They’re returning home with five out of a possible six points from a road trip that saw them taking on three of the top teams in their conference.
The trip ultimately wrapped up Sunday afternoon with a disappointing finish, but the trip home will bring with it some positivity.
The Soo Greyhounds hit the road home late in the day Sunday on the heels of a 3-2 shootout loss to the London Knights in Ontario Hockey League play.
Overage forward Marco Mignosa said there was a mix of both disappointment and pride in the moments after Sunday’s setback.
“We knew the kind of opponents we were playing this weekend and if you told us we were going to get five out of six points at the beginning of the road trip, we’d be pretty happy with it,” Mignosa said.
Veteran forward Christopher Brown called the road trip “a positive weekend” after a trip that included wins over Windsor and Kitchener prior to facing the Knights.
“Five out of six against some of the top teams is very positive,” Brown added. “It’s a good thing moving forward to have.”
Greyhounds coach John Dean said proud was the “perfect word” to describe how he felt about the trip.
“We played a real consistent brand of hockey for all three games outside of we looked like we’re a tired group the second half of this game,” Dean said. “Five out of six points, efforts by all guys that are capable of playing, just really good stuff. That’s a very difficult road trip.”
Mignosa and Brown agreed that fatigue was an issue in the second half of Sunday’s game.
“In the last half of the game, in the third period there, we kind of ran out of gas,” Mignosa said. “You could see it, but we were pretty happy with our effort in the first half of the game.”
“For sure (fatigue factored in),” Brown added. “But we did really well staying in games and getting two points or even a point (Sunday).”
Describing Sunday’s game, Dean said a power play goal by the Knights in the second period “took some wind out of our sails.”
“The guys are working so hard and when that goes in, I could feel a little wind come out of the sails and we struggled to get our legs,” Dean said. “We were clearly gassed out, but guys were just battling and trying to find a way to squeak out two points.”
The game was scoreless throughout much of the opening period before the Greyhounds got on the board first late in the frame.
Rookie forward Noah Laus took a pass from Quinn McKenzie and proceeded to beat London goaltender Sebastian Gatto glove side with a shot from the top of the left circle with 1:07 to go in the period
The Knights appeared to tie the game at one early in the second period on the power play when Braidy Wassilyn took a cross-ice pass from Ben Wilmott and beat Greyhounds goaltender Landon Miller stick side from the right faceoff circle. The goal was reviewed and ultimately waved off due to an offside.
Just under two minutes later, the Knights got the game on even terms as Mikhail Zakharov took a pass from Max Crete and beat Miller high glove side from the left faceoff circle at 4:51.
The Greyhounds took a 2-1 lead at 7:12 of the second period when Mignosa sent the puck to the net from the left wing on the power play and it beat Gatto.
London would tie the game again later in the period when Wassilyn took a pass to the left of the net from Sam O’Reilly and beat Miller on the power play at 16:47.
O’Reilly and Wilmott ultimately scored in the shootout to give the Knights the victory after the teams skated through a scoreless third period and overtime.
Miller made 30 saves for the Greyhounds while Gatto stopped 27 shots at the other end for the Knights.
The two teams are slated to meet again Saturday night in the Sault on a night in which the Greyhounds will retire Jeff Carter’s jersey prior to puck drop.
The Greyhounds will take a record of 14-8-1-1 into the game. London improves to 13-5-3-0 with the win.
Callum Croskery, Carson Andrew, and Ryan Kaczynski remained out on Sunday due to injury for the Greyhounds.
The Knights also played Sunday’s game minus a trio of regulars in forward William Nicholl and Evan Van Gorp along with defenceman Henry Brzustewicz. London coach Dale Hunter was also away from the team due to illness.
On Sunday afternoon, the Greater Ontario Hockey League’s St. Thomas Stars announced the signing of goaltender William Camputaro.
After signing with the Greyhounds during training camp, Camputaro started the season on the team's roster.
Around the OHL this week, Brampton Steelheads defenceman Luke Dragusica has been suspended indefinitely pending a review after getting a match penalty for slashing on Friday night. The blueliner received the penalty after he took a hit from Brady Blaseg of the Oshawa Generals and subsequently slashed the Generals player in the head following the initial play.
In other league news, the Sarnia Sting announced on Saturday night that head coach Alan Letang has been relieved of his duties.
This season was Letang’s fifth with the Sting.