For John Dean, the Soo Greyhounds have reached a point where, as much as wins are critical, so is making sure his team knows things aren’t always going to be negative.
The Greyhounds bench boss has chosen to look at the positives in recent losses, knowing the potential frustration of those reading about it following games.
“(Fans) want to see results. Fans have every right to be frustrated because there have been opportunities for us to close the deal and win these games,” Dean said. “It’s not my responsibility to beat on these guys (publicly). We have to point out the positive and find a way to get over this hump, which is getting those two points in these tight games against very good competition.”
“We’re at a point where we have to put two points on the board,” Dean also said. “Assessing wins and losses by whether you actually get one or not is important. At the same time, those guys know when they’ve played well and when they don’t.”
Dean said there were good things to take from a 6-4 loss Friday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens against the Brantford Bulldogs, a game in which Dean said special teams and a good transition from their opponent made the difference.
“The book on those guys is that they’re very good in transition,” Dean said. “They slow the game down well, forcing you to turn it over and they transition very well and they’re very good on special teams. Good teams will find a way to beat you.”
After what he felt was a slow start, Dean said he was pleased with the Greyhounds response in the second period.
While turnovers have been an issue this season for the Greyhounds, Dean said Friday’s game was one in which the Bulldogs capitalized on the few mistakes the Greyhounds made with the puck.
“There are nights where you turn over the puck consistently,” Dean said. “We made a few mistakes tonight and a very good team capitalized on them:”
Bulldogs coach Jay McKee credited Brantford’s top line in the victory as the trio of Patrick Thomas, Cole Brown, and Nick Lardis combined for eight points in the game.
“They’ve been very good for us all season,” McKee said. “With some banged up guys up front, some younger guys in our lineup, a couple D playing forward, we need those guys going to have continued success. They’ve been there for us all year.”
McKee also called the power play important for the Bulldogs in the win.
“They need to make good plays in those moments and they did,” McKee said. “It wasn’t something that we saw in the pre-scout that would be open. It was making plays in the moment. We’ve got some guys with some good vision and playmaking (ability). (Jake) O’Brien is a great passer and Thomas. They made some big plays.”
The Bulldogs got on the board first as Brown took a pass in the right faceoff circle from Thomas down low and beat Greyhounds goaltender Nolan Lalonde stick side 4:06 into the game.
While on the power play, Brantford extended the lead as Thomas scored 16 seconds into the man advantage. The veteran forward beat Lalonde on a back-door pass from Jake O’Brien at 15:40 to finish off a three-way passing play started at the right point by Tomas Hamara.
The Greyhounds made it a one-goal game at 17:43 as Travis Hayes got the puck in the slot and beat Brantford goaltender David Egorov.
The Greyhounds tied the game as Brady R. Smith went to the net and redirected a pass from Chase Reid on the right side boards past Egorov at 8:13 of the second period.
After a turnover at the Brantford blueline by the Greyhounds, Brown got the puck to Lardis, who skated into the Sault zone and beat Lalonde with a shot from the high slot glove side at 9:12 to make it 3-2 Brantford.
With another man advantage, Thomas beat Lalonde again on a back-door pass from O’Brien at 44 seconds into the third period the third period and 24 seconds into the power play.
The Greyhounds cut the Brantford lead to 4-3 as Martin beat Egorov on a shot from the right faceoff circle into traffic that deflected off a stick and past Egorov at 5:35
On the next shift, Hamara made it a two-goal game again for the Bulldogs as he beat Lalonde with a shot from the high slot at 6:19.
Noel Nordh scored a power play goal in the final minute of the third period to make it a 5-4 game as he scored on a rebound on the power play before Lardis capped off the scoring with an empty net goal.
Martin had a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds while Hayes and Nordh had one of each offensively.
Lalonde made 28 saves in the loss.
Thomas and Lardis had two goals and an assist each for Brantford.
Hamara also had a three-point night with a goal and two helpers.
Brown chipped in with a goal and an assist and O’Brien assisted on both of Brantford’s power play goals in the win.
Egorov made 28 saves.
The Greyhounds open a stretch that will see the team play seven of their next eight games on the road, beginning Sunday in Saginaw with a game against the Spirit.
With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 19-26-1-1 on the season and sit in eighth in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference standings.
The team is six points ahead of the Guelph Storm and seven points up on the Owen Sound Attack.
Following Friday’s results, the Greyhounds are three points behind the Sarnia Sting for seventh in the conference, though the Sting have a game in hand on the Greyhounds. Sarnia picked up a 4-3 win over Guelph on Friday night.
Having won nine of their past 10 games Friday’s game, the Bulldogs improve to 28-16-4-0 and remain firmly entrenched in the battle for top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Owen Allard missed the game for the Greyhounds after leaving Wednesday’s contest against Kitchener in the second period.
Dean said the overage forward won’t play on Sunday in Saginaw but is day-to-day.
Dean added that veteran forward Christopher Brown remains week-to-week, but is “borderline on day-to-day.”