Photo: Bob Davies

Coming off a 12 – 1 loss in Sarnia to the Sting on Friday, February 3rd, the fifth place (14-21-7-5) west division Soo Greyhounds returned to Sault Ste Marie for an afternoon matinee against the visiting third place (23-20-4) central division Mississauga Steelheads on Sunday, February 5th.

After a scoreless first period and both teams serving penalties 2:57 into the second period, Zander Veccia finds the back of Greyhound netminder Charlie Schenkel’s net from the left side of the Greyhound net to give Mississauga a 1 – 0 lead. Lucas Karmiris and Finn Harding drew the assists on Veccia’s 14th of the season. With a backhand pass from the left side of the Steelhead post, Marco Mignosa all alone in front of the Mississauga’s crease, the 17 year old Vaughan, Ontario native lifts the Soo’s tying goal over Alessio Beglieri’s blocker to pull the Greyhounds even 1 – 1 at the 5:25 period. Kalvyn Watson and Bryce McConnell-Baker notched the helpers on Mignosa’s seventh of the season. With a turnover by the Caedan Carlisle Greyhounds at 15:31, Luke Misa picks up a loose puck to the left of Schenkel’s crease to find the back of the Soo’s net to give the Steelheads a 2 – 1 lead. Veccia contributed the lone assist on Misa’s goal. Scoring their third of the period at 16:45, Angus MacDonell picks up a Ryan Thompson turnover in front of the Greyhounds net from his knees to lift a goal over a sprawling Charlie Schenkel to bring the lead to 3 – 1. Adam Zidlicky registered the contributor on MacDonell’s 17th of the season.

After a Greyhound three on two, Kalvyn Watson fires a snapshot from between he faceoff circles, Watson fires the Soo’s second goal over Beglieri’s left shoulder to close the gap to one for the Greyhounds at 11:21 of the third. Bryce McConnell-Baker and Marco Mignosa set up Watson’s 22nd of the season. With a backhand Soo turnover just inside the Mississauga blueline, Luke Misa picks up a loose puck to skate to the Greyhound zone to sink an empty net goal at 19:12 of period unassisted. With seven seconds remaining in the game and the Soo on a powerplay, Watson scores his second of the contest with Kirill Kudryavstev and Brenden Sirizotti notching the assists on Watson’s goal. Steelhead goaltender Alessio Beglieri stopped 15 of 18 shots in Mississauga’s 4 – 3 win while Greyhound netminder Charlie Schenkel turned away 30 of 33 shots in the loss.

The Soo will be back on the road on Thursday, February 9th and Friday, February 10th to face the Windsor Spitfires on February 9th followed by meeting the Spirit in Saginaw on February 10th with puck drops of 7:05 p.m for both games.