Coming into the Wednesday, January 26th midweek west division clash with 16 points ahead of the fifth place (14-19-1) Saginaw Spirit, the first place (21-12-2-1) Soo Greyhounds to open a three game homestand in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario in Ontario Hockey League action.
At 6:41 into the first, Tanner Dickinson picks up a neutral zone Saginaw turnover to open the scoring for the Greyhounds. Marco Mignosa had the lone contributor on Dickinson’s sixteenth of 2021- 2022 season. Rory Kerins fires a wrist shot on Lennox from the right faceoff circle to be tipped by defenseman Robert Calisti over the Saginaw goaltender’s Tristan Lennox’s catcher to give the Soo a 2 – 0 lead 52 seconds into the third period, Tye Kartye notched the second helper on Calisti’s 14th of the season. Kirill Kudryavstev waiting patiently in the left faceoff all alone at 4:28, the rookie defenseman slides the Greyhounds third under Lennox to increase the hosts lead to 3 – 0. Dickinson and Cole MacKay had the assists on Kudryavtsev’s third of the season. 32 seconds past the midway mark of the period and pressure in the Soo crease, Sebastien Gervais slides the Spirit’s lone goal of the under a sprawling Samuel Ivanov to pull the visitors within two, Pacey Schlueting and Dalton Duhart had the assists on Gervais’ fourth of the season.
From the centre of the blueline, Kudryavstev fires a snapshot on Lennox to be picked up with a rebound by Kerins from the right of Lennox’s net at 15:52 to give the Greyhounds a 4 – 1 lead. MacKay added the other contributor on Kerins’ 23rd of the season. Sault Ste Marie native Cole MacKay snaps the Soo’s fifth past Lennox from the right faceoff circle over the Saginaw goaltender’s left shoulder to give the Greyhounds a 5 – 1 win. Kerins and Ryan O’Rourke setup MacKay’s 15th of the 2021 – 2022 season. Saginaw goaltender Tristan Lennox stopped 36 of 41 shots in the Spirit’s 20th loss of the season while rookie Greyhound Samuel Ivanov earned his 15th win of the season in the Soo’s 22nd win on Wednesday evening at home. The Soo record increases to 3 – 2 against the Spirit with all three wins in Sault Ste Marie at the Memorial Gardens.
The Greyhounds will now take their 5 – 1 win into Friday, January 28th when they host the second place (20-13-0-3) Flint Firebirds in a 7:07 p.m puck drop at the Memorial Gardens.
Photo Bob Davies
