OHL Soo Greyhounds

Thirty-Years Later, Hounds Clinch Regular Season Championship

Published on March 21, 2015 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Soo Greyhounds News Release


SAULT STE. MARIE, ON- The Lock City has waited a long time for moments like these. 30 years to be exact.

A Greyhound goal just thirty-two seconds into the game on Saturday Night set the tone, and the Hounds would never look back as they ran past a depleted and tired Windsor Spitfires club 12-1. (Windsor dressed 15 skaters and were playing their 3rd game in as many nights).

For Sault Ste. Marie, and the Greyhounds, the victory secured their name on the Hamilton Spectator Trophy symbolic of the OHL's Regular Season Champions for the first time since the 1984-85 edition of the club.

"For me this is a nice feather in the cap for the organization and the fans to enjoy, and feel good about their team being at the top. That's really where it ends" began Head Coach Sheldon Keefe before explaining further.

"This is a nice accomplishment, we don't want to discount this at all, but everyone knows playoffs is really what your' judged on" he continued. "This is going to be taken away from this group. They played 67 games here now and our work the last couple months in particular has given us an opportunity to be here, standing when it opened (the opportunity). Our play and how we overcame injuries and all of that".

DARNELL NURSE fired home the first goal of the game (0:32) sending a long dump in that came off the end boards and went off Windsor starting goalie Brendan Johnston, for the 1-0 lead.

Then on the Hounds second shot of the period, BRYAN MOORE was parked at the right of the goal on a feed that notched him his 23rd goal of the season and a 2-0 lead for the home side.

GUSTAV BOURAMMAN and NICK RITCHIE picked up the assists.

While holding that lead, BRANDON HALVERSON, was tested in probably his toughest situation of the game. While the Hounds were on the power play, Windsor ended up on a 2-on-0 shorhanded play that saw the Hounds puckstopper turn aside Markus Soberg and Jamie Lewis respectively.

Just over five minutes in, NICK RITCHIE recorded his 100th career OHL regular season goal to give the Hounds a 3-0 lead. BLAKE SPEERS brought the puck to the net before going from right to left, finding Ritchie for the tally.

Both sides would trade off goals forty-seconds apart to cap off the first period scoring.

Slater Doggett finished off a feed from Cristiano DiGiacinto at 7:05 for the Spitfires, before RITCHIE replied back for his second goal in just over a two-minute span as the Hounds held a 4-1 lead after the first period.

Midway through the second period, the Hounds would open up a span that saw them counter with four of their five second period goals to double their lead over the Spitfires.

JEAN DUPUY (18th of the year, @9:15), ANTHONY DEANGELO (24th of the year, @10:51), BLAKE SPEERS (23rd of the year, @13:07) and SERGEY TOLCHINKSY (29th of the year, @14:55) helped increase the lead to 8-1.

Meanwhile after the Hounds had made it a 6-1 game, the locals replaced BRANDON HALVERSON between the pipes after making 11 saves on 12 shots faced in 30:51 of playing time. JOSEPH RAAYMAKERS would go the rest of the way stopping 17 saves on 17 shots in 29:09.

For Halverson, the win between the pipes was a record-tying occurrence. The victory marked his 39th of the season tying him in the Greyhounds' record books with John Vanbiesbrouck (1982/83) and Kyle Gajewski (2007/08) all with 39 wins in a single season.

JARED MCCANN would complete the five goal second period for the Hounds at 17:00 with his 34th goal of the season.

Moving into the third, Windsor would sent Alex Fotino's to their net for the final twenty minutes of their season and he would have a rough start as well.

Twenty-eight seconds into the period, BLAKE SPEERS finished off a play with NICK RITCHIE and JUSTIN BAILEY for his second goal of the evening and 24th of the year.

The Hounds would net two more before the period was ten minutes old as ANTHONY DEANGELO (4:43) and SERGEY TOLCHINSKY (7:10) both scored their second goals of the evening capping off the 12-1 victory.

(The twelve goals ties the most offensive output the Hounds have had this season, for the second time)

And while the victory became the 53rd of the year for the Hounds with one regular season game remaining, it was the final one this season for the Windsor Sptifres who were previously eliminated from post-season action.

Both teams didn't leave the ice surface before lining up at centre ice and shaking hands in a showing of respect between the pair of West Division rivals.

For Spitfires, the night marked the final Major Junior (OHL) game for their trio of overage's Lucas Venuto, Jamie Lewis and Slater Doggett.

"I was obviously conscious that it could go that way, frankly I was hoping it wouldn't" said Keefe when asked post-game if he anticipated a one-sided game.

"They (Windsor) were in some incredibly difficult circumstances and you felt for that group having to come in here today. It wasn't their night for a lot of reasons. You could tell it was our night from the first shot of the game, we had no business being up 1-0" he concluded.

Brandon Halverson will get the start on Sunday Afternoon and Head Coach Sheldon Keefe said Saturday he would like to see both goalies get some action in the regular season finale.

ATTENDANCE- 4,524

RED STAR THREE STARS OF THE GAME

1- SSM, Nick Ritchie

2- SSM, Blake Speers

3- SSM, Sergey Tolchinsky

To view the complete game sheet CLICK HERE.

GAME NOTES;

* Saturday's victory improved the Hounds record to 30-2-0-1 on home ice at the Essar Centre this season

* With all the talk of franchise records, fans are encouraged to view the TEAM/SEASON record books located under the "TEAM" tab of this website

UP NEXT;

The Greyhounds cap off the regular season schedule TOMORROW AFTERNOON - Sunday, March 22nd - versus the Kitchener Rangers.

Game time is 2:07 p.m. but fans are asked to be in their seats 15-minutes early so they can view the video tribute, and on-ice presentation to the team's trio of overage players - JEAN DUPUY, BRYAN MOORE and CONNOR BOLAND.

Still need tickets?

Essar Centre Box Office opens at 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, or you can purchase online at www.essarcentre.ca or by phone at 1.866.775.9422.

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 21, 2015


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