Spirit Outplay Hounds in Regulation Loss
October 9, 2015 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Soo Greyhounds News Release
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON - From the drop of the opening puck on Friday Night, it was the visitors who would set the tone and control the first meeting of the regular season between the Hounds and Saginaw Spirit.
And while the Hounds would pull to even terms early in the second period, the eventual 5-2 setback was not one of a pretty picture.
"No, I don't think we took anyone too lightly. I think it was a build-up of Wednesday's game and we saw a much better hockey team come in here and just outplay us and we weren't ready to play" began Head Coach Drew Bannister when asked if his squad took the opponent lightly.
"We had no pace to our game, no emotion to our game and that's what happens in this league when you're not ready to play a full sixty minutes, good teams will beat you badly" he added.
Saginaw would open the scoring 7:25 into the first period when Mitchell Stephens carried the play around the Greyhound goal before setting up Dylan Sadowy for his 1st goal of the season and a 1-0 Saginaw lead.
The Spirit continued to hold the pressure while building up a 7-1 shot advantage just over midway throughout the first period with numerous offensive opportunities that were left in the hands of BRANDON HALVERSON to turn aside and maintain some stability for the Hounds.
"If it wasn't for Halvy in the first ten minutes the game could have been five or six nothing in the first ten minutes and it was over and I would have had to pull him for nothing. He had no bearing in the game in the sense we gave him no help as a group" stated Bannister.
Saginaw led 1-0 into the first intermission.
Early in the second period, and after GABE GUERTLER hit the crossbar, the Hounds would pull even when ZACH SENYSHYN would skate in on a shorthanded breakaway at the 2:50 mark and go to the glove side of Evan Cormier notching the game at one.
For Senyshyn the goal was his team-leading 6th of the season.
"We were able to fight back into it, score shorthanded. And there was a two minute period during the second period where as a collective group our minds were gone. They scored three goals and one of them they had six guys on the ice" said Bannister leading into the Spirits three goal outburst that broke the game wide open on the scoreboard.
First, Connor Brown ripped a shot through a crowd after Saginaw won the draw at 11:09 for his 2nd of the season and a 2-1 Spirit lead.
Then just over four minutes later (15:29) Brown connected for a second time when a long pass resulted in a two-on-none for Saginaw seeing the puck moved cross ice and fired home for the 3-1 lead.
Before Artem Artemov scored his second of the year at 15:45 and the Spirit lead the Hounds 4-1 through two periods of play.
After an early third period power play for the Hounds, rookie forward MORGAN FROST finished off a play from the left of Cormier's goal to notch his 1st career OHL goal while cutting the deficit to 4-2.
The goal came at the 2:52 mark.
The Hounds would have to kill off a double-minor midway through the third period and would pull their goalie with under two minutes to play before Saginaw's Dylan Sadowy would ice the scoring into an empty net with his second goal of the game and a 5-2 final.
"It's good when you have a quick turnaround. Obviously they can put this one behind them and tomorrow they have to be ready" said Bannister in regards to his club going back into action tomorrow night.
"Hopefully they know what needs to be done, and what has to be changed for us. Hopefully there's a much better push, a much better urgency in their game from the start of tomorrow's game" he concluded.
Ontario Hockey League Stories from October 9, 2015
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- Spirit Outplay Hounds in Regulation Loss - Soo Greyhounds
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