind 1-0 on an early goal by last season's CHL Player of the Year Corey Locke, who beat Hounds netminder Kevin Druce.
The Hounds came out in the second period with more confidence and took the play to the 67's, which are considered to be one of the OHL's top teams. Early in the period, overage forward Scott Dobben was stopped twice from point blank range by 67's goaltender Lukas Mensator, who played a strong game.
Moments after the Dobben chances, Druce matched Mensator's play stopping 67's forward Julian Talbot on a breakaway.
Hounds rookie forward and local product Jacob King brought the hometown crowd of over 2,700 people to their feet at 11:31 of the second period when he scored his first OHL goal by knocking in a rebound, after moving in on a two-on-one with fellow rookie Jason Pitton, who took the original shot.
Late in the second period, the Hounds got into some penalty trouble and gave Ottawa a five-on-three power play advantage for nearly two minutes after penalties to Andrew Desjardins and Jordan Smith. Druce, who made no less than 3 big saves to foil the 67’s time and again, killed both penalties off thanks in part to the outstanding play.
In the third period, the Hounds took the lead on a goal by Dobben. The lead was short lived as just under two minutes later, Peter Tsimikalis brought the 67's back to tie the game at two.
At 15:09, Hounds veteran Jeff Larsh gave his team the lead a second time, but again the 67's managed to battle back getting the equalizer 30 seconds later as Jeremy Akeson finished off the game's scoring.
Goaltending was the focal point in this one as Druce and Mensator, who were named second and third stars of the game, respectively, matched each other save for save, with each making a number of big saves on the night to keep the game close. In other OHL action on Friday, Oshawa beat Sarnia 3-2, London beat Peterborough 6-1 in a rough contest which featured 22 power plays handed out by referee Matt Parlette, Kitchener beat Plymouth 10-4 on the strength of a four goal and four assist performance from Andre Benoit.
Guelph got by Windsor 5-4 in overtime with Daniel Paille scoring the winner, Sudbury beat Erie 4-0 with Patrick Enelechner getting the shutout in goal, Barrie got by Brampton 3-0 with Paulo Colaiacovo recording the shutout and Mississauga beat Toronto St. Michael's 1-0 with David Shantz getting the shutout and Brad Efthimou scoring the game's lone goal.