Hounds drop shootout to Wolves (5 photos added)

For the second straight game, the Soo Greyhounds and Sudbury Wolves could not decide a winner in regulation time.

Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, they could not match the previous result as they dropped a 2-1 decision on Sunday night at Memorial Gardens in a shootout to the Wolves thanks to a goal by Sudbury's Chase Crowder.

On Friday night, Ryan Kitchen's shootout goal gave the Hounds a 3-2 victory in Sudbury.

In a game that featured a number of five-on-three situations, three for the Greyhounds and two for the visiting Wolves, neither team could find a way to generate some added offense.

After a scoreless opening period in which the Greyhounds outshot the Wolves 10-9, the Wolves got on the board in the second period when Kevin Baker scored on the man-advantage at 15:10.

In the third period, the Greyhounds, who only had four shots in the second period, had some chances but could not catch a break until late in the period. With just under a minute left in regulation time, the Hounds were handed a power play and made the most of it.

With Kyle Gajewski pulled for an extra attacker, Cody Thornton managed to sneak a point shot through a maze of players and past Kevin Beech in the Sudbury goal to tie the game with just 31 second left.

The Thornton goal turned out to be the only blemish on his record as Beech stopped 24 shots in regulation and stopped Thornton, Ryan McInerney and Kitchen in the shootout.

Gajewski made 21 saves on the night to go along with stops on Kevin Baker and Sault native Matt Dias in the shootout with Crowder providing the only offense in the shootout by beating Gajewski on the first shot he faced.

Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg commented following the game that getting the puck on net was a key thing that was missing from the night's game for the Greyhounds.

"I thought we tried to be too fancy at times," the coach said. "We need to shoot the puck more and hit the net more. We probably did shoot the puck quite a bit but it got blocked or missed the net. Especially our defencemen, they have to get pucks to the net."

Hartsburg added that he was pleased with the way his team played defensively.

"Defensively we were pretty good. I think the penalty killing was pretty good. Defensively as a team we didn't give much. There's lots of good things to build on this week in practice."

The Greyhounds played the game without a number of veterans. Tyler Kennedy and Jason Pitton are both away at NHL training camps – Kennedy in Pittsburgh and Pitton in New York with the Islanders. Both are expected to be back with the Greyhounds on Monday.

Defenceman Brad Good and forward Jacob King were also out of the lineup with minor injuries, while import David Kuchejda is still working on getting his release from the Czech Republic in order to suit up for the Greyhounds. Hartsburg expected the situation to be cleared up by the season opener.

Hartsburg was confident that with a good week of practice the Greyhounds will be ready for the season opener on Friday against Ottawa at Memorial Gardens.

"We need a good week of practice and then we'll be ready," Hartsburg said. "We did lots of good things and the kids worked hard through training camp. They gave us an honest effort and I think they've improved.

"Now they've got to keep working all year to get better. This is junior hockey, you've got to keep finding ways to get better. If they keep working, they'll get better."

After wrapping up the exhibition schedule with three wins and a shootout loss, the Greyhounds will open up the regular season with games against Ottawa and Erie, both on home ice, on Friday and Sunday nights. Game time on Friday is set for 7:30 while Sunday's game will be a 7 p.m. start.

(All photos courtesy of Jim Egan.)