Injuries continue to add up for the Soo Greyhounds.
A weekend road trip saw the team limp home with three losses, but it was the injury situation that seemed like the bigger focus.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said early Sunday evening. “The amount of tough situations our guys have been put into, the injury bugs that have hit us and the amount of will and determination our guys are putting in, it’s tough to be upset with this group.
“We make lots of mistakes, but we have guys that, unfortunately, we’re setting them up for some failure a little bit here with humongous minutes with a limited bench,” Dean added. “Opportunity is fun, but at the same time, boy have these guys been through it.”
With four players already out due to injury and illness, the team was down another player heading into their road trip final Sunday afternoon against the Brampton Steelheads before losing a veteran defenceman during the course of the game as well.
The game ultimately saw the Greyhounds drop an 8-5 decision to the Steelheads at Brampton’s CAA Centre.
Dean spoke further of the added minutes played by a number of players in the loss due to the Greyhounds being short bodies throughout the game.
At forward, Dean referenced the line of Brady Martin, Travis Hayes, and Justin Cloutier specifically.
“Those guys must have played 30 minutes each,” Dean said. “I don’t know how you could be their teammate and not be excited to go on the ice and work as hard as they do. It’s pretty incredible what all three of those guys did.”
Despite being short, the Greyhounds came out of the gate strong but couldn’t maintain it.
“We play an incredible first period, but we turn over a puck to give them life to make it 1-1, which is unacceptable and had nothing to do with tiredness at that point or bodies,” Dean said. “Then, in the second period, we came out flat unfortunately and (Brampton) played a really solid first ten minutes and we put ourselves in a big hole that proved to be insurmountable.”
Dean added that the stretch in the second period is a chance for the players to learn to “be mature with our approach.”
“When you have a great formula set out in front of you that you establish yourself in the first period, it’s illogical not to stick to it,” Dean added. “Mature teams hammer the nail until you finally put it in the coffin. We didn’t hammer the nail in the second period. We went off script and we paid for it.”
The start for the Greyhounds was a quick one as Marco Mignosa opened the scoring on the first shift of the game for the visitors.
Mignosa beat a Brampton defender in the slot before beating Steelheads goaltender Jack Ivankovic with a backhand glove side on the breakaway 44 seconds into the game.
After being heavily outshot by the Greyhounds early on, the Steelheads began to find their legs and ultimately tied the game on an odd-man rush as Carson Rehkopf took a pass from Porter Martone and beat Sault starter Landon Miller stick side at 12:51.
The game remained tied at one well into the second period when Kieran Witkowski went to the net and redirected a pass from Parker Von Richter past Miller at 7:45.
The Steelheads then added to the lead 23 seconds later as Rehkopf scored from near the side of the goal after a short pass from Porter Martone in the slot. Martone grabbed the puck after Miller stopped a point shot by Brampton’s Reed Gee initially on the play.
Just under four minutes later, Brampton took a 4-1 lead as Witkowski scored his second of the day at 11:53. Witkowski beat Miller from off to the side of the goal on a shot that appeared to hit a stick on the way to the net.
Brampton made it a 5-1 game 46 seconds later as Rehkopf scored his third of the game, beating Miller on a pass from Martone in close.
Mignosa picked up his second goal of the game 1:03 later on a shorthanded breakaway after taking a pass from Caeden Carlisle and proceeding to beat Ivankovic with a backhand stick side to make it 5-2 Brampton.
With 4:29 to go in the middle period, Brampton took a 6-2 lead as Witkowski scored his third of the day, beating Miller with a shot from the slot stick side moments after a defensive zone turnover by the Sault.
The Greyhounds pulled to within three on the first shift of the third period as Brady Martin skated into the left faceoff circle and beat Ivankovic with a shot glove side 23 seconds into the period.
Brampton’s Troy Patton made it a 7-3 game at 2:41 of the period as he poked in a loose puck in the crease after Miller stopped a point shot by Jakub Fibgr initially.
Luke Misa then capped off the Brampton scoring at 7:36 as he beat Miller with a shot from the left circle to make it an 8-3 game.
Cloutier got on the board for the Greyhounds at 11:06 to make it an 8-4 game, beating Ivankovic from below the goalline, banking the puck in off the Steelheads netminder after the Sault forward was stopped on a shot from the left circle initially on the play.
Hayes had the last of the Sault goals in the high-scoring affair as he beat Ivankovic on a one-timer off a feed from Sam Bowness with 1:43 to go in the contest.
Martin finished the day with a goal and two assists offensively for the Greyhounds while Cloutier amd Hayes had one of each in the game.
Miller stopped 31 shots in the setback.
In addition to the three-goal days from Rehkopf and Witkowski, Martone assisted on four goals for Brampton in the game.
Misa had a goal and an assist for Brampton while Fibgr also had a two-point day with a pair of assists.
Ivankovic stopped 33 shots for the Steelheads.
The Greyhounds now have some additional days off from game action as the team returns home ahead of back-to-back games at home against the North Bay Battalion beginning on Friday night.
Following Sunday’s game Dean was asked about the added time between games for the team.
“In normal circumstances, we’d be excited to get our boots on the ice and grind away, but we’re going to have to think about rest and recovery and battling the fatigue,” Dean said. “It’s definitely a good thing that we have a little bit of a breather here.”
The Greyhounds fall to 12-12-0-0 with Sunday’s loss while the Steelheads improve to 11-10-1-0
Notes: Both teams were short-staffed in the game due to injuries.
Already missing forwards Owen Allard, Noel Nordh, and Christopher Brown along with defencemen Keegan Gillen and Andrew Gibson due to injuries and illness, overage goaltender Charlie Schenkel also sat out the game due to an injury as well.
Dean said following the game that Schenkel’s was an injury that flared up in practice between the final two games of the road trip.
As a result of Schenkel’s injury, Reid Thomas, who has been reassigned by the team to the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Blind River Beavers, rejoined the team for Sunday’s game.
Schenkel’s injury is considered day-to-day.
The Greyhounds also lost defenceman Spencer Evans in the game to an upper body injury suffered on a hit during the game. Dean said the injury was a serious one for the blueliner, who could be out for a lengthy period as a result.
“For sure weeks,” Dean said when asked about how long Evans could be out of the lineup.
Evans left the game midway through the second period following a hit by overage forward Chase Lefebvre along the end boards in the Sault zone.
Brampton played the game minus a trio of veterans in forwards Angus MacDonell and Lucas Karmiris along with defenceman Steve Leskovar due to injuries.