The Soo Jr. Greyhounds received a scare Sunday night but survived it and escaped with a 5-3 victory over the Abitibi Eskimos at Memorial Gardens.
The Jr. Hounds opened the scoring early in the first period as Kelly Thomson beat Abitibi goaltender Sean Sheehan to give the home club an early 1-0 lead. Abitibi tied the game near the midway point of the period as James Pauly scored his 26 goal of the season. Minutes later Matt Hall gave the Jr. Hounds the lead again on a power play goal but Abitibi replied 35 seconds later as Matt Tremblay scored an unassisted marker to knot the game at 2.
Late in the period, Adam Chirkoski scored to give Abitibi the lead before Joey Coccimiglio scored to tie the game at 3.
The third period saw the Jr. Hounds take a lead that they would not relinquish as Luke Stellmach scored just under three minutes into the period and Coccimiglio sealed the win with an empty net goal.
Jr. Hounds' goalie Shane Bellini was the story of the night as he stopped 40 shots in being named the game's first star.
Next home action will be Feb. 28 when the first-place North Bay Skyhawks pay a visit to Memorial Gardens.