Pee Pee Might Have Been the Difference
Hounds Lose to London 4-3
Last night the Soo Greyhounds lost to the London Knights by a goal, and here are my observations.
The game was not a typical game, with London being a powerhouse and the Hounds the same as per previous years. Both clubs are slowly getting their swag together, and of course London will be a contender by the end of the year. They always are, but last night was just two talented teams getting back into the rhythm again.
The first thing of note is that the Hounds PeePee very well could have cost them the game. With three power plays and no goals, and the fact that the Dogs have basically played one and a half full games so far this year with an extra player on the ice (94 minutes/4 goals on 47 power plays), this is to be concerning. The Greyhounds staff and players need to fix this, and hopefully, with the addition recently of some mature players in Nordh, Mignosa, and Allard, this will come around. For whatever reason, they must be overthinking and can’t set up properly. Right now they are clutching their sticks too tight and coughing up the puck. Maybe just cross the line and tap an easy shot on net and force the save and whistle.. and start from the face off dot. Either way, close games are won with things like decent power play and lost without.
Scoring for the Hounds were Christopher Brown, Justin Cloutier, and Marco Mignosa, who scored his 4th goal of the season and contributed 8 of the Hounds shots on net. Hunter Solomon, who is a rookie D man with the Greyhounds, was a plus 3, and Landon Miller had another strong game.
The game was pretty much a see-saw, with the Hounds getting 33 shots on net and London 37. It was also a slightly chippy affair with Landon Sim of London getting under the Hounds skin, and there were some after the whistle skirmishes, including one at the end of the game. It will be a doozy of a game this Wednesday when Dale Hunters’ kids make a trip to the Soo for a rematch.
A final note is that Coach John Dean made the unusual media postgame comment that he expected the Knights to get preferential officiating (that’s taboo in this woke day and age) indicating that he “prepped” the Hounds to have to defend a 5-3 man advantage, which they did. From my vantage point, the refs didn’t seem to be that much of a problem, but I watched the game from Algoma and not London, where the game was. The one thing that stood out was the two long delays while the refs reviewed a tablet to confirm a goal was not as per goalie interference and a penalty that determined a headcheck was not a 5 minute infraction.
Anyway, tonight the kids will continue to mold and build as they play tonight in Flint against the .500 Firebirds.
Go Hounds Go !
