Hounds enjoy offensive explosion

A solid 60-minute effort was what the Soo Greyhounds were looking for and that's exactly what they got on Friday night.

Thanks to a quality effort from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer, the Soo Greyhounds earned themselves an 8-2 victory against the Mississauga IceDogs.

After scoring just 13 seconds apart in the first period, on goals by former-Greyhound Chris Lawrence for Mississauga at 3:52 and Tyler Kennedy for the Greyhounds at 4:05, the locals broke the game open in the second period.

Michael Swift opened the second period scoring for the IceDogs just 47 seconds into the middle frame before the Greyhounds took over. David Kuchejda scored his first goal of the night at 2:21 to tie the game. Dustin Jeffrey, Trevor Solomon, and Josh Moes then scored just 2:14 apart to blow the game open and give the Hounds a 5-2 lead.

Kuchejda then potted his second goal of the night at 18:47 to give the Greyhounds a commanding lead.

Goals from Cody Thornton and Jacob King in the third period capped off the successful night for the Greyhounds in front of a crowd of over 3,600 at Memorial Gardens.

"It was good work," said Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg. "The kids really worked hard for 60 minutes. Every goal we scored was because the kids worked for it. There wasn't a lot of fancy stuff, maybe at the end with some good plays, but when the kids work and are determined they accomplish good things."

The win, coupled with the Erie Otters loss to the Saginaw Spirit on Friday, leaves the Greyhounds three points ahead of the Otters for the final playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League's Western Conference. It should be noted that the Otters do have two games in hand, one of which will be played on Saturday night against the London Knights in Erie.

The win also moves the Greyhounds to within three points of the Windsor Spitfires for seventh.

The Greyhounds win improves their record to 17-23-3-2 and 6-2-1-2 in their last 11 games.

"I think we've got to keep it all in perspective," Hartsburg said of Friday's offensive explosion. "The work was there and that's the important thing. We did the little things right and we also caught a tired team.

"We're taking it one day at a time," Hartsburg continued. "We've got to come and have a good day of practice (Saturday) and Sunday's a new day. In life you have the most success when you don't worry about yesterday. You learn from yesterday and you don't worry about tomorrow, you worry about today."

Hartsburg was also pleased with the play of the line of Thornton, Kuchejda, and Jeffrey. The trio combined for four goals and five assists.

"They were very good," said Hartsburg. "It was good for Dustin, playing his old team. David was good and Cody did lots of good things. They were solid and they just have to continue it."

Next up for the Hounds will be another non-conference matchup as the Belleville Bulls make their lone appearance at Memorial Gardens this season on Sunday night. Game time is 7 p.m.

*** AROUND THE O:

AT SUDBURY: Gary Friesen had a pair of goals to lead the Sudbury Wolves to a 4-2 victory over the Brampton Battalion. Kevin Beech stopped 26 shots on goal for the Wolves in the win.

AT OTTAWA: Danny Battochio stopped all 36 shots he faced to lead the Ottawa 67's to a 5-0 blanking of the Peterborough Petes. Logan Couture scored a pair of goals while Chris Hulit and Brett Liscomb each added a pair of assists in the win.

AT LONDON: Dylan Hunter had two goals and an assist to lead the London Knights to a 7-3 victory over the Toronto St. Michael's Majors. Adam Perry and David Bolland added a goal and an assist each while Jordan Foreman had three assists in the win. Rob Schremp and Sergei Kostitsyn also had two assists each for the Knights.

AT KITCHENER: Justin Azevedo had two goals and a pair of assists to lead the Kitchener Rangers to an 8-4 win over the Sarnia Sting. Evan McGrath had four assists while Nick Spaling added a pair of goals for the Rangers. Boris Valabik chipped in with two assists. Ryan Nie stopped 34 shots for the Sting.

AT KINGSTON: Bobby Hughes scored his third goal of the night at 1:25 of overtime to give the Kingston Frontenacs a 6-5 victory over the Owen Sound Attack. Radek Smolenak added two goals while Peder Skinner had three assists in the win. Cory Emmerton and Chris Stewart each added two assists for Kingston. Mike Angelidis had three goals while Bobby Ryan had a goal and two assists for the Attack.

AT GUELPH: Ryan Callahan scored twice as the Guelph Storm got past the Plymouth Whalers 4-2. Ryan Potruff chipped in with a pair of assists. Tom Sestito had a goal and an assist for the Whalers.

AT ERIE: Jesse Gimblett's goal at 18:23 of the third period was the winner as the Saginaw Spirit beat the Erie Otters. 4-3. Ryan McDonough had a pair of goals for the Spirit. Saginaw goaltender Francois Thuot stopped 33 shots. Sean O'Connor had a goal and two assists while Michael Blunden and Ryan O'Marra had a goal and an assist each for the Otters.

AT OSHAWA: John Tavares and Peter Tsimikalis scored shootout goals to give the Oshawa Generals a 5-4 victory over the Barrie Colts. Tsimikalis Cal Clutterbuck had two assists each in regulation time for the Generals. Travis Fuller had a pair of goals while Hunter Tremblay had three assists for the Colts.