Hounds Lose 5-4 to Depleted Kingston Club
With a Kingston team that was without 3 regular defensemen in Ben Roger, Alec Belanger, and Thomas Budnick, the Greyhounds would be looking to take advantage of this to stop their 4 game losing skid; but it was not to be.
The Hounds did play one of their better offensive games but turnovers bit them in the ass. Yes the Hounds battled back but one could argue that the battle was a result of a fatigued Frontenac’s club who played the night before, travelled, and had to move a forward to the blueline just to have 3 complete lines.
After allowing 2 goals on only 4 shots in the 1st period the writing was on the wall. For the Hounds to score 3 goals in a game would be a challenge as Mark Matier alluded to during the broadcast last night.
Although bright spots don’t win you games, there were a few. The Greyhounds did recognize the depleted lineup and peppered the Kingston goal with 48 shots and at the same time only allowing them 15 on our own. Bryce McConnell-Barker had another 10 shot game and KK had 5 from the blueline. I actually think Kirill had at least three opportunities to win the game for us late in the 3rd with the extra man but passed instead of unleashing when he was in the scoring lane.
All in all the Hounds battled from a 3-0, and a 4-1 deficit and tied the game at 4 with only a minute and some change left on the board.
In the OT the Hounds played decent and could have won the game during their power play but it was not to be.
Moving on to the shootout, I would politely question why Connor Toms was chosen to take the second shot ( no goal ) for the Hounds as 99.99 % of the time the forwards get exhausted before a defenseman gets called upon for this duty.
Anyway, BMB scored the first goal for the Hounds and the Kingston lineup scored on their two attempts to seal the win.
Scoring for the Hounds in the loss were BMB, Jordan D’Intino, Justin Cloutier, and Tyler Savard.
THOUGHTS & OBSERVATIONS
**Sophomore forward Landen Hookey needs to pick up his game in my opinion. The big 6 foot 4 inch (204lbs) kid has only 4 points in 19 games this year**
** I was at a loss as to why coach John Dean did not start Charlie Schenkel in net; this kid not only stopped all but 2 of 31 shots sent his way on Wednesday night, but he was also named the games first star. The answer may be just south of your eyes…..**
Kyle Raftis Interview May Speak Volumes
For a while now I have been at a loss as to the strategy employed by coach John Dean in reference to the two goalies; Charlie Schenkel and Samuel Ivanov.
I didn’t understand how he suddenly went from having Charlie Schenkel as a clear #1 to that being put in question over the past three weeks or so.
Charlie in my opinion has played excellent…..if not stellar hockey, for a team in front of him that has struggled this year.
All of a sudden with the great playing of this kid, he starts less games and most recently Samuel Ivanov started the three game road trip the Hounds just returned from.
When you have three games on the road and it starts and ends with Goalie A…..that is usually your #1….so what is going on here? I have no issues with Samuel Ivanov as he is a very very good goaltender but I couldn’t believe he started the trip when his counterpart had been playing his tail off. Anyway it is what it is and the answer may be in what Kyle Raftis had said or didn’t say last night.
Last night during the 2nd intermission Kyle was interviewed by Jim Fitzpatrick and the topic of recent big OHL trades (Othmann, Bloom, Pastujov, etc ) came up. Without regurgitating the whole interview….the takeaway for me was that when one big move is made…there is a domino effect; and other teams in the mix to fight for a title or championship may not want to be left in the dark so they start to assemble their pieces as well.
Recently I wrote that the Hounds are going to need to go out and get a seasoned goal scorer …and soon…if they want to make the playoffs and in addition to that….what do the Hounds have to offer besides draft picks as to not give away some key pieces to the puzzle they are working on, in order to be rewarded with hosting the 2024 Memorial Cup to which they have put down the dep$it to be considered for.
Anyway….I am sorry for being long winded but here is what I am thinking.
I think the extra starts Sammy Ivanov is getting may possibly be as a result that Raftis and Dean have come to a conclusion that it doesn’t make sense to have two really really good goaltenders when this team might not even make the playoffs.
One could be used in a trade to ..A… give that kid the ice time he deserves, and B….obtain a scoring forward this team desperately needs.
I am going out on a limb and my hunch is that one of these kids will be on the move soon. My gut suggests it will be Sammy.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter and I will follow up next week on why the Hounds chances of hosting the Mem Cup are extremely low.
Tomorrow the Hounds host London and I will be 1000% shocked if Charlie doesn’t get the nod. The Hounds are 1-1 against London this year and Charlie in his win previously shutout the Knights 1-0 back in October.