SAULT STE. MARIE - Despite struggling, they held a lead through two periods and had a chance to put things away in the third period.
Instead, their opponent got momentum and eventually capitalized on their opportunities.
For the Soo Greyhounds, Saturday night was a disappointing night overall as the team dropped a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League decision to the North Bay Battalion at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
A 5-on-3 man advantage for the Greyhounds, one that was just under two full minutes long, was a turning point in the game for both teams in the third period. With the Greyhounds up 3-2, the Battalion killed off the two-man advantage and ultimately tied the game minutes after doing so.
“It’s huge,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said of not capitalizing on the power play.
“That’s a huge turning point for us,” Dean added. “They get momentum off the kill, and we should be up by two goals.”
“If they scored there, it was game over and if we got through it, we had a chance,” North Bay coach Ryan Oulahen said.
Oulahen agreed that the kill gave the Battalion a spark in the final 10 minutes of the contest.
“We get one quickly and then get another one right away and then it’s kind of lock down mode at that point,” Oulahen said.
Dean also said that “once the tying goal went in, we had trouble finding ourselves again.”
For the Greyhounds, Dean called the game “40 minutes of very poor hockey.”
“It caught up to us,” Dean added. “What we need to realize is, we’ve had such a great year that we’ve put ourselves in a spot now where teams come in here and we’re going to get their best game. We’re a very good team when we win all of our fifty-fifty battles and take care of our individual jobs. We didn’t do that for forty minutes. They outworked us. They outcompeted us and ultimately generated more offence. We got caught up ice quite a bit cheating. They get behind us, did a good job of stretching us out and controlled the game for forty minutes.”
Dean called the third period the Greyhounds “best period.”
Oulahen called the opening period “one of our best first periods that we’ve played.”
“We pressured and created havoc and made a lot of turnovers and, quite honestly, their goalie kept them in it in the first period,” Oulahen added.
The Battalion coach said he felt there were times in the second period where they got away from their game.
“A good, skilled team is opportunistic and made it a hockey game,” Oulahen said about the Greyhounds in the second period.
“There were two games in the third period,” Oulahen added. “The first ten minutes was all them and then the last ten was Battalion hockey in a clinical fashion.”
North Bay got on the board first thanks to a power play marker early. Justin Ertel drove the net and redirected a pass from Dalyn Wakely on the right wing that was stopped by Greyhounds goaltender Charlie Schenkel. Anthony Romani proceeded to score on the rebound, giving North Bay the lead 1:44 into the game.
The Greyhounds tied the game with 1:05 to go in the period as Brodie McConnell-Barker beat North Bay goaltender Dom DiVincentiis on a one-timer from the right circle after a pass from Christopher Brown.
North Bay took a 2-1 lead in the second period as a shot but Tnias Mathurin from the left point found its way through traffic and past Schenkel at 15:13.
The Greyhounds tied the game at two just under three minutes into the third period as Brady Martin got behind a North Bay defenceman and took a pass from Gavin Hayes before beating DiVincentiis high stick side.
Just 1:16 later, Justin Cloutier took a pass in the right circle from Hayes on a 2-on-1 and beat DiVincentiis under the crossbar to make it 3-2 Greyhounds.
The Battalion tied the game at 10:22 when Andrew LeBlanc beat Schenkel 5-hole from the slot on a pass from Justin Ertel from below the goalline.
North Bay then took the lead just over four minutes later as Sandis Vilmanis beat Schenkel with a deke glove side after taking a pass from Ertel.
Owen Van Steensel made it 5-3 just 25 seconds later, beating Schenkel stick side after taking a pass from Romani behind the net.
Dalyn Wakely sealed the win with an empty net goal with 1:45 to go.
Hayes finished the night with a pair of assists for the Greyhounds.
Schenkel made 28 saves in the loss.
Romani had a goal and two assists while Ertel also had a three-point night with three assists.
Wakely and LeBlanc added a goal and an assist each for North Bay.
“He’s just a hockey player,” Oulahen said of LeBlanc, whose third period goal tied the game at three. “It’s hard to explain guys like him, but that’s the best way to explain it. They’re just really smart, find ways to have the puck on their stick a lot.”
DiVincentiis stopped 27 shots.
Next up is a pair of road games for the Greyhounds as the team is in Windsor on Thursday to take on the Spitfires before heading to Sarnia to face the Sting on Friday.
The team then returns home to face Erie to end the weekend.
With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 26-12-2-1 and sit two points ahead of the Saginaw Spirit for top spot in the OHL’s West Division after the Spirit picked up a 5-2 win at home over Guelph Saturday night.
The Spirit have a pair of games in hand on the Greyhounds.
North Bay improves to 20-14-5-1 on the season. The team moves to within one point of the Sudbury Wolves for top spot in the Central Division after the Wolves dropped an 11-7 decision on the road to Windsor Saturday night.
Notes: Reports surfaced out of Barrie on Saturday night that forward Brenden Sirizzotti, who was dealt by the Greyhounds to the Colts in a trade that saw the Sault acquire forward Jacob Frasca, made the decision to not report to Barrie.
Via social media, reporter Gene Pereira in Barrie broke the news that Sirizzotti wasn’t reporting.
Colts general manager and coach Marty Williamson told Pereira, “He informed them (Soo) and didn’t inform us. I think the league is going to look into it.”
Frasca played in both weekend games for the Greyhounds following the trade.
Acquired Soo overager Brenden Sirizzotti is not joining the Colts. Colts are asking the league to look into the deal that sent Jacob Frasca to the Hounds.
— Gene Pereira (@GenePereira1) January 13, 2024
