Greyhounds pick up first win of young season

It might not have been perfect, but it’s a building block for a team that struggled out of the gate.

The Soo Greyhounds jumped out to an early lead and held on to a late lead while their opponent was pushing for the tying goal in what was ultimately a 4-2 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Guelph Storm Friday night at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph.

Greyhounds coach John Dean was cautiously optimistic following the victory.

“We looked more connected as a group,” Dean said. “It was a huge step in the right direction. It wasn’t a masterpiece by any means, but it looked like a group of guys that were willing to go to bat for each other and willing to get a little more detailed in their game to find some success.”

Dean also said he was proud of his team for “digging in and grinding out a road win.”

“Unfortunately, your most valuable lessons are from losses, and we’ve lost three times this year and had three very difficult lessons,” Dean said. “Credit to our guys for learning from some of those lessons and playing a better game tonight. I want to be cautious because it’s a step in the right direction.”

For the Storm, coach Cory Stillman spoke of turnovers being crucial in the loss.

“Turnovers cost us some goals ... one at our blueline (allowing Brady Martin to open the scoring in the first period) and one at their blueline (the winning goal) came back to haunt us,” Stillman said in an interview post-game with GuelphToday.

The Greyhounds opened the scoring 2:53 in as Brady Martin went to the net and redirected a pass from newly acquired Charlie Hilton on the left wing past Storm goaltender Brayden Gillespie.

Guelph tied the game at one off the opening faceoff in the second period as Wil McFadden won the draw at centre, skated into the Greyhounds zone and beat Sault goaltender Charlie Schenkel glove side from the left circle five seconds into the period.

The Greyhounds retook the lead at 13:56 as Travis Hayes drove the net and redirected a pass from Hilton on the left wing past Gillespie to make it a 2-1 game.

The visitors took a 3-1 lead just over seven minutes into the third period as Camerin Cardona got into some open ice and took a pass from Carson Andrew before beating Gillespie with a shot glove side at 7:16.

Guelph pulled back to within one at 11:04 as Parker Snelgrove beat Schenkel with a one-timer from the right circle stick side on a feed from Hunter McKenzie in the left circle to make it 3-2.

Justin Cloutier sealed the win for the Greyhounds thanks to an empty net goal in the final minute of regulation time.

The trio of Martin centering Hilton and Hayes had a strong night for the Greyhounds in the win. Martin finished the night with a goal and two assists while Hilton added a pair of helpers along with the goal by Hayes,

“They looked more detailed away from the puck,” Dean said of the line. “The care factor to get above the puck and manage the puck properly was the difference between this game and Windsor. You add Charlie into the mix, he makes two great passes and two guys driving the net on both goals, those are goals we want to score this year. They were a fun line to watch.”

Schenkel made 31 saves for the Greyhounds.

“He was very good, and we need that,” Dean said of the veteran netminder. “We need some good goaltending right now. We need to settle the group down in front of him and we can learn from our mistakes when Charlie puts together a couple of saves better than mistakes on goals against. He gave the guys confidence to play in front of him.”

Gillespie stopped 20 shots at the other end of the ice for the Storm.

The Greyhounds will head into the final game of their first road trip of the season on Sunday afternoon in Sarnia against the Sting with a 1-3-0-0 record.

The loss drops Guelph’s record to 2-1-0-0.