Hounds Shutout at Home by London
Published on November 1, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Soo Greyhounds News Release
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON - For over thirty-seven minutes the Soo Greyhounds were within the grasp of the offensively-charged London Knights.
Then a span of forty-eight seconds widened a 1-0 deficit to a three goal hole before the Hounds were blanked at home, in a 6-0 final.
"I'm disappointed in some individuals. The effort towards the latter part of the game" began Hounds Head Coach Drew Bannister when asked if he was disappointed.
"For the most part I thought guys worked hard early on in the game and kept ourselves in. But if you don't get the saves against a team like that, they generate enough offence. But if we're going to let soft goals in you're not going to beat a team like that. They have too many skilled players and they make plays" he added.
The two teams traded a combined twenty-one shots in the first period but it would be London hitting the mark in the opening five minutes to hold a 1-0 lead through twenty-minutes.
After BRADON HALVERSON turned in back-to-back saves, Christian Dvorak sent the puck from the right of the goal and found net to give London the lead coming on the power play.
Matthew Tkachuk and Olli Juolevi picked up the assists.
While Greyhounds forward HAYDEN VERBEEK returned to the line-up on Sunday after missing two games with injury, his return was short-lived as the centreman wouldn't return for the second period or the remainder of the game.
"It (injury) started to bother him. He was out in the first period and it started to get worse as he went on so it was better for us to shut him down. We don't want to make it worse" explained Bannister.
In the opening five minutes of the second period, the Hounds pressed a couple chances against London netminder Tyler Parsons but failed to get even.
One of the best early chances saw BORIS KATCHOUK send a cross-ice feed to ZACH SENYSHYN who couldn't get a stick on the puck in the offensive chance.
The Hounds would have two power plays in the period, and held London off the shot clock for the opening seven and a half minutes of the second but couldn't pull even.
With under three minutes to play in the second London extended their lead with back-to-back goals.
At 17:37, Max Jones was on the receiving end of a quick pass to the wing and beat HALVERSON to the blocker side to make it 2-0 Knights.
Then at 18:25, Mitchell Marner was the trailer on a play and buried home his 9th goal of the season as London led 3-0 through two periods.
Max Jones scored his 2nd goal of the game, while extending the Knights lead to 4-0 just 1:36 into the third period.
Jones shot off the left wing appeared to go off the shoulder of Halverson and find the back of the net while making the deficit for the Hounds bigger.
With Aiden Jamieson in the box for a high sticking double minor, the Hounds struggled on the power play and would later fail to take advantage of an extended 5-on-3 later in the period to break the shutout bid of Parsons.
"I thought we were starting to get back on track a few games where we generated some chances and score on it. That wasn't the reason we won or lost tonight" explained Bannister when questioned on his power play.
"Could it have got us back in the game, most certainly. In the third period it might have got us back in the game but there was other aspects that needed to be a lot better than the power play tonight but it does need to be better" he continued.
Olli Juolivi at 14:00 and then JJ Piccinich at 14:44 rounded out the scoring as the league's highest scoring team did so again, while handing the Hounds their first shutout loss of the season.
"I didn't like some individual players on our team. I don't need to say but if you were watching the game you probably noticed some guys lacking shifts in the third that probably sat for a bit.
Hopefully the message was sent" said Bannister when asked what else he didn't like about Sunday's meeting with the Knights.
"If those guys are going to be top players on our team, I can't win with our young players being my top players right now. Again, they were the lines that were generating chances, working and doing the right thing. I need more from my older players on the team right now" he concluded.
In defeat the Hounds dropped their record to 6-7-2-0 on the season.
Ontario Hockey League Stories from November 1, 2015
- Addison Nets Pair as 67's Beat Sudbury - Ottawa 67's
- IceDogs Nip Battalion, Grab Third Place - North Bay Battalion
- Hounds Shutout at Home by London - Soo Greyhounds
- Blackwood Shuts out Steelheads - Brampton Steelheads
- Rangers Close out Weekend with Tenth Straight Win; Drop Storm 5-3 - Kitchener Rangers
- Smith, Storm Fall Just Short - Guelph Storm
- IceDogs Win Third Straight; Top Battalion 3-1 - Niagara IceDogs
- Lindo Named Becker Shoes POW - Owen Sound Attack
- Game Preview: Storm, Rangers Continue Rivalry - Guelph Storm
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