SAULT STE. MARIE - It was a game in which both coaches saw plenty of positives from their lineups.
With a lot on the line for both teams in the standings in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference, the Soo Greyhounds picked up an important 3-1 victory over the Guelph Storm at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
For the Greyhounds, the result means keeping pace with the leaders in the conference.
Meanwhile the Storm take away the positives of a solid effort from a young group missing a pair of important veteran defencemen.
After being disappointed with facets of their game Wednesday night on the road in Sudbury, Greyhounds coach John Dean said he “loved every piece” of Friday’s victory.
“It felt like a real gritty, playoff-style game,” Dean added. “Every single guy on our team gave their heart and souls. We asked our guys to start preparing for what it would look like in these style of games.”
Dean added that “this is the happiest I’ve been in a while with this group.”
Dean said there was a lot to like for the Greyhounds.
“I liked our 50/50 battles. I liked that when we made mistakes, we recovered extremely quickly,” Dean said. “I liked that we gave up maybe two odd man rushes in the game. I liked that in our D-zone coverage, guys were blocking shots.”
The Storm played Friday’s game minus veteran defencemen Brayden Hislop (injury) and Tommy Budnick (suspension). Despite the two being out of the lineup, coach Chad Wiseman credited his group for their play defensively against the Greyhounds.
“We defended incredibly well,” Wiseman said. “We blocked a lot of shots. We kept the puck to the outside. We generated a lot of offence, enough offence, but just weren’t able to put enough of them in the back of the net.”
Zander Veccia also missed Friday’s game for the Storm as he serves a six-game league-imposed suspension.
Despite the result, Wiseman said there was still something to like from the game.
“The effort’s there,” Wiseman said. “The compete level’s high.”
“A lot of guys stepped up,” Wiseman added. “Our young kids on the back end did a fantastic job and played some big minutes.”
After a scoreless opening period in which the teams combined for just eight shots (six by the Sault and two by Guelph), the Greyhounds opened the scoring in the second period, moments after killing off a penalty.
Gavin Hayes got the puck deep in the Sault zone and hit Jack Beck coming off the Greyhounds bench with a pass. Beck proceeded to beat Brayden Gillespie on a breakaway to make it 1-0 Greyhounds at 11:48 of the second period.
The Greyhounds made it a 2-0 game as Caeden Carlisle beat Gillespie with a shot from the top of the left circle stick side 4:28 into the third period.
The home team made it a 3-0 game as Justin Cloutier scored on a rebound in tight after his initial redirection was stopped by Gillespie at 13:43.
Guelph got on the board thanks to a power play goal as Charlie Paquette beat Greyhounds goaltender Charlie Schenkel during a scramble in tight at 15:25 in the first half of a double minor to Sault defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker.
Cloutier finished the night with a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds while Christopher Brown assisted on a pair of goals.
Schenkel made 23 saves in the victory.
Gillespie stopped 19 Sault shots in the loss.
With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 41-16-3-1 on the season and remain six points back of the Saginaw Spirit for first in the West Division.
Saginaw also won on Friday night, picking up a 7-2 win over Kingston.
The Spirit sit tied with London for first in the Western Conference. The Greyhounds hold a game in hand on both clubs.
The Greyhounds return to action Saturday night at home with a game against the Windsor Spitfires.
Guelph falls to 28-26-5-1 with the loss but remain one point up on the Erie Otters and two points ahead of the Owen Sound Attack for fifth in the Western Conference.
Guelph still has a game in hand on the Attack.
The eighth-seeded Flint Firebirds are also within striking distance of the Storm, sitting four points back.
Like the Greyhounds, the Storm return to action on Saturday night. Guelph is slated to take on Saginaw in Saginaw.
