OHL Soo Greyhounds

Goaltending and Blueline Battle for Hounds' Fifth Shutout

Published on February 15, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Soo Greyhounds News Release


PLYMOUTH, MI - The Soo Greyhounds skated into Plymouth on Saturday Night with a shortened blueline.

Minus veterans Darnell Nurse (lower body), Anthony DeAngelo (Suspension Game 1 of 1) and Tyler Hore (injury) the club was forced to skate one D short, but after sixty minutes they would blank the Plymouth Whalers for their 5th shoutout of the season.

For Head Coach Sheldon Keefe it was the result of a combination of things.

"I think the story of the game there is a couple things to it. We have five defenceman who battled really hard and dealt with some tough circumstances and Halverson was there to clean things up, thats' a big part of it" began Keefe.

"Powerplay came through for us and then penalty kill did. Between special teams and goaltending and those five defenceman" he added.

SERGEY TOLCHINSKY opened the scoring at 6:49 of the first period when JARED MCCANN found the Hounds leading scorer in front of Alex Nedlejkovic for his 23rd goal of the season.

The first period was a segment of the game that saw the Hounds surrender sixteen shots against including some quality chances by the Whalers who found iron and crashed the net in an effort to beat netminder BRANDON HALVERSON.

Late in the period, and on their second power play of the game, SERGEY TOLCHINSKY's first shot left a rebound in front for MICHAEL BUNTING to bury for his 25th of the year, and a 2-0 Greyhound lead through twenty minutes.

The Hounds started the second period shorthanded for forty-two seconds but were successful in killing off the Whalers advantage, and negating all five of the Plymouth powerplays on the night.

JARED MCCANN increased the Hounds lead to three goals with under five minutes (4:55) gone in the period firing off the right wing for his 25th of the season.

Pressing for more offence, BRYAN MOORE skated around the goal with 10:20 to go before his wraparound hit the far post keeping the lead at three.

At the other end of the nice, the Hounds limited Plymouth to just three shots through the first eleven minutes before staking their lead further.

JARED MCCANN was found at the left of the goal on a play from SERGEY TOLCHINSKY and JUSTIN BAILEY for his second of the night, and a 4-0 Greyhound lead.

For McCann that was his third point of the night (1g, 2a) while for Tolchinsky (1g, 3a) his fourth. Both players would be named one of the Red Star Three Stars of the game.

"I thought they were good. With that duo (McCann/Tolchinsky), as we've seen, they play really well together and then over time they cool off a bit and you separate them and when you put them back together there is magic there. There is good things happening right now and we're hoping that will continue to be something we can count on down the stretch" commented Keefe.

BAILEY and MOORE worked some glorious chances later in the period, all part of the Hounds outshooting Plymouth 14-6 in the period and holding the 4-0 lead.

A fairly fast third period went scoreless until late in the frame, while the Hounds would lose another body on the blueline. With 10:36 to go in the period, TYLER GANLY was on the receiving end of a kneeing minor penalty that resulted in the veteran Hound leaving the game.

(more below in the "game notes").

BRANDON HALVERSON answered the call in huge fashion when Sonny Milano skated in on a breakaway shorthanded preserving his shutout with nine minutes to go.

Then after GABE GUERLTER made it a 5-0 game at 14:04 (24th of the season), HALVERSON would then deny Will Bitten not once, but twice in an attempt to put Plymouth on the board.

The Guertler goal was set-up by JACK KOPACKA, who was recalled earlier in the day, and with the assist recorded his 1st-career OHL point.

The Whalers ended the game on the man advantage, but the Hounds would keep them off on that attempt while the board preserving their 5-0 shoutout victory, and thier third consecutive victory.

"It was good. There has been a lot of commitment to doing that penalty kill well and getting it done" stared Keefe when outlining his club's penalty kill.

"Goaltending is a big part of the penalty kill and Halvy was really good today. He was really dialled in today. So again, we had breakdowns and they had chances like power plays will and he was up to the task. He has been extremely good against this team"

Improving to 41-11-0-2 on the season, the Hounds moved six points ahead of the Erie Otters in the Western Conference standings following their overtime loss to Owen Sound.

"I was happy with it, given the circumstances. You take the guys out of our line-up like Nurse and DeAngelo in particular after we're already missing Hore and it changes the look of our team and it's a dramatic turnaround when you played the night before with them" started Keefe when asked if Saturday was a complete team effort.

"I thought it took us a little bit of time to adjust and deal with that. First period we were finding our way, our defence were finding their way in terms of Ganly and Boland who have lost their D partners and Bouramman, White and Mercier playing a lot more than they have of late. It took some time, but similar to yesterday I thought we got through that first period and we kept getting better and knowing we were going to have some mistakes and breakdowns Halverson was very good and earned that shutout. There was times he really had to be counted on for big saves and he was excellent" he concluded.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from February 15, 2015


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