Youth is served for the Greyhounds

Despite getting younger in recent weeks through trades, the Soo Greyhounds have shown they can still find a competitive balance despite losing some key veterans.

The most recent trade saw 19-year-olds Kyle Wharton and Jason Pitton get dealt to Guelph. In exchange, the Greyhounds received 17-year-olds Matt Lyall and Josh Godfrey, who both made their Greyhound debut on Wednesday night as the Greyhounds defeated the Sudbury Wolves 3-2 at Memorial Gardens. In fact, Godfrey played an important role in getting the win.

With the Greyhounds on a power play in the second period Godfrey got the puck along the blueline and shot through a crowd, beating Sudbury goaltender Kevin Beech to give the Greyhounds a 3-1 lead at the time. The goal, Godfrey's third of the season, ultimately held up as the winner.

The Greyhounds carried the play for much of the first two periods, holding a 29-12 advantage in shots when the second period completed.

Ryan Donally opened the scoring for the Wolves at 11:10 of the first period, but the Greyhounds wasted little time getting the game back on even terms. Captain Tyler Kennedy tied the game at one just 69 seconds after the Wolves had taken the lead.

Cody Thornton gave the Hounds a 2-1 lead at 9:35 of the second period with his 14th goal of the season, setting the stage for the Godfrey winner.

The Wolves pulled to within one goal early in the third period when Devin DiDiomete deflected home a point shot with the Wolves on the man advantage, but it wasn't enough.

The win improved the Hounds record to 5-1-1 in their last seven games and pulls the team to within one point of the Windsor Spitfires, who currently own the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Greyhounds are also just three points back of the seventh-place Erie Otters although the Otters have two games in hand on both teams.

"There's always concern how they're going to come out when you're injecting new, and young, kids in (to the lineup)," said Denny Lambert of the effort after the trade.

"It's one thing to make a trade with 19-year-olds coming in," Lambert added. "They're ready to have an impact. These kids are young kids and I thought they had an impact. Dave did a good job going on to get these guys (Lyall and Godfrey). I see some special talent in these young fellas. It was good to have two practices to get these guys in and get them comfortable."

Lambert complimented both Lyall and Godfrey, who both had solid debuts for the Greyhounds.

"I think he's got a lot of poise with the puck," Lambert said of Godfrey. "He's got a great shot. His game is going to keep on getting stronger in the defensive zone."

"Lyall's got speed to burn," Lambert said. "You can see that he's got a good set of hands. Once he gets a little older, I think you're going to see a guy with tonnes of speed and tonnes of skill."

Lambert was also pleased with the play of some of the veterans as well. Forwards Cody Thornton and Tyler Kennedy had strong nights, as did a number of other of the Greyhounds 19-year-olds.

"(The 19-year-olds) knew something was going on, but they didn't know who was involved," Lambert said. "I think they had an idea. You're concern is what these 19-year-olds are going to feel like. We're not pulling the pin, we made that clear. We made it clear to them that, as 19-year-olds, you've got to step up now. It is going to be even harder if we want to make the playoffs.

"Give them credit for being challenged as a group and coming up to have a strong game," Lambert added. "(Kennedy and Thornton) led the way quite a bit, they had great games. That's great leadership from those two."

The work of the Hounds fourth line of Alex Penner, Brandon MacLean and Jacob Lalonde did not go un-noticed either. The trio gave the Hounds plenty of energy when needed and gave a solid effort all-around, as did the play of veterans such as Jacob King, who fought Sudbury's DiDiomete in the second period and also blocked a key shot in the game's final minute.

The Greyhounds now prepare for a pair of important divisional games set for this weekend. Friday night will see the Hounds host the Windsor Spitfires at Memorial Gardens in a 7:30 p.m. start. Saturday night, also a 7:30 p.m. start, will see the Greyhounds face off with the West Division-leading Plymouth Whalers.

*** AROUND THE OHL:

Just one other game took place in the Ontario Hockey League last night as the Owen Sound Attack and Toronto St. Michael's Majors faced off.

AT OWEN SOUND: Jeff Kryzakos had two goals and an assist to lead the Attack to a 3-1 victory over the Majors. Scott Giles added a pair of assists while Neil Brownell stopped 35 shots for the Attack. Justin DiBenedetto scored the lone Toronto goal.

(Photos courtesy of Jim Egan.)