While it was breezy and cool on the outside, especially for the last long weekend of the summer, the GFL Memorial Gardens found itself on the warm side on Sunday.
For the Soo Greyhounds, the pre-season opener for the Ontario Hockey League club saw some positives and some things to work on as the team skated to a 5-2 win over the Sudbury Wolves.
The difference was three unanswered goals in the third period and for Greyhounds coach John Dean, there was a simple request for his team in the opener.
“We asked for some personality and character and that’s all we asked for,” Dean said. “There’s not a lot of structure out there. It was a pretty sloppy game, but we got a lot of really character plays out there. A lot of tracking back above pucks. We’ve got veteran players blocking pucks. We have young guys playing in different situations they might not normally see. I’m happy with the effort and compete of the group.”
Dean said he felt the Greyhounds “gave up a lot of transition opportunities” in the game.
The game saw its share of physicality, especially for a pre-season game in (very) early-September and that’s something Dean is okay with.
“We want to be physical and competitive,” Dean said. “They love the physicality. Our team is definitely better when we’re engaged and mucking it up a bit and chatting. That’s where we’re best is competing, physical, on top of pucks, and taking away time and space and we do have the group to do that.”
With a warm building, the ice was seemingly an issue for much of the game, which led in part to some of the sloppiness in the game from both teams.
“For whatever reason, it’s been really hot in the building,” Dean said. “I think the city is starting to look at it and take care of it. It’s long overdue. I walk into the John Rhodes and it’s freezing and the ice is great and here it seems to be very humid inside. I think there are ongoing issues that they’re trying to fix, but we really need that ice to be better, especially with our brand of hockey. A little warm in here for my liking.”
“I’m hoping the ice conditions improve in quick order here,” Dean said.
Wolves coach Scott Barney said following the loss that it was some little things that became the difference in the game for the visitors.
“The difference in the game was little plays at our blueline,” Barney said. “Not making harder plays and that starts with habits.”
In addition to discipline being a positive, Barney added that he felt his team did a good job getting pucks on the Sault net.
“Some guys were putting pucks to the net in good spots,” Barney said. “Our veterans were good in areas of the game. (Landon Miller) was outstanding. He made some really good saves on some really good hockey players.”
Asked what his expectation was for the opener, Barney said it was simple.
“The biggest thing is implementing the things we’ve been talking about over the last three or four days,” Barney said. “They’re doing it, but it’s a slow process with a different coach (and) it’s a different way of thinking. “
The Greyhounds opened the scoring as Julian Fantino took a short pass in the neutral zone from Brady Smith, skated into the Sudbury zone and cut through the slot before beating Wolves netminder Drew Gaulton from the left circle glove side in the opening minute of the frame.
On the power play, the Wolves tied the game as Hudson Chitaroni took a pass at the bottom of the right circle from Lucas Di Giantommaso cross ice and beat Greyhounds goaltender Landon Miller up under the crossbar glove side at 4:54.
The Greyhounds made it a 2-1 game at 10:23 as Justin Cloutier went to the net and scored on a loose puck after Brady Martin’s initial shot on the play missed the net and redirected back in front off the end boards. The goal was the first sequence faced by Sudbury netminder Finn Marshall, who entered the game during the previous stoppage.
Quentin Musty tied the game at two for the Wolves on a one-timer from the left circle that beat Miller glove side after a pass from Kieron Walton at 14:12.
In the opening minute of the third period, the Greyhounds retook the lead as a shot by Spencer Evans from the left point beat Marshall high glove side after getting deflected by Justin DeZoete.
The locals made it a two-goal game midway through the third as Marco Mignosa hit Brady Smith with a short pass coming out of the Sault zone. Mignosa eventually took a pass from Smith in the Sudbury zone and beat Marshall with the Greyhounds shorthanded to make it a 4-2 game at 9:22.
Travis Hayes sealed the win with an empty net goal with 1:42 to go for the Greyhounds.
Rookie forward Brady Smith assisted on three goals for the Greyhounds in the victory while DeZoete had a goal and an assist.
Miller made 28 saves for the Greyhounds.
Kocha Delic assisted on a pair of goals for the Wolves.
In the start, Gaulton stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced in just under 30 minutes of work in goal for the Wolves in the game. Marshall made 12 saves on 15 shots the rest of the way.
Second-year defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker left the game in the opening period with a leg injury and did not return to the contest.
Asked about the severity of the injury, Dean said he had limited details on it, adding the blueliner was “going to follow protocol to make sure things are okay.”
The Greyhounds now look at an extended break from game action with their next exhibition game scheduled for Sept. 18 at home against Saginaw before a pair of games on the road to wrap up the pre-season schedule.