Tough decisions still to be made as Greyhounds shift to exhibition mode

Down to 27 players heading into the Ontario Hockey League pre-season, the Soo Greyhounds feel that the tough decisions are still ahead.

Following four days of training camp and two rounds of player cuts, next up for the team is an exhibition opener on Sunday afternoon at home.

For general manager Kyle Raftis, the work has only just begun.

“Where everyone slots in is going to be the real tough decisions moving forward,” Raftis said. “Guys are obviously hungry with a chip on their shoulder, looking for more. That’s going to be the next domino to fall.”

Friday night saw the team play its annual Luke Williams Memorial Red/White game at the GFL Memorial Gardens, a game in which Team White picked up an 11-6 win over Team Red.

“The biggest thing that stood out for me is a lot of the returning guys and young guys, they’re not putting on a show when they’re playing aggressive out there,” Raftis said. “They want this.”

“A lot of guys in their feedback have been, ‘Hey, we’ve got to raise the standard here. We have to push on that side of it and they did it all week and tonight especially,’” Raftis added.

Throughout camp, Raftis and Greyhounds coach John Dean referred to the competitive nature of many of the scrimmages. Friday’s game was no different and much of it was something in which Raftis said was partially about “raising the standard.”

“It came back to what we keep preaching about raising the standard back to where we need it to be,” Raftis said. “It starts with not just being chippy and taking penalties, but it’s about having that uber-competitiveness, winning puck battles, those little things that are going to separate guys and that’s what they’re trying to bring to the table.”

For a team that struggled offensively last season, Raftis said Friday’s outburst brought with it a confidence factor, among other things.

“Usually how we’ve always been is a real high offence team. It starts with our back end. A lot more crisp passes, a lot more good exits,” Raftis said. “Then that swagger to trust yourself if you get a chance in tight.”

Raftis added that scoring in Friday’s game that came from players that didn’t put up big goal totals last season is a potential opportunity to build some confidence.

“It’s huge,” Raftis said. “Obviously it was a longer summer than everyone wanted. These guys hit it hard. They said the right things and did the right things. You want to see that transition on ice. That’s something where all these goals to some people might seem meaningless, but it’s just getting that feeling back in your game and that confidence is going to build for them.”

After sitting out the final scrimmage of the week on Thursday night, Greyhounds captain Bryce McConnell-Barker was also out of action for Friday’s game.

Friday saw the Greyhounds roster trimmed down to 27 players – two goaltenders, nine defenceman, and 16 forwards.

Released or reassigned following the Red/White game were:

• Goaltenders Zack Irvin (2023 10th round pick) and Noah Tegelaar (2023 U18 2nd round pick)
• Defencemen Caleb Labelle (2023 U18 second round pick), Keegan Gillen (2023 14th round pick), and Hunter Solomon (2023 4th round pick)
• Forwards Diego Da Silva (free agent), Brady Smith (2023 5th round pick), Sydney Loreto (2023 U18 3rd round pick), Jordan Charron (2023 6th round pick), Nate Brentnell (2022 5th round pick), and Zack Corte (2021 13th round pick)

The Greyhounds pre-season opener will see the team host the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday afternoon. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 2:07 p.m.

In Friday’s game, Christpher Brown opened the scoring for Team Red just over seven minutes in as he took a pass in the right faceoff circle from Ethan Montroy and beat Team White goaltender Charlie Schenkel stick side.

Just under two minutes later, Connor Clattenburg made it a 2-0 game on a shot from the slot after taking a feed from Marco Mignosa down low.

Jordan D’Intino made it a one-goal game with just over six minutes to go in the opening period as he beat Team White goaltender Landon Miller high short side from the left faceoff circle.

With 49 seconds to go in the period, Julian Fantino tied the game on a one-timer from the left faceoff circle.

Daylen Moses made it a 3-2 game for Team White on a redirection in close 5:37 into the second period.

Team Red came back on the next shift as Keegan Gillen beat Schenkel from the high slot to tie the game at three.

Team Red took a 4-3 lead when Sydney Loreto scored on a rebound in tight after Team White goaltender Noah Tegelaar made the initial save on Brady Simth on the play with just over six minutes to go in the period.

With Team White on the power play late in the period, Fantino made it a 4-4 game when he beat new Team Red goaltender Zack Irvin high short side up under the crossbar from the bottom of the left circle with just under three minutes to go.

Veteran defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev made it a 5-4 game for Team White with 47 seconds to go in the period as he beat Irvin from the left circle high short side.

The opening minute of the third saw Daylen Moses make it a 6-4 game by driving the net and converting a pass from Jordan Charron.

Just under two minutes later Travis Hayes made it a 7-4 game.

Team Red pulled back to within two 4:58 in as Brenden Sirizzotti beat Tegelaar from the slot in a scramble to make it a 7-5 game.

Zack Corte made it an 8-5 game with 12:42 to go as he banked in a rebound off Irvin.

D’Intino extended the lead to 9-5 with a deke in close midway through the period.

With Team Red on a two-man advantage, Clattenburg scored for Team Red on a rebound from the left circle, making it a 9-6 game.

With 1:42 to go Corte picked up his second of the night to make it a 10-6 game for Team White.

Fantino capped off the scoring with his third of the night with 17 seconds to go.

Schenkel made 10 saves for Team White in just over 30 minutes minutes of work before making way for Tegelaar, who stopped 17 shots the rest of the way.

Miller made 14 saves on 17 shots for Team Red while Irvin stopped 16.