Was it their worst game of the season?
Soo Greyhounds coach John Dean certainly thought so.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt,” Dean said moments after the Greyhounds dropped a 9-0 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Kitchener Rangers on Friday night.
“I didn’t see a lot of room for excitement,” Dean added. “Kitchener really put the boots to us.”
Greyhounds captain Bryce McConnell-Barker agreed.
“I don’t think we were really structured and our forecheck was a bit distracted,” McConnell-Barker said. “We weren’t hard on pucks.”
With the two teams battling for positioning in the OHL’s Western Conference standings, Dean also said Friday’s game was one “we put a lot of stock into.”
“Anytime another team puts that many goals up, it’s tough to swallow, that’s for sure,” Dean also said. “I’m sure the guys are embarrassed. It’s tough as a staff too.”
Having won four of five games entering Friday, with the lone loss being a 7-2 setback in Oshawa a week ago, Dean said the team has been a tale of two extremes at times of late.
“Our team cannot play without life, bottom line,” Dean said. “When we’re not engaged, when we’re not on top of pucks, when we’re not taking away time and space, these are the results.”
“Right now it seems to be, we’re either in a one-goal game and we’ve been on the right sides of those lately, or we’re in a lopsided mess,” Dean added. “We really need to bring our floor up and we need to be more consistent.”
With a short turnaround heading into an afternoon game on Saturday. Dean said the team generally has responded well to video after games in which they’ve struggled.
“Our guys seem to respond well when they see themselves not playing up to a level that they’re used to,” Dean said. “When they see themselves on video, it motivates them because, when you’re in the moment as a young player, you might not realize how disengaged you are. Once you see it on video, it’s pretty obvious.”
“It all comes down to having a good first period and a good start,” McConnell-Barker added when asked about Saturday’s game. “If we do that, it will lead to the rest of our game and having success for the rest of the game.”
With a 5-0 lead through 40 minutes, Rangers coach Chris Dennis said the challenge was to keep playing the right way in the final period.
“That was the challenge after two was to keep doing things the right way and we did,” Dennis said in a post-game interview with RogersTV. “When you do that, you get rewarded.”
The Rangers opened the scoring on the power play in the opening period.
Francesco Pinelli made it 1-0 Rangers at 13:14 when he took a pass in the right faceoff circle from Reid Valade off of the left of the net and beat Greyhounds goaltender Samuel Ivanov high stick side.
The Rangers took a stranglehold on the game in the second period.
Cameron Mercer made it 2-0 Kitchener when he beat Ivanov with a shot high stick side through some traffic at 2:37.
With just under six minutes to go in the period, Matthew Sop extended the lead to 3-0 when he beat Ivanov with a backhand in close after taking a pass from Pinelli in the right circle.
After the Greyhounds took a pair of penalties on the same play to go down two men, the Rangers capitalized again on the power play. Just past the midway point of the two-man advantage, Francesco Arcuri converted on a one-timer from the right circle on a pass from Pinelli, beating Ivanov short side.
Just over two minutes later, the Rangers capitalized on the man advantage again as Carson Rehkopf took a pass in the left circle and beat Ivanov high short side to make it 5-0.
The Rangers made it 6-0 just under three minutes into the third period when a defensive zone turnover by the Greyhounds ended up on the stick of Adam Zidlicky in close. Zidlicky proceeded to beat Landon Miller with a backhand.
Miller entered the game to open the third period.
Hunter Brzustewicz made it 7-0 Rangers at 12:25 when he beat Miller with a point shot that deflected off a body in close and past the rookie goaltender.
Just 55 seconds later Trent Swick extended the lead further as he deflected a point shot from Matthew Andonovski past Miller.
Reid Valade made it 9-0 with 2:25 to go as he scored on a rebound in close after Miller stopped a point shot by Roman Schmidt on the play initially. The goal came just after a Greyhounds penalty expired.
Ivanov was pulled after stopping 14 of 19 Rangers shots through 40 minutes. Miller stopped eight of 12 shots in the final period for the Greyhounds.
At the other end, Marco Costantini stopped all 22 shots he faced for the shutout.
Pinelli led the way offensively with a goal and four assists. Rehkopf chipped in with a goal and a pair of assists while Simon Motew also had a three-point night with three assists.
Valade, Arcuri, and Sop added a goal and an assist each for the Rangers.
Lleyton Moore also had a two-point night with two assists.
Friday’s loss drops the Greyhounds record to 10-12-4-4.
The Greyhounds wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule on Saturday afternoon in Guelph with a game at the Sleeman Centre against the Storm.
Kitchener, meanwhile, improves to 14-13-0-0 with the win.