Hard work is key to Greyhounds early success

It was a game that had plenty of turning points.

For the Soo Greyhounds, a shorthanded goal started to turn the tide and a point shot through traffic helped the team remain unbeaten thanks to a 6-4 win over the Saginaw Spirit on Saturday night at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.

With four regular season games in the books, Greyhounds coach John Dean feels like the team has learned plenty even though the regular season is four games old.

“We’ve really learned a lesson that we are very successful when we work extremely hard,” Dean said. “We’re not a good enough team to not work shift in and shift out. Being 4-0 is nice but our team realizes that it’s achieved by work ethic. I don’t envision this group sitting back and not putting in that effort game in and game out.”

The message has resonated to the players.

“We don’t have any superstars, but everyone works their rear end off,” said Greyhounds defenceman Robert Calisti.

“We’re relentless,” said Greyhounds forward Cole MacKay. “We’ve shown a lot of good things in how we never roll over and keep coming.”

MacKay added that the Greyhounds ability to win in different ways early has been a confidence boost but “we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”

On Saturday night, with the Greyhounds leading 2-0, rookie forward Josh Bloom got the Spirit on the board on a penalty shot just over two minutes after Tye Kartye had increased the Greyhound lead. The goal by Bloom sparked the Spirit, who added a pair of goals before the end of the opening period to take a 3-2 lead into the intermission.

“He does an unbelievable job to get into the shooting lane to create that breakaway at a big moment for our team when we’re down 2-0,” Spirit coach Chris Lazary said on the Spirit television broadcast. “That fired us up and we responded well but we fell apart there late.”

MacKay tied the game 1:06 into the second period shorthanded and the goal turned the game back into the Greyhounds favour.

“You get back on your heels and you’re down 3-2 after a disappointing last 10 minutes of the first period after coming out with such a great start,” Dean said. “Cole MacKay, one of our leaders, goes out there and takes the bull by the horns himself and leads the way on the penalty kill. That’s what Cole is capable of doing.”

Early in the third period, Calisti got his first of the year as his point shot found its way through traffic and past Saginaw goaltender Tristan Lennox to make the score 4-3 Greyhounds early in the third period.

“The big thing for us was we thought in the third period we needed to get some traffic to the goaltender, and we thought we were giving up opportunities to put the puck to the net,” Dean said. “Any time a defenceman can get (a shot) past that first guy, you never know what’s going to happen. That’s a big goal for us.”

“I just fired it and really didn’t know it went in until the guys were jumping all over me,” Calisti said. “It just had eyes.”

Calisti and MacKay finished the night with a goal and an assist each while Rory Kerins, Zack Trott, and Alex Johnston also scored. Joe Carroll and Jaromir Pytlik assisted on two goals each for the Greyhounds.

Christian Propp made 29 saves for the Greyhounds and earned the praise of his coach.

“I don’t think that without Christian Propp tonight we win that hockey game,” Dean said. “He came up really large. When we were on our heels, he made some big saves. When they had a power play, he also made some big saves. He was the difference in the game and he’s what allows us to have a short memory. When you have a guy playing like that behind you, you’re not scared to make plays in front of him.”

Damien Giroux had a pair of goals for Saginaw while Danny Katic had the other Spirit goal.

Goaltender Tristan Lennox made 27 saves for Saginaw.

Saginaw’s record falls to 1-2-1-0 with the loss.

The Greyhounds return to action on Oct.5 at home against the Sudbury Wolves. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is 7:07 p.m.

In other action around the OHL on Saturday night, in Erie, Chad Yetman had a pair of goals as the Erie Otters beat the Windsor Spitfires 6-3. Jamie Drysdale added a goal and two assists while Maxim Golod assisted on three goals for Erie. Kyle McDonald scored twice for Windsor.

In Flint, shootout goals by Ty Dellandrea and Evan Vierling were the difference as the Flint Firebirds beat the Niagara IceDogs 3-2. Flint goaltender Anthony Popovich made 35 saves and stopped two of Niagara’s three shooters in the shootout.

In Hamilton, Connor McMichael had three goals and two assists as the London Knights beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 7-3. Antonio Stranges chipped in with two goals and an assist while Jonathan Gruden also had two goals.

In Barrie, Tyson Foerster had three goals and three assists as the Barrie Colts beat the Mississauga Steelheads 7-3. Ryan Suzuki had a goal and three assists for the Colts.

In Owen Sound, Matthew Philip’s goal at 19:21 of the third period was the game-winner as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Guelph Storm 3-2. Attack goaltender Nick Chenard made 37 saves.