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OHL Soo Greyhounds

Greyhounds Drop Third Straight Falling in Plymouth

February 7, 2014 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Soo Greyhounds News Release


PLYMOUTH, MI- Their difference in the West Division standings has simply been a paper statistic between the Hounds and Whalers.  Through the opening four games between the two clubs, each and every one had been decided by two goals or less, but that would not be the case on Friday Night.

Holding onto a one-goal lead through forty-minutes, Plymouth would score four times in the third period before extending the Hounds losing streak to three games, following a 5-1 setback at the Compuware Arena.

"Very disappointed.  You expect more at this point of the season.  We are going through a tough stretch and we're learning things aren't easy and every team in this league is fighting for something and we just seem pretty content with where we are.  We're learning that we're not nearly a good enough team to not be in the battle, not to fight to not to compete.  We have a lot of work ahead of us down this stretch to win" began Hounds Head Coach Sheldon Keefe

The first period began as TYLER GAUDET took the puck from centre and eventually to the goal of Alex Nedeljkovic  with some pressure, but as the fast-paced period showed, lack of result for the Hounds.

With the seconds winding down on an early Hounds powerplay, the puck was turned over to Ryan Hartmann who skated in all alone backhanding a puck past BRANDON HALVERSON blocker side for the Whalers 1-0 lead.  

That goal, and shot was the lone one directly on goal for either side during the two minute duration.

Midway through the period, Hounds defenceman COLTON WHITE kept the single goal deficit intact getting his stick in front off a pass on an odd-man rush to break up the Whaler attack.

Shortly after, and while on their second powerplay opportunity, TYLER GAUDET broke free from the corner, circled the net and fed SERGEY TOLCHINSKY who's shot was stopped keeping Plymouth in front 1-0 after twenty minutes.

The period ended with a rare occurrence when JARED MCCANN became involved in a centre ice altercation that originally saw the Hounds 4th-leading scorer tagged with six minutes in penalties and an ejection from the game.

That decision was overturned by the on-ice officials at the start of the second period and would see McCann return after serving the remainder of his penalty at the start.

With seven shots by the time the second period was four minutes old, the Hounds were pressing while holding Plymouth to just three shots through half the period.

And whle JEAN DUPUY, JARED MCCANN and PATRICK WATLING all posed substantial threats to Nedeljkovic in the period, the Plymouth netminder posted 13 of his 27 saves on the night as the two teams skated scoreless.

"I definitely thought we carried the play and would like to see us get rewarded for that.  It's been sort of the story for us, really the last couple months.  Carry the play (particularly against this team), we don't have anything to show for it and then didn't fight through anything in the third period" commented Keefe on the middle stanza.

After Connor Chatham converted on a 2-on-1 at the 6:28 mark of the third period to make it a two goal Whalers lead, the Hounds would get on the board.

SERGEY TOLCHINSKY let the shot go from the left face-off circle, off a feed from DARNELL NURSE, at 8:21 to cut the deficit to 2-1.  The powerplay goal was Tolchinsky's 25th goal of the season.

Plymouth responded just over a minute later when Ryan Hartmann took advantage of a bad pinch by the Hounds, and converted on the odd man rush to make it a 3-1 Whaler lead.

Cullen Mercer increased the Hounds deficit to 4-1 scoring at 13:09 and then Connor Chatham scored his second goal of the game into an empty net at 15:53 as BRANDON HALVERSON was on the bench of the extra attacker.

The Hounds outshot Plymouth 15-11 in the period, and 35-28 overall but surrendered four third period goals against in the 5-1 loss.

"The difference maker was obviously we don't get any offense through forty-minutes.  We don't get any goals and the third period we just folded.  We were very soft and let a hardworking Plymouth team just roll over top of us.  They wanted it more and our guys folded much like they did last night (Thursday)."

The Hounds now have a chance to salvage some points on the weekend schedule when they cap the trip off Saturday Night - February 8th- against Saginaw.  Puck drop versus the Spirit is set for 7:11 p.m. at the Dow Event Center.

Fans can listen to all the action starting with the pre-game show on Rock 101 starting at 6:40 p.m.

"You have to hope that today is rock bottom and that we start to figure it out.  We talked as team and made it pretty blatantly obvious as to what we feel the issues are.  We have a chance to respond tomorrow, but certainly this coming week will be a chance to get a more thorough analysis and make it clear where we're falling short and that just really comes down to the sheer battle and sheer fight" said Keefe when asked about the message following Friday's loss and what he feels it's going to take for the message to get across to his club.

"That's what a lot of this hockey is down the stretch, as teams are fighting for something.  We seem pretty content where we're at and it's not a good feeling to be consistently second place when it comes to the battles, the races, the urgency.  Teams want it more and thats a tough pill to swallow and should be for our players if they have any pride" he concluded.

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