Hounds Get What They Deserved in Sarnia/Anson Thornton Shuts them out 4-0 for His Career First
I guess the Hounds padded their rear-ends with a softcover History book and not a hardcover as I suggested they would in yesterdays brief article. After being stung about a week ago 6-5 against the Sarnia club, they managed to let the stinger enter the fleshy part of their anatomy once again and it hurt.
With a lackluster performance last night the Hounds can sit and reflect that they are now (with a Windsor win last night) 1 point behind the Spits and 5 back of Flint when they could have easily cut that down by 2.
With the loss Windsor now leaps in front of the Greyhounds with 70 points to the Dogs 69.
There were not many good things about last nights game but I will say that Jack Thompson stood out as someone who was present in Sarnia in both mind and body. He ended the night with 6 shots on goal.
It seemed that the Hounds didn’t have much urgency in their skate and even though controlling the play for the most part on the #1 ranked PP came up empty on their 6 occasions.
There were a few times where the Hounds played hard but they were few and far between and when called upon Sarnia goalie Anson Thornton was there…….or so was his best friend.. the post.
Speaking of goalies; Tucker Tynan was yanked after the 4th Sarnia goal and played good but gave up at least one goal I think he would want back. Samuel Ivanov came in to replace him.
There is a point where Coach Dean has to make a decision here; Tucker has a record of 12-15 since joining the Greyhounds and Samuel Ivanov has a record of 17-7.
Going down the stretch you need wins and going back to your starter just because they are your starter doesn’t make sense. Analytics these days are used by many coaches and GM’s in determining who plays and who gets drafted and it should be used in this case in my opinion.
Of note the Hounds coaching staff if you watched the game last night were caught yelling and screaming at the Sarnia bench when coach Alan Letang called a time out with 2:31 left in the game. I know exactly why the timeout was called and it wasn’t to embarrass the Hounds; they did that to themselves.
The timeout was called as the line on the ice was hemmed in their end and needed a rest but the coach was also thinking it was a big moment and that the big goose egg on the scoreboard needed to remain for two reasons.
He needed the kids the end the game on a high note as they are chasing a playoff spot but most importantly he wanted the shutout for the Sarnia goaltender Anson Thornton who was playing his second game in two nights and deserved to preserve his good play for the next 2 minutes and change.
I think that Letang made a very smart move and it was for all the right reasons and Anson got his very first OHL shutout; and in the heat of the moment of losing coaches Dean and Smith upon reflection may agree that their outburst was not warranted.
In a losing effort as I said, Jack Thompson played well and so did Kirll Kudryavstev who made a handful of great defensive plays. Hopefully on Friday in Flint, the rest of the team shows up and decide that they can’t rely on their top line to win or their #1 ranked power play.
Following the game on Friday, the Greyhounds head to Saginaw for a tilt Saturday night.
Go Hounds Go
