Their coach called it the most satisfying game of the season.
The Soo Greyhounds capped off a weekend homestand with a 3-1 Ontario Hockey League win over the Oshawa Generals on Saturday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
Greyhounds coach John Dean spoke of an increased compete level against the Generals, who entered the game considered one of the top teams in the OHL.
The win caps off a week that saw the team pick up three wins on the heels of a lengthy losing skid.
“To rally back like this, it’s only one weekend and I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but it’s a testament to the character of the team,” Dean said.
For Dean, the key will be “we need to show that we can do this consistently now.”
Dean credited some late-game resolve in the Greyhounds victory as well.
Leading by a 2-0 margin, the Greyhounds surrendered a goal early in the third period and the team restored the two-goal lead 39 seconds later and never looked back.
“After they scored, I was really proud of our bench,” Dean said. “I went pretty quiet. The bench picked each other up in a really positive way and Billy Constantinou goes down and rips a beautiful goal.”
“Rewind to three weeks ago and that could have spelled the end for us in the third period,” Dean added.
In a game against a team that entered Sunday’s game tied for first in the OHL’s East Division, the Greyhounds limited the Generals to 23 shots, a credit to the defensive play of the team in the game.
“We’re much more organized than we were three or four weeks ago,” Dean said. “And usually the chances against come off turnovers and puck management. When we’re actually in our zone and playing defensive zone coverage, our team is quite good. The chances against are more about at each blueline when we don’t manage the puck properly.”
Greyhounds goaltender Bailey Brkin stopped 22 shots.
“He settles us down,” Dean said of the overage netminder. “He’s vocal. He’s positive.”
“He’s just got a swagger about him,” Dean also said. “He’s got a compete about him. He’s almost like a player. He’s very competitive and he feeds it to the guys.”
The Greyhounds trio of Tye Kartye, Jaromir Pytlik, and Zack Trott we solid in the win as well for the Greyhounds.
“It’s no secret, when Zack Trott plays a good game, our team tends to feed off of it,” Dean said of the veteran forward.
“It comes down to compete level for us and those guys set the standard,” Dean added.
Kartye and Pytlik had a goal and an assist each for the Greyhounds while Trott also assisted on a goal.
Brett Harrison had the lone goal for the Generals in the game.
Goaltender Zachary Paputsakis made 21 saves.
Generals coach Greg Walters was not available for comment following the game.
Winners of three straight, the Greyhounds improve to 9-12-1-0 as the team prepares for a three-game road trip that begins on Thursday night in Windsor against the Spitfires.
The trip will also see the team face the Flint Firebirds on Friday and Sarnia Sting on Sunday.
The Generals fall to 14-7-0-0 with Saturday’s loss.
In other action around the league on Saturday, in Guelph, Cedric Ralph’s goal at 19:34 of the second period was the game winner as the Guelph Storm beat the Saginaw Spirit 2-1. Ralph had a pair of goals in the game.
In Erie, Austen Swankler scored in the final seconds of overtime to give the Erie Otters a 5-4 win over the Mississauga Steelheads. The Otters scored three unanswered goals to pick up the win. Swankler scored twice while Jamie Drysdale assisted on three goals for Erie.
In Flint, Joseph Garreffa had three goals and an assist as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Flint Firebirds 4-2. Cedrick Andree made 37 saves for the 67’s.
In St. Catharines, Ivan Lodnia scored at 4:58 of overtime to give the Niagara IceDogs a 3-2 win over the Windsor Spitfires. Lodnia and Adrien Beraldo had a goal and an assist each for the IceDogs.
In Barrie, Jet Greaves made 33 saves as the Barrie Colts blanked the Peterborough Petes 2-0. Jacob Frasca and Tyler Tucker scored for the Colts.
In Owen Sound, Ryan Dugas made 41 saves as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Owen Sound Attack 3-1. Shane Wright had a goal and an assist for Kingston.