From this game on, the Soo Greyhounds will have to reach down and give everything they have if they want to remain a contender for any kind of championship. With one of the nuclei of the team removed in Tanner Dickinson there needs to be a concerted effort by everyone.

Tanner in my opinion will not rejoin with the team for the rest of the regular season for sure. His injury is severe enough that 3 months sounds about right to heal and there could be other factors in his delay to get back to hockey.

We will just have to hope that I am wrong and move on.

The Hounds will need leadership on all lines and with Bryce McConnell-Barker moving to the second line, I am wondering if Coach Dean will insert a winger to the middle on the 3rd line to give it some depth.

He has mentioned that newly acquired Keegan McMullen has played some center in the past so that is an option, but I am wondering if players with a scoring touch like Tyler Savard or Kalvyn Watson would also be a fit.

A centreman has a position that is primarily in scoring range and closer than being on a wing. We will just have to see what Dean has up his sleeve over the next half dozen games while he tinkers.

Tonight’s Tale of the Tape 

NORTH BAY BATTALION

Coach Ryan Oulahen

GM Dennis Adams

Record 20-15-3-3

Players to watch are Brandon Coe (66pts), Matvey Petrov (56pts), and rookie defenceman Ty Nelson with 30 points. The first line of the Battalion does most of the damage and if they are to win they will rely on them.

SOO GREYHOUNDS

Coach John Dean 

GM Kyle Raftis

Record 23-12-3-1

Kirill (pic chosen for the hair flare)

Holy sh*t !; out of nowhere Kirill Kudryavstev has slowly and silently put up some great numbers. As a defenceman he is leading the team in points as a rookie with an astounding 26 broken down to 3 goals & 23 helpers.

Great job on the scouting as he has turned out to be the real deal. Hey Bryce; with the extra minutes you are going to get, you’re going to have to tell Kirll that that’s not the way it is done here in Canada lol (just kidding as some friendly competition is healthy). Great job Kirill!

Tonight we get to see the Hounds 2.0 as the lines will look different with the different combinations Dean is going to play around with to replace Tanner Dickinson.

For the Hounds to win tonight, they will surely need to contain Brandon Coe who will try and outsmart Rory Kerins for the league lead in points and his teammates on his line are no slouch.

The Hounds will also need good goaltending and right now Dean has a big assignment ahead of him. He needs wins and nothing but. When the trade came for Tucker Tynan; it was understood 100% (don’t let anyone tell you anything else) that he would be the number one goaltender.

However, for some reason the team in front of him has let him down and sporting a 10-16 overall and (5-7 since arriving in the Soo) record it is complicated as his buddy on the team Sammy Ivanov has played great when called upon and has winning record of 16-7.

How complicated is it? Well for starters Sammy has played only one less game (25), but Tucker has faced about 175 extra shots on goal. Yes I am getting that deep, but that is how things are looked at under the microscope.

From here on in, I  think Dean is going to go with who is winning regardless of how the other goalie is playing and he is not going to be giving Tucker the number one spot just because that was agreed upon when he was traded for.

Coaches will say the cliché things to the media, but we know how it is done. No disrespect to Dean or Raftis.

Tonight anyone will be between the pipes, but make no doubt about it; if the team is winning in front of Ivanov, Ivanov will be the go to guy.

Rory Kerins, Tye Kartye, and Bryce-McConnell-Barker will be factors for the Hounds to win tonight

**I Almost forgot to mention that Canadian people are being allowed to watch this game in person; thank you to our Great Leader! (SARCASM EXTREMELY INTENDED)**

Go Hounds Go !