Photo: Bob Davies
After opening weekend with a 5 – 1 loss to the visiting Flint Firebirds on Friday, January 20th, the fifth place (14-17-7-4) west division Soo Greyhounds took to the ice at the Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste Marie on Saturday, January 21st to host the visiting fourth place (18-19-4) east division Hamilton Bulldogs.
Cole Brown gives the Bulldogs a 1 – 0 lead with his ninth of the season at 14:36 of the opening period with Marek Vanacker and Cedricson Okitundu adding the assists on Brown’s goal. Scoring his 13th of the season Brenden Sirizotti evens the game 1 – 1 for the Soo at 3:42 of the second with Marco Mignosa and Ryan Thompson drawing the contributors on Sirizzotti’s goal. At 4:56, Ben Bujold finds the back of Greyhound netminder Samuel Ivanov net for the Hamilton’s go-ahead goal with Fliran Xhekaj and Adrian Rebelo set up Bujold goal. Nick Lardis nets his 19th of the season for the Bulldogs 16:16 into the period with Sahil Panwar and Patrick Thomas contributing on the Bulldogs third of the game. Bryce McConnell-Baker sinks the Soo’s second of the game to pull the hosts within one at the 18:04 mark with Klavyn Watson and Kirill Kudryavstev registering the assists on McConnell-Baker’s 24th of the season. Brenden Sirizotti sends the Greyhounds into the second intermission tied 3 – 3 with a Soo goal behind Hamilton goaltender Matteo Drobac at 18:49 with Mignosa adding the helper on Sirizotti’s second of the contest. At 12:01, Alex Kostov fires his third of the season to give the Soo a 4 – 3 lead with Jordan D’Intino drawing the lone contributor on Kostov’s shorthanded goal. Cole Brown finds the back of Ivanov net for his second of the game with Bujold notching the assist to send the game into overtime. With two powerplay opportunities unsuccessful in the four on three overtime for the Greyhounds, the Bulldogs head home with a 5 – 4 shootout win over the Soo. Matteo Drobac stopped 23 of 27 shots in the win while Samuel Ivanov turned away 27 of 31 shots in the Greyhounds’ loss.
The Greyhounds will continue their home game stand with a Friday, January 27th matchup against the visiting Sarnia Sting in a 7:07 p.m start at the Memorial Gardens.
