As far as season openers go, it went almost as good as it possibly could have for the Soo Greyhounds.
The team kicked off the 2023-24 Ontario Hockey League regular season on Friday night at home with a convincing 11-3 win over the Flint Firebirds at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
A fast start saw the team outshoot the Firebirds 25-6 in the opening period while taking a 5-1 lead in the process.
Greyhounds coach John Dean said the energy, habits, and puck management were strong in the opening period, leading the team to a hot start in the game.
“We’re trying to stay even keel because I think it’s really important that consistency is king,” Dean said. “But absolutely, it’s a great start. I loved the way our D moved the puck up to our forwards. I really liked the way the puck kept moving. We never stalled. We went the other way. We always kept going north. You could see our confidence building over the course of the period.”
“I’m excited about the period,” Dean added.
For the Firebirds, the Greyhounds start put the visitors on their heels early on.
“A couple goals early and a lot of shots (put us) on our heels from there,” said Flint coach Ted Dent. “A lot of new faces in our lineup new to all this. It’s a good experience to probably go through early.”
Dent said the Firebirds struggled keeping up with the speed of the game, especially early on.
“We were a little slow,” Dent said.
For Dean, there was a lot to like throughout the win.
“It’s a great game, obviously,” Dean said. “To put up 11 goals to start a year is great.”
“I liked the intensity of our game for 60 minutes,” Dean added. “We just talked about score issues and a lot of times a game can get skewed by a big score. We kept our foot on the gas for the most part and managed the puck pretty well. We probably gave up some more chances than we wanted to in the second half of the game, but generally when it’s a game like that, it can get ugly, and it didn’t. Our guys stayed responsible.”
The Greyhounds opened the scoring as overage forward Jordan D’Intino skated into the Flint zone and beat Firebirds goaltender Nathan Day glove side from the left faceoff circle at 4:21 od the opening period.
Rookie forward Travis Hayes made it a 2-0 game 34 seconds later, beating Day high short side up under the crossbar to the glove side from the right faceoff circle.
The locals took a 3-0 lead when Christopher Brown jumped on a loose puck in the slot and beat Day with a backhand at 9:30. The goal came after a shot from the right circle by Alex Kostov was partially blocked.
Marco Mignosa made it 4-0, beating Day on a rebound of a Bryce McConnell-Barker shot at 11:21.
Justin Cloutier made it a 5-0 game at 15:41 when he beat Day from the right faceoff circle with the teams playing four-on-four.
Flint got on the board at 18:47 when Jeremy Martin beat Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel on a shorthanded breakaway after a turnover in the Flint zone.
Julian Fantino picked up his first goal of the season in the middle stanza as he beat Day high stick side on a breakaway. The goal ended the night for Day just under five minutes into the period.
Owen Allard made it 7-1 Greyhounds, beating new Flint goaltender Jacob Brown 5-hole on a breakaway pass from Brenden Sirizzotti at 8:14.
The Greyhounds took an 8-1 lead into the intermission as Hayes scored his second of the night at 16:25 with the Greyhounds on a two-man advantage.
Flint made it an 8-2 game on the opening shift of the third as he skated into the Greyhounds zone and beat Schenkel with a shot from the slot and the Firebirds down a man.
Sirizzotti made it 9-2 Greyhounds at 3:02 as he beat Brown high short (stick) side from in tight on the power play.
Jack Beck then gave the Greyhounds a 10-2 lead as he beat Brown with a shot from the left circle through traffic 38 seconds after Sirizzotti’s goal.
Daks Klinkhammer then scored for Flint, beating Schenkel from the slot glove side at 8:34.
Fantino capped off the scoring with 1:23 to go as he beat Brown with a shot from the right circle.
Andrew Gibson finished the night with four assists for the Greyhounds while Kostov and Arttu Karki added three each.
In addition to two-goal nights from Hayes and Fantino, Beck, Allard, Brown, Sirizzotti, and Mignosa had a goal and an assist each.
Connor Toms and Kirill Kudryavtsev assisted on a pair of goals each for the Greyhounds.
Schenkel made 17 saves in the win.
Asked about his first OHL goal, Hayes said he was “happy to get it under my belt.”
Hayes added that when he scored his first goal, there was “a lot of relief.”
A total of 16 players had at least one point for the Greyhounds in the win.
“I’m sure a lot of players will tell you that I haven’t rolled four lines like that in the six years I’ve been here,” Dean joked.
“It was really simple for me to roll four,” Dean added.
Day stopped 22 of 28 shots before being pulled. Brown stopped 14 of 19 the rest of the way.
For the Greyhounds, the opening weekend of the season sees the team host the Brantford Bulldogs on Saturday night in a 7:07 p.m. start at the GFL Memorial Gardens.