Hounds blanked in Plymouth

The games may not mean much in the standings for the Soo Greyhounds but the remaining regular games mean a lot for team momentum heading into the playoffs.

With the Greyhounds wrapping up the Ontario Hockey League west division crown with a 3-3 tie in Saginaw on Saturday night, the Hounds will still want to be playing their best hockey heading into the second season.

Less than day after celebrating the division crown, the Greyhounds were shutout 2-0 by the Plymouth Whalers in their final road game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon.

The Greyhounds will look to regroup for a strong run into the playoffs when the club returns home for an extended stay.

The locals will get a strong test in their final two regular season games next weekend at Memorial Gardens as the Windsor Spitfires, a possible first round opponent, visit on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and the league champion London Knights arrive in town for a 7 p.m. start on Sunday.

The Greyhounds will then remain home to begin the first round of the playoffs against Windsor.

In Plymouth, the Whalers used a first period goal by former Greyhound defenseman Mike Looby in the first period before John Vigilante, who assisted on Looby's goal, salted the game away just nine seconds into the third period on the power play.

Ryan Nie stopped 26 shots in goal for the shutout while Hounds goaltender Jakub Cech stopped 21 of 23 shots.

The loss was the Greyhounds first since a 4-1 setback to the Sarnia Sting at home on Feb. 23 and the team now has a record of 10-2-2 since the beginning of February.

In 34 road games this season, the Greyhounds compiled a record of 13-16-4-1 for 31 of the team's 72 points.

Meanwhile, Greyhounds forward Andrew Gibbons returned to the lineup this weekend after missing several games from an infected hand suffered during a fight.