OHL Soo Greyhounds

Attack Take Overtime, Extra Point, against Hounds

Published on February 12, 2016 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Soo Greyhounds News Release


It wasn't a shocking answer by any means.

"We were lucky to get a point," said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister following a 2-1 overtime loss to the Owen Sound Attack in front of an announced crowd of 4,056 at the Essar Centre on Friday night in Ontario Hockey League action.

The game was a battle for positioning in the OHL's Western Conference as the two teams were separated by a single point heading into the game.

"We certainly weren't deserving of a point. They were the better hockey team. That's the only good thing we can take out of it. The positives were that we snuck out a point and our penalty killing was really good and our goaltending was excellent."

Brandon Halverson made 38 saves for the Greyhounds.

"He was excellent again," Bannister said. "He gave us a chance to win in a hockey game where we didn't deserve to win it. There's not much else you can say. He played extremely well for us. All you want is for your goalie to give you an opportunity to win and it's unfortunate for us that we didn't play better in front of him."

After a scoreless opening period, the Greyhounds struggled in the middle frame as the Attack would outshoot the home side 12-3.

"For some reason we didn't want to funnel pucks to the net," Bannister said of the second period. "We didn't have a lot of traffic and not a lot of second opportunities. We weren't involved in the game."

"They did a good job in the neutral zone taking away time and space in the neutral zone and being right up on us," Bannister also said. "We weren't able to get a lot of transition going. Sometimes simple is better and we tried to simplify it and get our 'D' skating the puck. In cases like that, it's almost like a chip-and-chase game where you put pucks behind them and go get it."

After Boris Katchouk gave the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead early in the third, Jacob Friend would tie the game for Owen Sound when his point shot found its way through traffic past Halverson, setting the stage for Nick Suzuki's overtime winner.

Cruising through the slot, Suzuki redirected a point shot by Thomas Schemitsch to give Owen Sound the extra point.

For Attack coach Ryan McGill, the game started off as a "track meet" that the team didn't want to get in to.

"They're a fast team and in the first 10 minutes of the game I think we thought we were going to get into a track meet which we're not sure we have the right pair of running shoes for," said McGill. "We certainly did a lot better job in the neutral zone in the second and third periods."

"To come in against a team with this amount of speed was good for us," McGill also said. "It was a big game for us."

The win pulls the Attack, 23-19-6-3, into a tie for sixth in the Western Conference with both teams at 55 points. The Greyhounds, 24-21-6-1, currently hold the position with one more win.

The Greyhounds return to action on Saturday night on the road in Sudbury against the Wolves.

The game opens a stretch of action that sees the team play nine of its next 11 games away from home.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from February 12, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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