Less than a week after dropping a disappointing 5-2 decision on the road to the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Soo Greyhounds returned the favour on Friday night.
A big first period lifted the Greyhounds to 10-0 victory over the Bulldogs in Ontario Hockey League action Friday at the Essar Centre in a battle of two of the Canadian Hockey League’s top teams.
“We were looking for a better response from our group and you have to give credit to our leadership group, they took charge out there early on,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “There weren’t a lot of negatives in the game. The kids played hard for 60 minutes. That’s close to the best 60 minutes we’ve played all year. You could tell we were motivated and driven.”
Late in the third period, some words were exchanged between the two benches after Hamilton Coach John Gruden wasn’t pleased that the Greyhounds had their top power play unit on late in the game with the score out of hand.
“I made it quite clear that I wasn’t happy (about it),” Gruden said. “To me it’s completely classless. I would never in a million years send out my first power play unit in an 8-0 game. If they’re fortunate enough to win and we’re fortunate enough to win and we have to play for something special and important, that goes into the memory bank because that’s about as classless a thing as I’ve seen in this league as a coach.”
“When we went out in the third period, I had two different units and when they took a penalty, I put them out there,” Bannister said. “(Hamilton) continued to run around and slash and cross check our top players. They instigated a fight and they continued to do it so I’m going to put my first (power play) unit out. That’s the way it’s going to be.
“Have control of your hockey team,” Bannister also said. “That’s classless when you let your guys run around and slash players.”
Overage forward Hayden Verbeek paced the Greyhounds with three goals and an assist while Morgan Frost added a pair of goals and also picked up an assist.
Noah Carroll, Mac Hollowell, and Taylor Raddysh chipped in with a goal and an assist each. Jack Kopacka, Boris Katchouk and Rasmus Sandin assisted on two goals each. Tim Gettinger and Ryan Roth had the other Greyhounds goals.
In total, 14 different Greyhounds players recorded at least a point.
“They’re a tough hockey club to beat and it shows that if we bring our ‘A’ game, we’re a difficult team to stop,” Bannister said.
The Greyhounds bench boss would also commend his team for a strong finish to the game when things were out of hand through 40 minutes.
Goaltender Matthew Villalta made 17 saves for the shutout.
Kaden Fulcher got the start in goal for Hamilton but was pulled after one period after surrendering four goals on 15 shots. Nick Donofrio came in and stopped 14 of 20 shots the rest of the way.
“We got beat in every aspect of the game,” Gruden said. “We got out battled. We got out coached.”
The Greyhounds improve to 46-6-2-2 heading into a Saturday night clash at the Essar Centre against the Sarnia Sting. Puck drop is 7:07 p.m.
Hamilton falls to 34-15-3-3.
In other action around the OHL on Friday night, in Kingston, Linus Nyman’s goal at 12:30 of the third period was the game-winner as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Peterborough Petes 2-1. Peterborough goaltender Dylan Wells made 32 saves.
In St. Catharines, Markus Phillips had two goals and an assist as the Owen Sound Attack doubled up the Niagara IceDogs 6-3. Alan Lyszczarczyk also had a pair of goals for the Attack.
In Sarnia, Aidan Hughes made 42 saves as the Sarnia Sting blanked the Saginaw Spirit 3-0. Drake Rymsha set up a pair of Sarnia goals.
In Sudbury, Danil Antropov and Serron Noel scored a pair of goals each as the Oshawa Generals blanked the Sudbury Wolves 6-0. Goaltender Kyle Keyser made 31 saves for the shutout for the Generals.
In Guelph, Sasha Chmelevski had the shootout winner as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Guelph Storm 2-1. Olivier Tremblay made 27 saves for the 67’s and stopped all three shooters he faced in the shootout. Guelph goaltender Anthony Popovich made 37 saves.
In London, four unanswered goals in the third period lifted the London Knights to a 6-2 win over the Kitchener Rangers. Evan Bouchard paced the Knights with two goals and an assist. Goaltender Joseph Raaymakers made 32 saves for the Knights.