Greyhounds coach expects 'a heck of a series' against Firebirds

Some schedule adjustments meant they met just five times during the Ontario Hockey League regular season.

Of those five games, the Soo Greyhounds and Flint Firebirds needed overtime or a shootout on three occasions to determine a winner.

Now, the two clubs are set to battle with a spot in the Western Conference final on the line.

After the Firebirds picked up a 4-2 win at home over the Owen Sound Attack in game seven of their Western Conference quarter-final series on Wednesday night, Flint earned a date with the Greyhounds in round two of the OHL playoffs with the series set to begin Friday night in Flint.

“It’s going to be a heck of a series,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said in a phone interview Thursday night from Flint. “Both teams were among the top teams in goals for and both have good goaltending. Both have good D corps. It’s going to be a series that’s decided by who wants to compete most and who wants to fight for every inch.”

“It’s going to be a very difficult series and a huge challenge for us,” Dean added.

With a pair of high-scoring teams in action, puck management will be of the utmost importance.

“They’re a very offensive team, so we have to make sure we manage the puck properly and limit their opportunities off the rush and defend every inch,” Dean said.

Firebirds coach Ted Dent said a key for his team will be sticking to what has made them successful this season.

“We just have to be ourselves and play our game,” Dent said. “Focus on our stuff here. It’s a short turnaround. We’ve played them five times and we know what they’re about. We’ll take it game-by-game, make adjustments and go from there.”

Dent feels the short turnaround from the Owen Sound series would be more of an issue had the Firebirds been starting the series with the Greyhounds on the road.

“The fact that we have home-ice advantage and earned that through the course of the year and worked hard to get it, that’s a good thing for sure,” Dent said. “Sometimes it’s harder to come back when you’re sitting around for six days waiting than it is to just keep playing. It depends on the situation. Every team is different.”

On the flip side, the Greyhounds have been off since April 30 when they beat the Guelph Storm 6-0 to cap off a five-game series win in the opening round.

“Rest is a weapon, but at the same time, we have to be aware that they’re currently in the game seven mindset,” Dean said. “They’re intensity levels are very high. We’ve been sitting around for five or six days now and it’s our job to rise our levels as quickly as possible. Rest is a weapon and rest is good, but making sure our switch is consistently turned on is also important.”

Asked about what they learned from the series against Guelph, Dean spoke of how much controlling emotions can be a factor

“Managing our emotions and discipline got away from us,” Dean said. “Those are hopefully key lessons that we learned that we can’t let our highs get too high and we have to control our emotions when things aren’t going our way. We were fortunate that we weren’t on the wrong end of the scoreboard while learning those lessons.”

Dean also said seeing some adversity in the series was a good thing.

“We blew a four-goal lead and went to overtime and found a way to win it (in game four),” Dean said. “Going through those situations are important.”

Dean also said that playing a division rival isn’t something that factors into the motivation heading into the series.

“This time of year, if we need certain opponents to get us to the level we need to be, then we’re in big trouble,” Dean said. “Our guys don’t care who we’re playing. They’re very motivated to succeed and to play the right way.”

Dent called the series with the Attack good preparation for the series with the Greyhounds.

“It was a hard-fought series,” Dent said. “It was a good preparation now that we got through that for sure. It was back-and-forth all series.”

Asked about starting goaltender Luke Cavallin, Dent called the veteran netminder “the backbone of our group.”

“It’s the first time he’s been a starter in the league on a regular basis,” Dent said. “He’s a true professional in terms of how he prepares himself. His practice habits and his preparation off the ice is second-to-none.”

For the Greyhounds, goaltender Samuel Ivanov will be a focal point early in the series as Tucker Tynan serves the final two games of a three-game, league-imposed suspension.

“Sam’s a great kid with a high work ethic,” Dean said. “The guys absolutely love playing in front of him.”

“We play very confident when Sam’s in net,” Dean added.

Offensively, the Firebirds were led by 50-goal scorer Brennan Othmann in the regular season. For Dent, it isn’t necessarily Othmann’s offensive game that stands out the most though.

“Everybody looks at the goals, but he competes,” Dent said. “He plays a 200-foot game. He wants to win and he’ll do anything to win. That’s the good thing about him. He can kill penalties, but he can also go on the power play. He plays in all situations.”

The teams are set to open their Western Conference semifinal series on Friday night at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, a place where the Greyhounds went 2-1-0-0 this season, including a split on the final weekend of the regular season.

Game two is set for 4 p.m. Sunday before the series shifts to Sault Ste. Marie for games three and four on Tuesday and Thursday next week. Puck drop for both games as the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 7:07 p.m.