Youth leads the way for Greyhounds in Guelph

Pleased with their play of late, it seemed to be only a matter of time that they would get rewarded and Friday was that time.

Soo Greyhounds coach John Dean has given plenty of credit to the line of rookie Brady Martin centring rookie Travis Hayes and second-year winger Alex Kostov of late and the line combined for three important goals for the team Friday night in a 5-2 win over the Guelph Storm in Guelph.

All three players scored goals in the victory.

Dean called them one of the Greyhounds “most dominant lines” over the past four games.

“They haven’t been rewarded with five-on-five points and tonight they get rewarded,” Dean added.

Dean added that he felt it was “just a matter of time” for the line to get rewarded offensively.

Dean referred to a number of things when asked what the key to the success of the line was.

“Their energy. They’re always moving their feet,” Dean said. “All three love to battle for fifty-fifty pucks and all three have a very good skillset. When we call their line out, there’s an energy about them.”

For Hayes, his goal was his first in 14 games and the young forward said it felt good to get the monkey off his back.

Hayes said the trio’s “hunger for the puck” has helped make them successful of late.

“We work the other teams down low,” Hayes said. “We haven’t been rewarded a lot (for it) the last four games, but you just keep chipping away and obviously tonight the puck was going our way. It felt good tonight.”

“We get pucks in deep and really stay on top of guys,” Kostov added. “We also have a good connection. Considering we’re two rookies and a second-year player, you wouldn’t really expect it to work the way it works, but because of all of our work ethics, we complete each other.”

From nearby Elmira, Ont., Martin had a large contingent of friends and family at the game and the young centre agreed that it was satisfying to have a strong game in front of them.

Asked about his line, Martin spoke of the need for the trio to “keep going and working hard and running the o-zone like we can” going forward.

Hayes left the game in the third period after taking a hit from Guelph defenceman Chandler Romeo following the Greyhounds fifth goal. Though he returned for a shift later in the period, Hayes said he left the game for good as a precaution.

“I didn’t want to risk anything,” Hayes said.

While saying he felt the game “wasn’t a work of art” Dean said he felt the game for the Greyhounds overall was “a pretty darn good sixty minutes by our group.”

For the Storm, coach Chad Wiseman said following the game that mistakes and turnovers were critical in the loss.

“(The Greyhounds) are a good hockey team; well structured and good on the power play,” Wiseman said in an interview with GuelphToday.

“There’s not a lot of room for error and turnovers tonight killed us,” Wiseman also said. “The lack of willingness or ability to advance pucks in behind their D and forecheck and the few times it hurt us; the puck ended up in our net.

“They’re an incredibly fast team and you can’t let them get behind you.”

The Greyhounds opened the scoring 4:02 into the contest as Brenden Sirizzotti scored on a rebound in close after Guelph goaltender Brayden Gillespie made the initial save on the play on a shot from the left point by Spencer Evans.

Guelph tied the game 1:54 later as Jett Luchanko beat Greyhounds defenceman Matthew Virgilio off the left side boards and to the net where he took a feed from Michael Buchinger and beat Sault netminder Landon Miller to tie the game.

On the power play, the Greyhounds retook the lead 45 seconds into the second period as Justin Cloutier took a pass in the slot from Marco Mignosa near the bottom of the right circle and beat Gillespie to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

The Storm again tied the game as Braeden Bowman skated down the right wing, held off Sault defenceman Caeden Carlisle and beat Miller with a shot from the right circle 5-hole to tie the score at two 2:37 into the period.

The Greyhounds took the lead for good when Hayes deflected a shot at the edge of the crease by Andrew Gibson from the high slot past Gillespie on the power play at 6:10, giving the Greyhounds the lead for good.

Martin extended the lead at 14:13 of the period when he skated in on a partial break and beat Gillespie 5-hole.

Kostov capped off the scoring with just under seven minutes to go in the game when he took a short drop pass in the slot from Martin and beat Gillespie stick side. Martin made the pass after Hayes forced a turnover behind the Guelph net and sent the puck into the slot.

Martin and Hayes finished the night with a goal and an assist each for the Sault.

Miller, coming off a 14-save shutout in Oshawa on Wednesday night, made 28 saves in Friday’s win.

Gillespie stopped 29 shots for the Storm.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 25-10-2-1 and move to within one point of the Kitchener Rangers for top spot in the OHL’s Western Conference.

The Rangers were idle on Friday after dropping a 3-2 decision in Saginaw against the Spirit on Thursday night.

The Spirit sit six points behind the Greyhounds in a battle between the two clubs for top spot in the OHL’s West Division. The Spirit have four games in hand and were also off on Friday. Saginaw is in action on Saturday night at home against the Peterborough Petes.

Meanwhile, the Rangers are also in action on Saturday on the road against the Sudbury Wolves.

The Greyhounds wrap up their three-game road trip Saturday in Barrie with a game at Sadlon Arena against the Colts.

With the loss, the Storm fall to 21-13-2-1 on the season.

In other Greyhounds news, former Greyhounds coach Paul Theriault passed away this week.

Theriault, a Sault native, coached the Greyhounds for a pair of stints and also coached the Oshawa Generals (and remains the longest-serving and winningest coach in Generals history) and Erie Otters.

He spent a season as an assistant coach working with Ted Nolan behind the bench of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres and also coached pro hockey in Italy.

Theriault was 73.