They’ve talked a lot about staying true to who they are.
As the Ontario Hockey League playoffs approached, Soo Greyhounds coach John Dean routinely said that the goal for the team was to “stick to our identity.”
That feeling is no different as the team prepares to open up its Western Conference semifinal series on Thursday night against the Saginaw Spirit at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.
“We really try to be a value-based hockey club that plays with a lot of pace, manages the puck properly, very difficult to play against,” Dean said. “That formula is the same for Saginaw as it is for Guelph and is for London.”
“(Saginaw’s) a good offensive team and we want to limit their chances against,” Dean added. “Other than that, we’re going to stick to our identity.”
Both teams enter the series on the heels of sweeping their opponents in the opening round.
Despite the series being over in four games, Dean said he felt the Guelph Storm “did us a big favour” in the opening round of the playoffs.
“They make you fight for every inch on the ice,” Dean said. “They’re a hard forechecking team who is relentlessly above the puck as well. They made us play a very high-pace brand of hockey to make sure that we kept up, if not exceeded their pace. They made us make good decisions with the puck because if we didn’t, we would turn it over. They also played a physical brand of hockey, which forced us to be as physical as we can be.”
Dean added that he felt the Greyhounds pace of play “really increased over the course of the four games.”
Dean said that, in addition to increasing their pace of play in the sweep of the Storm, physicality and compete level from the Greyhounds also impressed him through the series.
Saginaw swept Owen Sound in the first round.
The series is a meeting between the two top teams in the OHL’s West Division through regular season play. The Spirit won the division title with the Greyhounds placing second, seven points back of the division leader.
The Spirit finished the regular season with a 50-16-1-1 record while the Greyhounds posted a record of 45-18-3-2.
The teams split their eight regular season meetings this season with the road team winning all eight games.
As much as the teams were tight throughout much of the season, Deans says the regular season means nothing now as the series kicks off.
“Regular season goes out the window,” Dean said. “You could win that series 6-2, you could lose it 6-2, there’s not a ton of relevance there. Playoffs is such a different animal. Those 68 games are used to polish your craft. The team that’s polished the best generally ends up on top.”
Saginaw coach Chris Lazary declined to speak to SooToday to discuss the upcoming series.
On the injury front for the Greyhounds, Dean confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that rookie forward Travis Hayes is available to play as the team traveled south for game one.
Additionally, overage forward Jack Beck is inching closer to returning to the lineup as well.
Dean said the veteran forward is out day-to-day.
Dean said he was pleased with the way a number of players stepped up in the absence of Beck and Hayes for parts of the opening round.
Defensively, Dean credited the Greyhounds top four of Caeden Carlisle, Andrew Gibson, Arttu Karki, and Kirill Kudryavtsev.
“(They) were just incredible,” Dean said. “The way they managed to log minutes for us defensively really helped us with a couple of guys being out up front.”
Dean added that, in addition to the Greyhounds top line of Bryce McConnell-Barker centering Jacob Frasca and Gavin Hayes, depth players like overage forward Jordan D’Intino and sophomore forward Christopher Brown stepped up in their roles as well.
Dean also commended goaltender Charlie Schenkel for his play in the opening round and throughout the regular season.
“He’s been a big part of why we’ve had such a successful year and I suspect we’ll get more of the same,” Dean said.
Following Thursday’s series opener, game two is Saturday night, also in Saginaw.
The series then shifts to Sault Ste. Marie for games three and four on Monday and Wednesday nights.
If necessary, game five is on April 19 in Saginaw with game six scheduled for April 21 in Sault Ste. Marie and game seven, also in Saginaw, slated for April 23.