When looking at the Ontario Hockey League standings, one noticeable stat is that of the Soo Greyhounds in past 10 games.
Heading into Wednesday night's game with the Saginaw Spirit, the Hounds had eight wins and a tie in their previous 10 outings and were winners of five straight games.
Facing a depleted Spirit squad, which had three veterans as well as rookie Scott Fletcher out of the lineup, the Hounds jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead en route to a 7-2 victory over the Spirit in front of a solid crowd during fan appreciation night at Memorial Gardens.
The Hounds nearly opened the scoring early on when Brody Todd sent Jeff Carter in alone but the Hounds captain could not beat Spirit goaltender Ryan Daniels.
Todd officially opened the scoring with the Hounds on the man advantage at 8:54.
Andrew Desjardins, who had a solid game in being named the game's third star, put the Hounds ahead by a pair at 11:35. The Hounds controlled much of the play in the period, outshooting the Spirit by a 21-8 margin.
Just under five minutes into the second period, Hounds rookie Brandon MacLean scored his first Ontario Hockey League goal picking up a Kyle Wharton dump in and converting it past Daniels at 4:27.
Just 58 seconds later, the Spirit got themselves on the board when Jesse Gimblett deflected a point shot past Hounds starter Jakub Cech.
Jason Pitton managed to restore the three goal cushion though when he deflected Wharton shot past Daniels at 11:30 with the Greyhounds on the man-advantage. Jacob King, who was named the first star of the game, sent the game into the third with the Hounds up 5-1 when he scored a shorthanded marker at 13:58.
Blair Jarrett scored just 52 seconds into the third period to give the Hounds a 6-1 lead before Tom Pyatt of Saginaw and Desjardins of the Hounds traded goals to cap off the 7-2 final to give the Hounds their sixth straight win.
The Hounds peppered Daniels throughout the game with a number of quality scoring chances and finished the game with 44 shots. Cech stopped 17 Spirit shots for the victory in goal for the Hounds.
The victory improves the Hounds record to 31-24-8-1 and gives the locals an eight point cushion over second place Plymouth in the West Division standings. The Whalers do have a game in hand on the Hounds, although a Hounds victory on the road this weekend would clinch the division title.
The Hounds again face Saginaw, in Saginaw, on Saturday evening before taking to the ice in Plymouth on Sunday.
Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg was pleased with the win although he was cautious heading into Saturday's return match saying his team needs to be ready to play.
"We took an unnecessary penalty early, but after that I thought we controlled most of the game," Hartsburg said. "We didn't give up a whole lot five on five. We gave them very few chances."
Hartsburg also commented on the effectiveness of his third line, featuring Andrew Desjardins, Reg Thomas and Jacob King, as well as his fourth line of Matt Leszczynski, Brandon MacLean and Ryan McInerney.
"(The McInerney line) gives us some energy and it was nice to see Brandon get rewarded with a goal tonight," Hartsburg said. "Reg is a veteran guy and (that line) can be a good line for us as well."
The game also featured three separate occasions in which Memorial Gardens fire alarms sounded. The alarms reportedly went off due to a problem with a popcorn machine in the main lobby.
Following the Hounds short two game road trip this weekend, they will return home for a pair of games to close out the regular season.
Friday, Mar. 18 will see the Windsor Spitfires in town for a 7:30 p.m. start while Sunday, Mar. 20 will see the London Knights make an appearance at Memorial Gardens in a 7 p.m. start to close out the regular season.
*** SUSPENDED SPIRIT:
The Spirit played Wednesday's game without rookie Scott Fletcher as well as overage Thomas Harrison, and forwards Gary Klapkowski and Chase Crowder.
Crowder, Harrison and Fletcher were all out of the lineup due to team imposed suspensions which were handed down before the game, but not officially announced until after completion of the game.
All three players, as well as Patrick Asselin, Steven Whitely and Jesse Gimblett, who all played in the game were handed suspensions for violation of team rules.
Fletcher was handed a four-game ban, which will mean the end to his season as the Spirit had four games remaining heading into Wednesday's game with the Hounds.
The other five players were all handed two game suspensions. Fletcher, Crowder and Harrison all served their first games on Wednesday night.
*** AROUND THE O:
In the other game in the Ontario Hockey League on Wednesday night, the Guelph Storm scored three unanswered third period goals to defeat the Owen Sound Attack 4-2.
Ryan Callahan, Lubomir Stach and Mick Okrzesik scored in the third period for the Storm. Callahan added a pair of assists while Okrzesik also had an assist in the victory.