The Soo Greyhounds opened an important stretch in their schedule on Tuesday night with a 1-0 victory over the Saginaw Spirit in front of 3,644 fans at Memorial Gardens.
The win over the Spirit was the opening game of a four-game-in-six day stretch which will see the Greyhounds have a day off on Wednesday before playing three games in four days including a home-and-home with the Sudbury Wolves on Friday and Sunday nights.
The win also marked the first game in a Greyhound uniform for defenceman Kyle Wharton, who was picked up earlier in the day from the Ottawa 67's in exchange for defenceman David Jarram.
Wharton, 18, travelled to the Sault from Ottawa and made it in time to suit up for the night's game.
The Hounds were short seven regulars for the game including goaltender Jakub Cech, who is at the World Junior Hockey Championships, defencemen Joshua Day, who is at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Alberta competing with Team Atlantic, Jordan Smith, who had emergency surgery on Sunday and is expected to be out roughly 10 days, and Martin Tuma, who is also at the World Junior Tournament; along with forwards Blair Jarrett, who is out with a knee injury and will likely be out for two weeks, Ryan McInerney, who is also at the Under-17 Challenge competing with Team Ontario and Jeff Carter who is competing with Team Canada at the World Junior Tournament.
The Greyhounds victory over Saginaw moves the club two points ahead of the Plymouth Whalers in the race for the West Division crown.
The Greyhounds also played the game with two call-ups from their NOJHL affiliate, the Soo Thunderbirds, in forward Mark Thorburn and defenceman Tyler Lannigan.
The Greyhounds opened the scoring at 12:57 of the first period on the power play when Reg Thomas banged home a rebound after Spirit goaltender, and former Greyhound, Jeff Weber made the initial save off of a deflection by Thomas from a Wharton point shot.
The Greyhounds thought they had opened up a two goal lead late in the period but had a goal waved off by referee Carmen Cox after he ruled that the net had come off it's moorings before the puck entered the net.
The Greyhounds did had a number of chances to open up a bigger lead but Saginaw managed to kill off a pair of short two man advantages the Greyhounds had and kept the game close, thanks to a number of quality stops from Weber in the Spirit goal.
The Spirit battled hard late in the game to beat Hounds netminder Kyle Gajewski, who was solid all night.
With Weber pulled in the game's closing moments, the Spirit had the Greyhounds hemmed up in their own zone for much of the final 40 seconds of the game. With four seconds remaining, the Spirit thought they had the game tied as a loose puck was batted past Gajewski.
Cox again waved off the goal as he ruled that Spirit forward Michel Birner interfered with the Hounds goaltender and the forward was handed a goaltender interference penalty to all but officially end the Spirit's hopes of tying the game.
Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg was pleased with one thing following the win.
"The fact that we battled as a group to get the win (was a positive)," the Hounds bench boss said. "It wasn't pretty but we got the two points. It's huge to get the points. It's always important to get the first win (in a stretch of games like the one the Hounds entered on Tuesday)."
Hartsburg was also pleased with the play of Gajewski, who stopped all 33 shots directed at him for his first OHL shutout. Hartsburg credited his young netminder who is "getting better and better everyday," according to his coach.
Gajewski was also pleased with his play in the win, crediting his work ethic to why he has been playing well with veteran goalie Jakub Cech out of the lineup.
"(The coaching staff) has given me the opportunity to play and hopefully I've made a name for myself," the 17 year-old said. "It's a huge confidence booster. I've been practicing hard for this. (Hard work) is very important. The big thing for me is my concentration and my hard work."
With the win, the Greyhounds improved their record to 16-15-5-1 or 38 points while Saginaw dropped to 8-22-1-4.
Next action for the Hounds will be on Thursday night when the Kitchener Rangers are in town in a 7 p.m. start at Memorial Gardens.
*** AROUND THE O:
In Plymouth, the Whalers picked up two goals from John Mitchell and a pair of assists from Mike Letizia as they beat the Brampton Battalion 6-2. Jonas Fiedler also had a goal and an assist for the winners.
A Mark O'Leary goal 39 seconds into the third period, on a setup from Sault native Matt D'Agostini, was all the Guelph Storm would need as they defeated the visiting Mississauga IceDogs 1-0. Danny Taylor stopped 25 shots for the shutout.
Bryan Little scored with one second left in overtime to lift the Barrie Colts to a 2-1 victory over the Kitchener Rangers. B.J. Crombeen scored the other Barrie goal while Francois Thuot stopped 42 shots in the Barrie net for the victory.
Mark Mancari scored twice and Bryan Bickell chipped in with two assists as the Ottawa 67's defeated Oshawa 4-1. Brad Bonello, who had a goal and an assist in the win, was also stopped on a penalty shot by Oshawa netminder Carlo DiRienzo.
The Erie Otters received goals from five different players as they defeated the Windsor Spitfires 5-1. Brian Lee, Brett MacLean, Geoff Platt, Michael Blunden and Derek Merlini all scored in the victory while Josh Disher stopped 29 Windsor shots. Brad Topping stopped 37 shots in the loss.