Rookie's 'biggest goal' lifts Greyhounds to road win

While things haven’t been perfect, progress is happening for the Soo Greyhounds.

After starting the season with losses in their first three games of the Ontario Hockey League regular season, the Greyhounds have now won three of their past four games.

That includes a 3-2 win over the Saginaw Spirit on the road on Sunday at Saginaw’s Dow Event Center.

“Given the way we started the year, obviously with some bad luck, some injury issues, and some youthful mistakes, for us to battle the way we have really since the Windsor loss…it’s a big morale booster,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said.

“It’s a big selling feature for our staff and our players that what we’re doing is working,” Dean added.

Dean called Sunday’s victory the Greyhounds “grittiest” performance of the season.

“In the third period we were under siege a little bit, the power play really struggled,” Dean said. “Definitely our best complete effort. We still have a long way to go but is this team ever gritty and fun to coach right now.”

In addition to crediting his team for a gritty performance in the victory, Dean also said he was happy with the reaction of the team after taking a 2-1 lead and Saginaw came back and tied the game at two on the next shift.

“That’s a tough goal against and given the dynamic of our season so far, it could have been a very easy decision for our guys to fold that tent or feel nervous or anxious that something wrong was going to happen,” Dean said.

The win came thanks to a goal late in regulation time by rookie forward Carson Andrew.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Andrew said of getting the winner. “It’s probably the biggest goal I’ve scored in my life. It was a 2-on-1, I saw the shot and I took it.”

“He believes in himself,” Dean said of the 16-year-old forward. “He’s a natural goalscorer. He’s got a great knack for putting the puck in the back of the net and you want players that want the game on their stick. For a 16-year-old to want the game on his stick says a lot about what he feels about himself and a lot about who he is as a player.”

The clubs skated through a scoreless opening period, and it wasn’t until midway through the second period that either team would finally get on the scoreboard.

Saginaw’s Michael Misa stepped out from the left side and proceeded to beat Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel high short side above the netminders glove hand at 9:16 from the faceoff circle.

The Greyhounds tied the game with 1:13 to go in the period as Brady Martin got in behind a Saginaw defender and took a pass from Justin Cloutier before beating Saginaw’s Andrew Oke from in close. The goal came moments after a save by Schenkel at the other end on Misa.

Cloutier gave the Greyhounds a 2-1 lead midway through the third period as he skated into the right faceoff circle and beat Oke with a shot 5-hole at 10:07.

The Spirit wasted little time tying the game at two as Calem Mangone stepped out from along the end boards and stuffed the puck past Schenkel just 1:03 later, setting the stage for the game winner by Andrew.

On the game winner, Travis Hayes forced a turnover in the neutral zone and Andrew grabbed the loose puck and skated into the Spirit zone on a 2-on-1 with Hayes. Andrew proceeded to beat Oke with a shot stick side from the left side of the slot. The goal came with 1:54 to go in regulation time.

Cloutier and Martin finished the night with a goal and an assist each for the Greyhounds.

Schenkel stopped 31 shots in the victory, including 14 in the third period.

“Charlie’s been very steady for us all season,” Dean said of the veteran netminder. “He was phenomenal tonight. There were moments in the third period where you could see we were under siege a bit. Our D zone tightened up in a good way to try to prevent any Grade A’s, but Charlie just looked calm, cool, collective. It’s all about body language and the compete in your goaltender and he gave our group a ton of confidence to keep going.”

Oke made 26 saves for the Spirit in the loss.

With Sunday’s victory, the Greyhounds have won back-to-back games after a win over Kitchener on Friday night and improve to 3-4-0-0 on the season.

“This team has slowly bonded together,” Dean said of the latest stretch of games for the Greyhounds. “There’s a lot of new faces and when you bond in a positive way from good leadership, our leadership group has been fantastic since the Sudbury game, you want to go to bat for the guys and you want to learn the systems. You want to compete, and you want to win your battles. That’s been a huge piece for us. I can see guys really start to pull for each other. When that happens, teaching structure and getting guys to buy in becomes so much easier.

Saginaw falls to 4-2-1-0 after dropping back-to-back games at home to finish the weekend.”

The Greyhounds return to action on Wednesday night on the road in Sudbury against the Wolves before returning home for four games in a row at home beginning next weekend with games on Friday night against Flint and Sunday afternoon against Sarnia.

On the injury front, the Greyhounds lost forward Sam Bowness after the 19-year-old forward crashed into the Saginaw net while driving to the goal. Bowness didn’t return to the game after the play and Dean said following the game that the severity of the injury wasn’t known.