They were in a game they feel they didn’t deserve to be in.
The Soo Greyhounds battled back from a 3-0 deficit before Mackenzie Entwistle scored 1:57 into overtime as the Greyhounds dropped a 4-3 decision in the opener of the Ontario Hockey League final Thursday night against the Hamilton Bulldogs at the Essar Centre.
It was a game that Coach Drew Bannister said the result flattered the Greyhounds.
“We were pretty fortunate to be in a position to win that hockey game with how poorly we played,” Bannister said. “The end result was probably what it should have been.”
“Overall, we probably played about five or ten minutes of good hockey,” added Greyhounds veteran Morgan Frost. “You’re not going to win many games if you do that.”
After Ryan Moore brought the puck into the Greyhounds zone, the veteran forward got the puck to Matthew Strome, whose shot trickled past Greyhounds goaltender Matthew Villalta before being deposited by Entwistle.
“Mooresy had a lot of speed in the neutral zone and shot it wide off the boards to Stromer and he put it on net, it was sitting behind the goalie and I just tapped it in,” Entwistle said.
The Greyhounds struggled managing the puck and the Bulldogs capitalized when the Greyhounds turned the puck over in the game.
“We did a real poor job (managing the puck), especially in the first two periods,” Bannister said. “That was the difference in the game. At least two of their goals were direct results of turnovers.”
Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, and Barrett Hayton scored for the Greyhounds, who erased a 3-0 Bulldogs lead in the game.
Goaltender Matthew Villalta made 26 saves.
Entwistle scored a pair of goals for the Bulldogs while Robert Thomas chipped in with a goal and an assist. Brandon Saigeon also scored for Hamilton.
Kaden Fulcher made 28 saves for the Bulldogs.
“We came out really strong and scored those three goals then got a little loose,” Hamilton Coach John Gruden said. “They were able to get some life and some energy, and we needed to find a way to win that game and we did.”
The Greyhounds erased a 3-0 Hamilton lead in the game and Gruden said the message was a simple one after the Greyhounds tied the contest.
“We don’t want to overreact,” Gruden said. “We know what we are as a team. We’ve hit adversity quite a bit and we just have to get back to doing what got us that lead.
“I liked the resiliency of our group,” Gruden added.
Gruden spoke of the need to manage the puck better in game two.
“If you give these guys life and turn pucks over in areas where they’re dangerous, it was in the back of our net quick,” Gruden said.
Game two on Saturday night at the Essar Centre is a 7:07 p.m. start before the series shifts to Hamilton for games three and four on Monday and Wednesday nights at FirstOntario Centre.