The ’03 Soo Greyhounds Bantams kicked off the
weekend in Hamilton with a complete game effort, shutting out the Hamilton
Huskies en route to 2-0 victory in their opening game of the tournament.
Zach Prusky was in net for the shut out. Stephen Pszeniczny and Creo
Solomon scored for the Hounds. Nixon Zelonko was the MVP.
In the Hound’s second game of the tournament they were up against the Kingston Jr. Frontenacs. On a goal by Austin Mortimore, the Hounds went up 1-0 over Kingston in the first period. Although a strong effort was put forth for most of the game, a small lapse near the end of the second period saw Kingston put two past the Greyhound’s netminder Josh Lidstone, who had been standing on his head to preserve the lead for the Hounds. With the net empty at the end of the third period, the hounds threw a barrage of shots at the Kingston net, but were unable to capitalize. After the game, the Hounds would be commended by Kingston coaches on the level of work ethic put forth from start to finish. Team MVP for the Hounds was Josh Lidstone.
In game 3, the Bantams faced off against the Eastern Ontario Wild, a Saturday morning tilt. Again, the result would be a 2-1 loss despite again also controlling the majority of the play against a very physical Eastern Ontario team. Goal scorer and team MVP for the Hounds was Daniel Corrigal.
In the final game of the round robin, the Hounds needed a win in order to have a chance at advancing to the semi’s. After a shaky start, the Hounds were down 1-0 early on a bad bounce, and facing a penalty to kill in a matter of the first few minutes of the opening period. After killing the penalty and regaining focus, the hounds took control and never looked back with three unanswered goals scored by Jack Swan, Mortimore and Dylan Szabo. The team MVP for the hounds was Mortimore.
Unfortunately, the 2-2 record saw the hounds just shy of the fourth and final spot in the semi-finals. However, there were several positives to take from the weekend, “Our team defense was a strong as it has been all season. We made some small tweaks as a group and this weekend we saw the results,” said Chris Hales, Greyhound’s Assistant Coach.
Michael Schug also praised the team’s work ethic, “we’ve been stressing pace, doing everything at high speed. It’s not an easy thing to do, but the boys are buying in and we’re seeing the benefits.” Schug, the teams other Assistant Coach, went on to explain that in order to compete with teams in Southern Ontario, the Hounds will need to continue to improve as they have so far this season, keeping up the consistent level of work ethic from the drop of the puck to the final buzzer.
Of note, the Hounds finished the round robin with the Bantam division's lowest goals against, a proud accomplishment. The entire coaching staff was happy with the overall effort, and is looking forward the Hound’s next test – a road trip to Sudbury to face the top ranked team in the NOHL’s Bantam division this season, the Nickel City Sons.