It’s not uncommon for Soo Greyhounds coach John Dean not to talk to his team after losses and Wednesday night was no different.
It was a night in which there wasn’t much to like as the team dropped a 2-1 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Flint Firebirds at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
“I won’t be happy tomorrow,” Dean said when asked what his message to the players would be after the loss. “They won’t see me tonight, but I’m not going to be a happy coach tomorrow and they’re going to see it.”
Coming off a weekend road trip in which he was pleased with their effort despite some less-than-ideal results – an 0-2-1-0 record – Dean said Wednesday’s effort was a surprising one.
“Where this game comes from is a mystery to me,” Dean said. “I thought we’d do more of the same here tonight and give ourselves an opportunity to win. I don’t think we gave ourselves an opportunity to win at all. If not for Charlie (Schenkel), the game is long gone.”
In general, Dean said he “didn’t like a thing about our game.”
With the game looking like it would head into the first intermission scoreless, the Firebirds scored shorthanded in the final minute of the period to take the lead. Dean said the goal had even more affect on the team because of their struggles early on in the game.
“With the way we were playing, it hurt even more,” Dean said.
On the flip side, there was a lot to like for the Firebirds in the win as the club picked up its second win over the Greyhounds in less than a week after scoring a 5-4 victory over the Greyhounds last Friday in Flint.
“We didn’t give up a whole lot against chance-wise,” Dent said of Wednesday’s victory. “We had good discipline, very few penalties and we should have had five or six tonight. Their goaltender played really well.”
Flint opened the scoring shorthanded in the final minute of the first period as Braeden Kressler drove the net and redirected a pass from Dmitry Kuzmin on the left wing during an odd-man rush.
“It was a really nice pump fake by Kuzy to sell it,” Dent said of Kuzmin before making the pass calling the goal “huge.”
The Firebirds extended the lead to 2-0 at 11:36 of the second period when newly acquired defenceman Artem Guryev took a pass as the trailer on the play from Amadeus Lombardi and beat Greyhounds goaltender Charlie Schenkel high glove side.
With 2:06 to go in regulation time, Jordan D’Intino made it a 2-1 game as he beat Firebirds goaltender Will Cranley with a point shot through traffic. D’Intino took a pass near the blueline from Caeden Carlisle along the side boards, skated to the top of the point and then beat Cranley.
The goal by Guryev in the second period was his first with the Firebirds after being acquired over the weekend from the Peterborough Petes with draft picked in exchange for high-scoring forward Brennan Othmann.
“He brings a presence,” Dent said. “He a big guy (that) competes, battles, hits, and defends. He’s got good competitive spirit.”
Cranley made 23 saves for the Firebirds in the victory, which improves their record to 10-7-1-1.
At the other end, Schenkel made 29 saves for the Greyhounds.
“Charlie was fantastic,” Dean said.
With the loss, the Greyhounds record falls to 5-8-4-2.
The Greyhounds return to action on Friday night as they host the Kingston Frontenacs. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 7:07 p.m.
After taking a puck to the face in Sunday’s loss in London, overage forward Mark Duarte returned to the lineup wearing a full visor for Wednesday’s game. The veteran forward left Sunday’s contest in the second period, returned for a short time, and then left the game for good.
Forward Connor Clattenburg sat out Wednesday’s game after receiving a match penalty for cross checking on Sunday. The league had not announced a suspension as of Wednesday evening.