Soo Greyhounds Look Like They’ll Be Done Soon/Time-Outs Don’t Get Carried Over (Saginaw) /Duarte Breaks Nose in Hounds Loss (London)

We often hear how this goalie or that player might want to “have that one back”; meaning the player in question made an error and thus cost the team a goal. More often than not it is the goaltender that is spoken about in regards to, but I wonder if John Dean may have wanted to have that moment in time back.

On Saturday night against Saginaw; the Soo Greyhounds were only 33 seconds away from a victory but it was not to be. Saginaw had pulled their goalie, had the extra attacker, and the Dogs had been hemmed in their end for quite some time. 

As luck (bad) would have it, the Hounds then took a penalty and that was the writing on the wall. With the Hounds down 2 men, Saginaw would score only 17 seconds later to tie the game before winning it in overtime. 

Now with the faceoff deep in the Hounds end and some tired pups who had been fighting the Spirited offensive, John Dean in my opinion should have called his time-out to rest his kids. Instead, the Hounds took the draw and snap crackle pop; the puck was behind goalie Charlie Schenkel. 

Earlier in the game, Saginaw bench boss Chris Lazary made use of his own time-out and I wonder if Dean after going over Saturday nights game wished he would have used his as well. Time-outs don’t carry over to the next game so I don’t know why some coaches don’t use it more often. Anyway, He is the coach and I couldn’t coach my way out of a wet paper bag but that is just my thought on the matter.

Other notes from Saturday nights loss are that the Hounds are losing the chess match. If you watch the 3 on 3 overtimes nowadays you will see that one team will set up to defend while the other team sets up for the attack and then it reverses. 

Obviously I get it; that is what hockey is………but what I mean is; there doesn’t seem to be a work hard and see what it brings kind of mentality. There seems to be an unwritten rule that the 5 minutes is played out in an almost cookie cutter way and for the Hounds…their are crumbs everywhere. The Greyhounds have now lost 6 games in extra innings. Yes it is a credit to get that far and the one point, but somehow the kids will need to turn that opportunity into one where they get the W for morale and the second point.

I didn’t notice Bryce McConnell-Barker very much during the game but considering his performance the night before, there is a good chanced he was just gassed. 

I also noticed something of interest (to me anyway). I am questioning if coaches are now asking officials to review goals in order to get a free time-out. I believe on two occasions Saturday night the game was held up by a lengthier than standard 2 second review. I think that if a coach calls for a review, his players should not be allowed to congregate at the bench (to rest or get instruction). A clever coach would most certainly use this tactic, but hey….until their is some kind of policy put in place, this may also be part of the hockey chess match I am seeing. 

A great game in a losing effort was had by overager Mark Duarte who picked up a couple of goals. Kudos to Raftis on this pickup as he is really leading this team by example.