With what he agreed is a critical game 24 hours away on home ice, John Dean is trying to take the positives into it.
Even after his team dropped a 6-5 overtime decision in a game in which they had a 5-1 lead in the second period.
The Kingston Frontenacs scored three timed in the third period before completing the comeback 3:28 into overtime against the Soo Greyhounds on Friday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
Despite trying to take the positives from the loss, the game wasn’t without it’s struggles.
“There’s some maturity there,” the Greyhounds coach said of giving up the lead in the third period. “Our older guys need to be better. Our older guys were on for a lot of those goals against. They need to step up to the plate big time.
Kingston coach Troy Mann called a goal in the final seconds of the second period by Ethan Miedema as a critical one for his team as it made it a 5-2 game heading into the third period.
“I thought we were skating in quicksand for the better part of two periods,” Mann said. “I liked our push early in the second, but when they got that fourth goal, I didn’t think we had the energy to come back. Mieds scored to make it 5-2 and there’s a lot of positivity going into the third.”
For the Greyhounds, Dean said he “hated” the goal.
“It cannot happen with seconds to go,” Dean added. “We make a mistake in the offensive zone and that cannot happen.”
Mann said the message after the second period was a positive one.
“It we could get one early, the Sault has been prone to give up goals in bunches this year and with a younger team, there’s some vulnerability there,” Mann said. “At 5-3, we had a chance (to come back). The guys stuck with it.”
Dean said the Greyhounds looked nervous in the final period while up.
“We clogged up the middle of the ice really well, but once the puck got on our stick, we looked very panicky. That’s the next step is we have to find a way to hold it down.”
Dean added that in the final period, the Frontenacs adjusted to a more simple game in the third period as well.
“It was pucks to paint, they went to more of a two-one-two and they were rimming pucks out of their end, which they weren’t doing early,” Dean said.
The Greyhounds got on the board first as Brady T, Smith scored on a rebound after Charlie Schenkel stopped a shot by Brady R. Smith initially at 7:18.
The locals took a 2-0 lead as Owen Allard potted a rebound off a point shot by Chasse Reid 1:55 later on the power play.
Kingston cut into the lead in the second period as Ethan Hay beat Nolan Lalonde in close after taking a pass from Miedema below the goalline at 3:24.
The Greyhounds retook the two-goal lead at 9:08 as Marco Mignosa beat Schenkel on a one-timer of a back-door pass from Reid.
The Greyhounds made it a 4-1 game as Noel Nordh beat Schenkel in tight off a pass from down low by Christopher Brown just 41 seconds later.
The home team took a 5-1 lead at 16:09 when Brady T. Smith picked up his own rebound in the slot and beat Schenkel.
Kingston made it 5-2 in the final seconds of the second period as Miedema beat Lalonde on a breakaway after taking a shot and sliding into the crease with a Greyhounds defender that knocked the puck past Lalonde.
Kingston cut into the lead further at 11:18 of the third as Tuomas Uronen beat Lalonde in the slot to make it a 5-3 game.
The Frontenacs pulled to within one 28 seconds later as Miedema beat Lalonde on a redirection of a shot by Cal Uens past Lalonde.
Kingston then tied the game as Adam Kelly beat Lalonde with a shot from the left wing at 14:14.
Finnish defenceman Emil Pieniniemi capped off the comeback for the Frontenacs as he beat his check into the left faceoff circle and proceeded to beat Lalonde from the left circle at 3:28 of overtime to give Kingston the victory.
In addition to the two-goal night for Brady T. Smith in the game, Mignosa had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds.
Reid and Brown assisted on two goals each for the Sault.
Lalonde, acquired by the Greyhounds on Thursday from Kingston that sent Schenkel the other way, stopped 20 shots.
Schenkel stopped 26 shots in two periods before coming out of the game in the second intermission.
Mann said the decision for the overage netminder to come out was made late in the second period and said he “apologized on behalf of the team” after the first period adding that he felt the Frontenacs “hung him out to dry” in the opening period.
Rookie goaltender Gavin Betts stopped all seven shots he faced the rest of the way for Kingston.
Miedema finished the night with two goals and an assist for the Frontenacs while Hay and Uronen had one of each offensively.
The Greyhounds return to action Saturday night at home in what will be an important game for both teams as the Sault hosts the Guelph Storm.
The teams entered action Friday night with the Greyhounds holding the eighth seed and Guelph in the 10th seed in the OHL’s Western Conference.
The Greyhounds currently sit four points ahead of the Storm and Owen Sound Attack for the final playoff spot in the conference.
The Greyhounds will head into Saturday’s contest with a 16-22-1-0 record through 39 games.
Thanks to Friday’s victory, the Frontenacs improve to 21-10-5-2.
Notes: The Frontenacs were busy ahead of Friday’s OHL trade deadline, completing a trio of deals in addition to the swap with the Greyhounds.
On Tuesday, the Frontenacs completed a pair of separate deals with the Saginaw Spirit. The initial deal saw the team acquire Ethan Hay and Will Bishop in exchange for Xander Velliaris and eight draft picks.
The second deal saw the team acquire Joey Willis for Ethan Wier and eight additional draft picks.
The other deal saw the team send veteran forward Luke McNamara to the Windsor Spitfires for a draft pick.
Friday’s deadline was relatively quiet though the Sudbury Wolves made a last-minute splash by acquiring defenceman Henry Mews from the Ottawa 67’s for Nolan Jackson and eight draft picks (two of which are conditional).
In other league news, the OHL announced Friday afternoon that Flint Firebirds coach Paul Flache has been suspended for five fames and fined $2,500 after an incident in a game between the Firebirds and Brampton Steelheads on Jan. 4.
Flache has been suspended for what the league called “actions detrimental to both the player safety and welfare of the league.”
With 1:15 to go in the game, Flache was given a game misconduct for inappropriate remarks made during the course of a review of a potential major penalty against the Steelheads.
Flache has already served two of the five games.