Hounds and IceDogs are fit to be tied

It was a battle of the dogs on Saturday night at Memorial Gardens and neither side could come out with a victory as the Soo Greyhounds and Mississauga IceDogs battled to a 1-1 draw.

In a game that featured a little bit of everything, the Greyhounds put together a solid effort as they managed to pick up a much needed point in the standings.

The point puts the Hounds into a tie for top spot in the Ontario Hockey League's West Division with the Plymouth Whalers.

Playing the game with three regulars out of the lineup – Jacob King and Reg Thomas due to suspension and Brad Good due to injury – the Hounds held the IceDogs main offensive threats, namely Patrick O'Sullivan and John Hecimovic, off the scoresheet.

The IceDogs opened the scoring at 11:57 of the first period when defenseman Adam Abraham slid a rebound past Hounds starter Jakub Cech on the power play.

Early in the second period Hounds centre Jeff Carter had an opportunity to tie the game when he took a feed in the slot and was uncovered but his shot was deflected over the net by an IceDog defender.

Not long after the Carter opportunity, the Hounds ran into some penalty trouble. After a hit by Tom Zanoski on Hounds defenseman Kyle Wharton behind the Hounds goal, teammate Andrew Gibbons came to the aide of the Hounds blueliner.

Gibbons tried to fight Zanoski, but the veteran wanted no part of the action. When all was said and done, Gibbons found himself with an instigating minor, a fighting major as well as a 10-minute misconduct while Zanoski ended the play with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The penalties left the Greyhounds shorthanded for five minutes.

With the IceDogs on the man advantage, the Greyhounds had most of the scoring opportunities, which included Tyler Kennedy being stopped on a breakaway late in the penalty.

Moments after being stopped, Kennedy had another opportunity and he would not be turned aside. The young centre came out from the corner and fired a shot past Mississauga goaltender Michael Ouzas to tie the game at one.

Late in the period, Jason Pitton of the Hounds had a glorious opportunity to give the Hounds the lead but what he thought was an open net was quickly taken away as Ouzas made a tremendous glove save on the 18-year-old.

The Greyhounds continued to take the play to the IceDogs in the third period but could not beat Ouzas, who was named the game's second star behind Kennedy. Ouzas finished the game with 33 saves with Cech stopping 23 IceDogs shots.

Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg was pleased with the effort put forth by the Hounds and was happy with their ability to kill off the five minute man advantage Mississauga had in the second period.

"I thought it was really a hard fought battle," Hartsburg said. "It was encouraging to win a battle like that. That was a good measuring stick for us. If (the players) compete like that, they can compete with most teams in the league."

"(The penalty kill) got us the point," Hartsburg added. "It would have been tough to go down 2-0. (Mississauga's) the second best defensive team in the league. The way we played in the second and third periods we deserved to win.

Hartsburg was also pleased with the play of two of his veterans in Kennedy and Jeff Carter.

"(Carter) was on a mission tonight. I thought he played better than O'Sullivan," Hartsburg said. "I thought Tyler was outstanding. It was a little bit of everything (skill, determination) on that goal."

The game also marked the ninth straight game that Kennedy has recorded a point. Kennedy has three goals and nine points in his last eight games.

The Greyhounds now prepare to take on two more Eastern Conference entries as the Oshawa Generals will be in town on Feb. 11 while the Barrie Colts will be in town the following night, Feb. 12. Game time on both nights in 7:30 p.m.

*** AROUND THE O:

* Justin Donati had a goal and three assists while his brother Tyler added a pair of goals and an assist as the Toronto St. Michael's Majors did the Greyhounds a favour by beating the Plymouth Whalers 6-3. Dale Good added a pair of assists while Wayne Savage stopped 40 shots in the victory. John Armstrong had a goal and an assist in the loss for Plymouth

* Tom Mannino scored twice and Jeff Weber stopped 39 shots as the Saginaw Spirit chalked up a 4-2 victory over Owen Sound. Andrej Sekera had a goal and an assist in the loss.

* Hunter Tremblay scored with 29 seconds left in the third period to give the Barrie Colts a 3-2 victory over the Guelph Storm. Tremblay added an assist in the game while Bryan Little added a pair of assists in the win.

* A goal by Tomas Galasek at 12:34 of the second period proved to be the winner as Erie defeated Kitchener 2-0. Josh Disher stopped 22 shots for the shutout.

* Jeff MacDougald stopped 45 shots as the Peterborough Petes beat the Sarnia Sting 5-2. Jordan Morrison had a goal and a pair of assists in the win while Greg Stewart also chipped in with a goal and an assist.