Greyhounds storm back in Friday night victory

Coach John Dean called it some of the most fun he’s had behind the bench with the Soo Greyhounds.

After falling behind 3-0 through one period and trailing 4-2 through 40 minutes, the Greyhounds scored five times in the final period to pick up a 7-5 Ontario Hockey League win over the Kingston Frontenacs on Friday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

Dean said the excitement of the fans combined with the engagement of his team in the contests late stages made the game “a lot of fun.”

Asked about the start to the game, Dean said he was happy with the opening minutes of the first period before Kingston took over.

“I loved our first five minutes and then unfortunately, a couple of breakdowns and we had a really good conversation between the first and the second period,” Dean said.

Dean added that he felt the final two periods was “some of the best hockey we’ve played all season.”

Dean said that after the opening period, the Greyhounds “made some adjustments to some of the things we thought they did very well.”

Kingston coach Troy Mann said following the loss that he “loved” the opening period played by his club.

“We played to our identity, controlled the neutral zone, which is something we talked about,” Mann said.

Mann added that he felt his team got away from their game after the opening period with the turning point being when the Greyhounds cut the Kingston lead to 4-3 in the middle period.

Additionally, the goal was reviewed after the Greyhounds scored and Mann said that referee Sean Reid admitted to Kingston captain Paul Ludwinski that the Greyhounds had too many men on the ice during the play.

“It’s a missed call,” Mann added.

Kingston opened the scoring as Jacob Battaglia took a pass from Paul Ludwinski on a 2-on-1 and beat Greyhounds starter Landon Miller high stick side 3:35 in.

The Frontenacs made it a 2-0 game as Vann Williamson took a pass from Battaglia in the high slot as the trailer on a rush and beat Miller at 7:15.

Kingston took a 3-0 lead at 10:19 as Gage Heyes beat Miller on a wraparound the end the night for the rookie netminder. Charlie Schenkel entered the game for the home side in relief.

The Greyhounds got on the board 4:11 into the second period as Caeden Carlisle circled the Kingston net and hit Marco Mignosa with a pass in the slot. Mignosa proceeded to beat Kingston goaltender Mason Vaccari stick side.

The home side pulled to within one at 14:39 when Julian Fantino beat Vaccari on a rebound after the Kingston goalie stopped an Owen Allard shot initially.

Kingston made it 4-2 in the third thanks to a power play marker as Gabriel Frasca beat Schenkel from the left circle high short side at 3:10.

The Greyhounds got back to within one 1:53 later as Mignosa took a short pass in behind the Kingston defencemen from Allard and beat Vaccari with a decent to the stick side.

The Greyhounds then tied the game 1:10 later as Brenden Sirizzotti beat Vaccari high glove side from the right wing after taking a pass from Jack Beck on a 2-on-1. The goal was reviewed but upheld despite the Greyhounds having six skaters on the ice during the development of the play.

The Greyhounds took the lead for the first time in the game at 8:51 as Jack Beck took a pass in the slot and beat Vaccari stick side 23 seconds into a power play.

On the next shift, Allard made it 6-4 as he beat Vaccari high glove side with a shot from the left circle at 9:15.

Kingston pulled back to within one with 1:09 to go while on the power play and with Vaccari on the bench for an extra skater. Battaglia tried to make a back-door pass and it hit Ethan Miedema on the way through the slot and deflected past Schenkel to make it 6-5.

Allard sealed the win with an empty net goal in the final minute of play.

Allard had two goals and three assists to pace the Greyhounds offensively.

Beck added a goal and two assists.

In addition to the two-goal night for Mignosa, Fantino had a goal and an assist while Carlisle, Bryce McConnell-Barker, and Kirill Kudryavtsev had two assists each.

Miller made six saves on nine Kingston shots before being pulled in the opening period.

Schenkel made 11 saves on 13 shots the rest of the way.

Dean said the goaltending change was purely meant to be a spark for his team.

“It’s an obvious coaching decision and nothing to do with Landon,” Dean said. “He could probably fight his way out of that, but our team probably gets more juice by a change there.”

Ludwinski had four assists for the Frontenacs.

Battaglia chipped in with a goal and two assists.

Vaccari stopped 30 shots.

The Greyhounds return to action on Sunday afternoon at home with a game against the London Knights.

Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is 2:07 p.m.

The Greyhounds take a 19-8-2-0 record into Sunday’s game and hold a seven-point lead over the Saginaw Spirit as the teams battle for top spot in the OHL’s West Division. The Spirit, who have three games in hand, dropped a 7-3 decision in London on Friday night.

Kingston falls to 13-14-1-0 with the loss and sits fourth in the East Division.