Schenkel, Beck shine as Greyhounds return to action

Having a long break for Christmas may have showed early on, but a strong goaltending performance helped the Soo Greyhounds through it in a critical divisional matchup on the road on Thursday night.

The Greyhounds took a 2-1 lead through one period despite being outshot, and outplayed, early on and picked up a 5-2 victory over the Saginaw Spirit as the teams returned to play from the Ontario Hockey League’s Christmas break on Thursday.

While the start was an issue, Greyhounds coach John Dean credited goaltender Charlie Schenkel for his play early on while the team struggled out of the gate.

“It certainly looked like we had 12 days off in the first 12 minutes,” Dean said.

“Charlie keeps us in the game in the first ten minutes,” Dean said. “He plays a great sixty, but the first ten minutes could have been really ugly for us, and he lets us find our legs. We probably shouldn’t be up 2-1 (through one period), but we are.”

Schenkel, who picked up his 17th win of the season in the game said he was “itching to get back and play some hockey.”

“I had it marked on the calendar and was excited to come back,” Schenkel added.

Having played some of his best hockey of late, the Sault netminder said his practice habits have helped him in recent weeks get to where he wanted to be.

“I owe a lot to (goalie coach) Mark Visentin,” Schenkel said. “He’s really put a huge emphasis on working my butt off in practice every single day and treating every shot like it’s a game.”

With four players out of the lineup due to injuries and the World Junior Hockey Championship, Dean again spoke of the Greyhounds depth helping the team succeed minus the four, which includes Owen Allard and Arttu Karki (both at the World Juniors) and Bryce McConnell-Barker and Jordan D’Intino (both injured).

“We have exceptional depth; we have great leadership both in and out of the lineup,” Dean said. “We’re a relentless group that believes in what we’re doing. There’s a huge care for each other in that room and a lot of these guys are stepping up not only for themselves, but for the guy beside them.”

In addition to being critical of his own team following the game, Spirit coach Chris Lazary was also critical of the ice at Saginaw’s Dow Event Center on Thursday night.

“Our ice is a joke,” Lazary said following the game on the Spirit radio broadcast. “Both teams, the puck’s everywhere.”

“We come out of the holidays, and I didn’t expect much in terms of the detail we’ve been playing with when we left going into the break, we just knew it was going to be one of those games we needed a couple of saves, and we didn’t get them. It was just a bad night coming out of the break.”

Saginaw opened the scoring as Michael Misa took a pass in the slot from Calem Mangone below the goalline after the latter grabbed a turnover behind the Sault goal. Misa proceeded to beat Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel high glove side at 7:03.

The Greyhounds tied the game at one as Brenden Sirizzotti cut to the net from the right wing, held off Saginaw defenceman Josh Glavin, and slide a backhand past Andrew Oke in the Spirit goal 47 seconds after the Misa goal.

The visitors took the lead as Marco Mignosa beat Oke from just inside the right faceoff circle with a one-timer off a pass from Jack Beck below the goalline at 14:08, just two seconds after a Saginaw penalty had ended.

Beck made it a 3-1 game in the second period as he skated down the left wing and beat Oke 5-hole from the left circle 2:48 into the period. The goal also ended the night for Oke, who was pulled in favour of Nolan Lalonde.

On the power play, Saginaw pulled back to within one as Zayne Parekh beat Schenkel from the left circle through a screen by Misa glove side 2:27 into the third period.

Beck added his second of the night 2:11 later as he took a pass in the neutral zone from Travis Hayes before beating Lalonde stick side on a break to make it a 4-2 game.

Mignosa then sealed the win with an empty net goal in the final minute of regulation time for the Greyhounds.

Beck finished the night with two goals and an assist to pace the Greyhounds offensively.

Following the win, Dean called Beck “likely the most elite 20-year-old in the league.”

Dean added that Beck’s leadership has been important for the team this season.

“He’s extremely good at coaching the young guys,” Dean said. “He’s extremely good at leading by example and he’s really taken on an identity here with some of the other players out. He’s seeing this as his opportunity to step in and be more vocal and lead by example.”

Dean also called Beck’s second goal important at a key time in the game.

“That’s what special players do,” Dean said. “We put ourselves in a spot where we had some penalty trouble in the third. We give them life by allowing them to score on the power play and then the most elite 20-year-old in the league goes down the ice and pretty much ends the game for us.”

Beck credited Hayes for the play made initially on his second goal and agreed that “kind of shot their confidence a little bit” at the time.

In addition to the two-point night for Mignosa, who brought his goal total to 14 on the season with his two tallies, Hayes, Andrew Gibson, and Spencer Evans also had two-point nights with two assists each in the win for the Greyhounds.

Schenkel made 32 saves for the Sault in the win and has won eight of his last nine games. The performance included a 15-save opening period for the Greyhounds netminder.

Misa was in on both goals for the Spirit with a goal and an assist.

Oke was pulled after giving up three goals on 12 shots in just under 23 minutes of work. Lalonde made 11 saves on 12 shots the rest of the way for Saginaw.

The Greyhounds improve to 23-8-2-1 with the win and now hold an eight-point lead on the Spirit for first in the OHL’s West Division. With seven wins and a shootout loss in their past eight games, the Greyhounds have gone 11-1-2-1 since Nov. 15.

The Greyhounds also pull to within one point of the Kitchener Rangers for top spot in the Western Conference.

With the Greyhounds off until Saturday night when they host the Sudbury Wolves at the GFL Memorial Gardens, the Rangers are back on the ice on Friday night at home against the Flint Firebirds before facing Owen Sound on the road on Saturday night.

The Spirit, who have three games in hand on the Greyhounds, fall to 20-10-0-1 with the loss. Saginaw is also in action on Saturday night when they host the Windsor Spitfires before traveling north to face the Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon.