After what was potentially their worst game of the season on Wednesday night at home, the Soo Greyhounds were looking to rebound well on Friday.
Instead, a slow start compounded, and the Greyhounds now find themselves in a hole after facing two of the Ontario Hockey League’s hottest teams.
The Greyhounds struggled out of the game and ultimately dropped a 4-0 decision on the road against the Kitchener Rangers Friday at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
“We came out completely flat,” said veteran forward Marco Mignosa. “It’s unacceptable.”
“They’re setting an example with the way they play,” Mignosa said of the Rangers and Knights. “They hunt like dogs, have some jam when they play.”
Mignosa agreed that the Greyhounds didn’t match the Rangers intensity in Friday’s game.
“Not at all,” Mignosa said.
With back-to-back lacklustre efforts, coach John Dean said there’s an onus on the players to force his hand when it comes to ice time.
“There has to be a serious demand on the players,” Dean said. “Whoever is going is going to have an opportunity to play. Whoever is competing and playing the right way is going to get an opportunity to go. That’s how we’re going to reward ice time.”
“If I have to shorten the bench down to two lines, I’ll do it,” Dean said.
Dean said the Greyhounds “look like a team that lacks confidence.”
“Confidence comes from compete and work ethic,” Dean added. “Right now, compete and attitude is not there.”
“Right now, we’re not doing the things we need to do or we’re not willing to do the things we need to do to get that swagger back,” Dean added.
In reference to the Greyhounds struggles, Dean said he expected a bounce-back Friday night in Kitchener.
“We should have had a response after a difficult London game,” Dean said. “Now one game has turned into two.
“Identity, effort, compete, those are critical things that you need to see on a regular basis,” Dean added. “It’s okay to have an off night. It’s not okay to have two off nights in a row.”
For the Rangers, there was a lot to like in the game.
“We defended really well,” Kitchener coach Jussi Ahokas said in an interview with RogersTV following the game. “It was a really solid defensive game. (Jackson) Parsons played great in the net, but everybody was defending well.”
“(There were) a lot of good things going on,” Ahokas added. “A solid performance.”
Holding the Greyhounds off the scoresheet on five power plays in the game was also big for the Rangers, who killed off a 5-on-3 in the third period as well.
“That was huge,” Ahokas said of the 5-on-3. “The guys really stood up. (Assistant coach) Brad Flynn has done a great job with our PK. Guys are really committed to it and that’s what you need. You need good special teams if you want to be a good team in this league.”
Kitchener opened the scoring as defenceman Matthew Andonovski entered the Greyhounds zone late and took a pass from Cameron Mercer before beating Sault starter Landon Miller high stick side 2:19 into the game.
After the Rangers carried the lead into the second period, the home team wasted little time making it a 2-0 game in the middle stanza. With a power play carrying over from the end of the opening period, Luca Romano got the puck in the left faceoff circle and beat Miller with a shot high short side 1:15 into the second period.
Again on the power play, Kitchener made it a 3-0 game as Trent Swick picked off a clearing attempt by Miller who had come out of the net to play a dump in. Swick then beat Miller diving back into the net to extend the lead at – of the period.
The goal ended Miller’s night early as Charlie Schenkel entered the game in relief.
It remained 3-0 Rangers until 9:27 of the third period when Andrew Vermeulen beat Schenkel with a shot from the high slot stick side to cap off the scoring for the home team.
Miller stopped 11 of 14 shots before coming out of the game while Schenkel stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced the rest of the way.
Parsons stopped all 20 shots he faced for the Rangers in the win.
“He’s getting better and better and more confident as the games go on,” Ahokas said of Parsons. “He’s a really important part of our team.”
The Greyhounds fall to 9-8-0-0 with the loss on Friday and return to action Saturday night in Flint with a game against the Firebirds before returning home for three straight games.
The Rangers improve to 13-2-1-1 with the win.
Overage forward Owen Allard missed Friday’s game due to an upper body injury.
Dean said that there isn’t a timeframe on a potential return yet for the veteran forward though he will miss Saturday’s game in Flint.
Notes: With the NCAA announcement this week that players from the Canadian Hockey League will be eligible to play south of the border beginning next season, Parsons was the first OHL player to officially commit to a school south of the border.
On Friday, Parsons committed to Clarkson University and will join the program next fall.
Also on Friday, the OHL announced that London Knights forward Landon Sim has been suspended indefinitely.
Sim was given a game misconduct for an incident at the end of the first period of the Knights win over the Greyhounds on Wednesday night in the Sault.