There was plenty of emotion in the minutes leading up to puck drop and the Soo Greyhounds handled it well and channeled it into a performance that they’re happy about.
In a game that saw the organization honour its overage players in a pre-game ceremony, the Greyhounds skated to a 7-3 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Saginaw Spirit at the GFL Memorial Gardens on Friday night.
The team took a 2-0 lead through one period and rebounded on a pair of occasions in the second when Saginaw scored to pull themselves back into the game.
Overage forward Kalvyn Watson said following the win that the team showed a desperate effort in the victory.
“When you have a bit of a tribute before the game, guys kind of see it set in a bit that you’re not in this league forever,” Watson said. “There was a lot of desperation in the guys tonight, especially early on. It slipped away from us a bit in the second, but we finished strong.”
The Greyhounds also recovered following a pair of goals in the second period by the Spirit in which the home team came out in the following shifts and scored goals to keep the Spirit just out of arms reach of battling back.
“It’s crucial for the next group to come out and set the table for the following group,” Watson said. “Those bounce-back shifts are huge.”
“When you’re playing well, and playing the right way and things aren’t happening by accident, when something negative in the game happens, it doesn’t sting as much,” Dean said of bouncing back.
For Dean, the fact that six different players had goals in the win while 12 different players registered a point wasn’t lost on the coach.
“As we extend here the last ten games, we’ve played the young guys a lot more, it’s really good for their confidence,” Dean said.
Dean called Friday’s victory “a pretty complete win.”
Saginaw coach Chris Lazary said part of the goal of the game was “we want our young guys to feel a full building.”
“I’m glad that some of the guys went through it (and) I’m glad some of the guys that are regulars played more minutes and understand the adjustments they need to make to their game if they want to play those more minutes,” Lazary also said.
The Greyhounds opened the scoring as Julian Fantino beat Spirit goaltender Andrew Oke from the right circle on a pass from Owen Allard after a Saginaw turnover at 8:19.
Marco Mignosa made it a 2-0 game on the next shift as he beat Oke high glove side on a breakaway on the next shift.
Sault product Lincoln Moore got Saginaw on the board as he went to the net and redirected a back-door pass from Ian Phillips in the left circle at 4:16 of the second period.
The Greyhounds thought they had restored the two-goal lead on the next shift, only to have a goal by Jordan D’Intino from the slot waved off due to an offside.
Christopher Brown made it 3-1 Greyhounds as he scored on a rebound after Daylen Moses eas stopped initially on a breakaway by Oke at 5:51.
The Greyhounds took a 4-1 lead when Kalvyn Watson beat Oke on a rebound from the slot on the power play at 8:32 after the Saginaw netminder made the initial save on Brenden Sirizzotti on the play.
Moore got his second of the night at 14:25 when he took a pass from Theo Hill on an odd-man rush and got enough of the shot to beat Schenkel from the right faceoff circle.
Watson then scored his second of the night, again on the power play, beating Oke on a redirection of a pass from Bryce McConnell-Barker at 15:49.
McConnell-Barker made it a 6-2 game when he scored from the right faceoff circle on a one-timer after a pass from Mignosa cross slot, beating new Spirit goaltender Brett Fullerton at 4:55 of the third period.
With the Spirit on the power play, Calem Mangone, another Sault product, scored on a rebound in tight high stick side on Schenkel after the Greyhounds netminder stopped Joey Willis initially at 11:55, making it a 6-3 game.
Matthew Virgilio scored his fourth of the year to make it a 7-3 game when he beat Fullerton high stick side from the high slot at 15:51.
Watson finished the night with three points, scoring twice and assisting on another goal.
McConnell-Barker also had a three-point night with a goal and a pair of assists.
Mignosa added a goal and an assist in the win.
Schenkel stopped 18 shots for the Greyhounds.
Defenceman James Guo assisted on a pair of goals for Saginaw.
Oke made 30 saves on 35 Greyhounds shots before coming out of the game after two periods. Fullerton stopped one of the three shots he faced the rest of the way for the Spirit.
Lazary said the goaltending change was planned prior to the game.
The Greyhounds will wrap up the season on Sunday afternoon at home against the Sudbury Wolves. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 2:07 p.m.
With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 20-32-9-6.
Saginaw falls to 36-25-3-2 with the loss heading into their final two games of the regular season this weekend.
The Spirit chose to sit a handful of regulars for Friday’s contest as goaltender Tristan Lennox, defencemen Zayne Parekh and Mitchell Smith along with forwards Dean Loukus, Matyas Sapovaliv, and Hunter Haight didn’t make the trip.
Lazary said the team will re-evaluate how the roster will look for Saginaw’s final two regular season games as the weekend progresses.
Notes: On Thursday, the New York Rangers announced the signing of McConnell-Barker to an entry level contract.
McConnell-Barker was selected in the third round, 97th overall, of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
The signing means both Greyhound players selected in the 2022 NHL draft have signed their entry level deals after Kirill Kudryavtsev inked his with the Vancouver Canucks earlier this season.