The Soo Greyhounds motto for the 2005 OHL playoffs has been to "Git-er-done" and thus far the Greyhounds have done just that taking an early 2-0 series lead over the Windsor Spitfires.
The phrase, which was popularized by American stand-up comedian Larry the Cable Guy, has taken on added meaning this playoff season.
The Hounds have done their part through two games of their Western Conference quarterfinal series and find themselves in the driver seat as the series shifts to Windsor for games three and four.
On the heels of a 5-0 victory over Windsor on Friday night in game one, the Hounds secured a 3-1 victory on Saturday in game two, a game played in front of just under 3,900 fans at Memorial Gardens.
The Hounds scored three first period goals en route to the victory, with two of those goals coming on special teams.
The goals came after Hounds rookie goaltender Kyle Gajewski made some sensational saves including two stops just under 30 seconds apart on Jason Dixon and John-Scott Dickson, both from point blank range.
Jason Pitton gave the Hounds the early lead when he had two chances in front of the Windsor goal, finally putting the second chance past Spitfires starter Kyle Knechtel at 3:04 with the Greyhounds a man short.
Just 1:29 later, Brody Todd picked up his second goal of the playoffs, this time with the Hounds on the man-advantage to give the locals a 2-0 cushion. The Hounds padded their lead at 12:54 when Reg Thomas fired a shot past Knechtel from high in the slot to make the score 3-0.
Knechtel was pulled in favour of overage goaltender Brad Topping, but the move was more used to calm Knechtel as the young netminder was back between the pipes just 48 seconds later.
The second period was uneventful, that is, up until the final seconds of the period. During a scuffle involving numerous Hounds and Spits players, the penalties handed out, left the Hounds at a disadvantage when forward Jacob King was handed a match penalty by referee Mike Pearce for allegedly biting a Windsor player.
The Spitfires cut into the Hounds lead in the third period when Dickson scored Windsor's first goal of the series at 13:28 of the third period, but the single goal was all the Spitfires offense could muster up as they dropped their second straight game of the series.
The series now shifts to Windsor for games three and four on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Should the series be extended to a fifth game, game five would be on Saturday, April 2 at Memorial Gardens in a 7:30 p.m. start time.
Following the game, Hounds head coach Craig Hartsburg said he was pleased with his club's play defensively as, despite giving up 63 shots over the first two games, they did not give up too many quality scoring chances.
"They had (that many shots) but I'm not sure how many scoring chances they had," Hartsburg commented. "They had a lot of outside shots and not too many second shots. We'd like to cut down the shots against but we're not concerned at this point. We just know we can play better."
Hartsburg also commented on the play of Gajewski in the Hounds goal, who made key saves when needed throughout the game.
"(Gajewski) was there when we needed him," Hartsburg said. "He was good all night and he was our best player tonight. In the playoffs you need good goaltending but you don't want to have to rely on it but we certainly had good goaltending tonight."
"Gajewski has played excellent hockey in the two nights," commented Spitfires head coach Dave Prpich. "We haven't got a break around the net yet and if we can commit ourselves here this can turn out to be a good series."
Discipline came into play at times, specifically in the third period with Windsor trying to get back into the game. Both coaches commented on how important a factor it was.
"There's a lot of emotions in playoff time and we want our kids to control it," Hartsburg commented. "We'll do the best we can to control it but at the same time we're going to play hard. We're going to finish all our checks, we're going to compete hard and that's the way you're supposed to play."
"(Discipline) is a concern obviously, but I asked the team to compete harder (on Saturday)," said Prpich. "They competed harder than they did (Friday). We really upped our competitive level in the game. Having said that, in order to get back in the series we're going to have to be a lot more disciplined."
*** AROUND THE O:
* A third period goal by Jamie Tardif was the difference as Peterborough scored a 3-2 victory over the Belleville Bulls in Belleville. Tardif scored at 17:10 of the third to give the Petes the victory. The goal was his second of the evening. Liam Reddox had a goal and an assist while Jordan Morrison had three assists in the win. The Petes now lead their best-of-7 Eastern Conference playoff series 2-0.
* Hunter Tremblay had a goal and an assist to lead the Barrie Colts to a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa 67's to tie their Eastern Conference series at one game apiece. Rob Hisey had a pair of assists in the victory.
* Sault native Patrick Jarrett had a big night scoring a pair of goals and adding two assists as the Owen Sound Attack defeated the Plymouth Whalers 6-1 to take a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal series. Stefan Ruzicka had two goals and an assist while Jonathan Lehun and Bob Sanguinetti each added a pair of assists for Owen Sound.
* One night after scoring a double overtime victory, the Erie Otters scored another victory over the Kitchener Rangers, thanks to a three goal second period. Second period goals by Ryan O'Marra, Brett MacLean, and Brian Lee led the Otters to a 4-2 victory over the Rangers. David Herring added two assists in the win.