A Valiant Effort In Defeat
The Soo Greyhounds played a really good game against a really good team but once again fell short losing the game in the shootout. The Hounds managed to score three goals on a great goaltender and only gave up 3 in regulation to a team that is on fire right now. All in all the Hounds earned the 1 point but not the W.
Right now is absolutely the right time in my opinion for GM Kyle Raftis to make a move and obtain that scoring forward and give these kids a bit of a break. With only 5 W’s this year, I am sure the confidence is pretty low. You can say that by “keeping with the program things will eventually turnaround” all you want but ….will they?
This is not a deep offensive team and if you don’t have the experience or talent, you can play the clichés all over the place and the wins will not come. Teams that use this philosophy are teams that have the puzzle pieces already but they just haven’t found out how to assemble them. This years edition of the Soo Greyhounds don’t have all the ingredients to win and something has to be done.
I have to commend the team and coaching staff for all of those games going into extra time because it shows that the Hounds can play “with” most teams in the league, but playing with and beating a team are two different things. The Hounds lack that extra card up their sleeve and now is the time for Kyle Raftis to go get it.
The Hounds by losing all of the close games this year are not what is going to help them get into the playoffs (where the money is); a roster shakeup is their only hope.
It was remarkable yesterday for Mark Matier and Gino Cavallo to basically echo what I had said in my article the day before about the Hounds having to ship a goalie off and get some picks in return, along with a scoring forward.
With Charlie Schenkel having two more seasons of eligibility left I would hold on to him and give Sammy a crack a at a title with a contending team.
Anyway, yesterdays game showed some good things.
I liked the way Connor Toms was playing and maybe that is why Dean inserted him into the shootout Friday night. I also can’t say enough about Mark Duarte who played another great game while nursing the broken nose to which I am sure he feels every time he gets checked into the boards.
I have not checked the power play stats but going off of yesterdays game, I like the way they are moving the puck around and it was nice to see Kirill shoot a few times. This kid has it all; skill, patience, and hockey intelligence.
Anyway the Hounds start a three game roadtrip later this week and my hopes are that we will see something roster wise change for the Hounds. These young pups have been bleeding for a while now and if it doesn’t stop, they will have to miraculously win almost every game after Christmas.
Get Er Done !!