The result was disappointing, but the Soo Greyhounds are taking a lot of positives from the final stretch prior to the Ontario Hockey League’s Christmas break.
The team wrapped up a three-game road trip with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Guelph Storm Saturday afternoon at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph.
The team heads into the break having secured points in seven consecutive games with six wins and a shootout loss and have gone 9-1-0-1 in their last 11 games prior to the break.
“We hold ourselves to that standard all the time,” overage forward Jack Beck said of the stretch. “Finally, we’re getting into a groove here where when we have a short blip of five bad minutes, we’re ready to go after that and we’re having a great rest of the game. We’ve really figured out ourselves here.”
Greyhounds coach John Dean said the team has continued to impress him during the stretch with the ability to “not let our lows get to low and our highs get too high.”
Dean added that depth and being “an extremely mature group” also stands out.
“We never really string too many bad periods or bad moments together,” Dean added. “That’s the mark of a good team.”
“We got a gritty point,” Dean said of Saturday’s game. “After yesterday’s emotional game, obviously a big game for the guys to get up for, to start the way we did tonight I thought was fantastic.”
“All things considered, I’m super happy with the effort,” Dean also said.
Asked about whether he was concerned about his team being ready for Saturday’s game after an emotional win on Friday night in Kitchener, Dean said he was confident his team would be ready to go.
“This team is so mature,” Dean said. “They don’t ride the highs. They just come to work everyday. They know what gets us paid and they try to perform to the best of their ability everyday. They’re really a game-by-game team. It’s pretty impressive.”
Guelph coach Chad Wiseman spoke highly of the Greyhounds following the game.
“It’s a tough team to play,” Wiseman said in an interview with GuelphToday. “That team’s a good hockey team that’s won nine of its last ten and even through they’re travelling, they come at you with a lot of speed and tenacity and they manage the puck well.”
The Greyhounds opened the scoring as Brady Martin got into some open ice in the slot and took a short backhand pass from Julian Fantino before beating Guelph goaltender Brayden Gillespie with a backhand high stick side 8:06 into the game.
It wasn’t until midway through the second period that the Storm tied the game at one. Jake Karabela and Michael Buchinger skated in on a 2-on-1 with the teams playing 4-on-4 and the latter beat Greyhounds netminder Landon Miller with a one-timer at 10:34.
The goal came shortly after Storm captain Braeden Bowman was give a major penalty for boarding following a hit on Sault defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker behind the Greyhounds net.
With 35 seconds to go in the period, and the Greyhounds on the power play, Marco Mignosa scored to give the Greyhounds the lead as he beat Gillespie from the left circle after the puck squirted loose during a scramble in close.
Guelph wasted little time in the third period getting the game back on even terms as Karabela scored on the power play to make it a 2-2 game. With the Storm on the power play, the Greyhounds had an opportunity to clear the puck, but couldn’t. Buchinger took the turnover and fed Karabela in the slot with a pass and the latter proceeded to beat Miller stick side 1:25 into the period.
The game remained that way through the overtime frame, which included a Storm power play after Brenden Sirizzotti was given a face-off violation penalty with three seconds to go in the third period.
Admitting he was displeased with the call at the time, Dean agreed following the game that the call made was actually the correct one.
“I have to swallow that one,” Dean said. “I don’t like how late it gets called, but there’s a time and a place. That one’s on me. In the heat of the moment, I was very upset about the timing of the call and the fact that they put 3.1 seconds back on the clock, but they made the right call. The referees did a good job of explaining it to me.”
The Storm couldn’t convert on the power play and the teams skated through the scoreless extra frame to send the game to the shootout where Will McFadden scored the eventual deciding goal.
After misses on the opening two shots, Buchinger and Jack Beck of the Greyhounds traded goals in the second round of the shootout before McFadden beat Miller high stick side.
With the Greyhounds third shot, defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev was unsuccessful, losing the handle on the puck in tight while trying to make a move on Gillespie to end the game.
Miller stopped 19 of 21 shots for the Greyhounds,
Buchinger and Karabela had a goal and an assist each for the Storm in the win while Gillespie made 26 saves.
The Greyhounds enter the Christmas break with a record of 22-8-2-1 on the season and sit in top spot in the West Division, eight points ahead of the Saginaw Spirit though the Spirit were scheduled to host the Sudbury Wolves on Saturday night in their final game before Christmas.
The Greyhound also pull to within a point of the Kitchener Rangers for first in the Western Conference. The Rangers were also slated to play Saturday night in a game against the Barrie Colts in Barrie.
With the win, the Storm improve to 19-12-1-1 on the season and leapfrog the London Knights for second in the Midwest Division and enter the break winners of three straight games.
The Greyhounds return to action on Dec. 28 on the road against Saginaw before rounding out the 2023 portion of the schedule with games at home against the Sudbury Wolves on Dec. 30 and Saginaw on Dec. 31.