..or should I say bus legs, as the Greyhounds after a long skated overtime win over the Sudbury Wolves last night, immediately post game cramped their shanks and pegs into the bus for a 5 hour trip to Saginaw.

Will leg fatigue be an issue tonight? I guess we will have to wait until game time.

The Hounds enter the game after a win as I mentioned and play a team that also won in extra innings. Saginaw won 4-3 in a shootout in Flint. Although, the Spirited kids after the win had to travel after the game; the 37 miles to get home in 35 minutes wouldn’t have given them enough time to get their heart rates back to normal.

Tale of the Tape

SAGINAW SPIRIT

Coach Chris Lazary

GM Dave Drinkill

Record 12-13-1

The Spirit sit 4th in the West and 15th overall and will want to have a better second half and complement last nights win with another to start off the new campaign.

Leading the way tonight will be Josh Bloom with 30 points and not too far behind him is Soo product and rookie Calem Mangone with an impressive 18 points. Another Saulite playing well is Camaryn Baber clocking in with 14 scoresheet tics.

Not in the lineup last night were regulars  Brayden Hislop (acquired Nov 21 fr Owen Sound) , Olivier Savard, and Pacey Schlueting and veteran starter Tristan Lennox.

The following quote from the Saginaw website leads me to assume the first three may have been sitting as per C19 protocol and Tristan may have sat as per a very minor issue (discipline/fatigue) but no injury as he sat on the bench as a backup for rookie Andrew Oak. I am only speculating as per the way the paragraph below was written.

..The Spirit found themselves extremely shorthanded on defense Wednesday night when Brayden Hislop, Olivier Savard, and Pacey Schlueting were all unable to dress. Couple that with star goaltender Tristan Lennox unable to start this evening with a non-COVID related illness, and the Spirit were behind the gun before the puck was even dropped on Wednesday night.

We will have to wait and see who starts in net tonight, but I going with my gut that Tristan is between the pipes.

SOO GREYHOUNDS

Coach John Dean

GM Kyle Raftis

Record 16-9-2

 

After a good comeback win, the Hounds may get a boost as Ryan O’Rourke and Tanner Dickinson may be in the lineup. Speaking on the phone yesterday with Kyle Raftis; he was actually in the process of booking a flight as we were chatting. I would and could possibly assume it was for our two kids who were being returned back to home base as the World Juniors were cancelled.

I know that it is a quick turnaround and travel and everything, but given the choice of flying to their billets in the Soo or connecting and getting to Saginaw; I don’t think it is a stretch for the kids to say that they want to join the team and play. We will see at game time.

Leading the way will be the above if they are in the lineup and Rory Kerins, Tye Kartye, and Bryce McConnell-Barker.

In net; it wouldn’t surprise me is Sammy gets the nod as two games in less than 24 hours plus the overnight bus trip for last nights starter Tucker Tynan may be a factor.. and there are also some clouds over the young tender right now and Ivanov needs to be ready if something happens if you know what I mean.

Article regarding my chat with GM Raftis and trades and such will come later today.

Go Hounds Go