After a 7 – 2 afternoon matinee win in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario over the visiting Saginaw Spirit, the first place west division (14-) Soo Greyhounds took to the road to face the first place central division (15-7-1-1) North Bay Battalion on Thursday, December 9th in a Ontario Hockey League contest.
With the Battalion on a powerplay 7:28 into the opening period, Matvey Petrov sends a pass from the left of Greyhound newly acquired netminder Tucker Tynan’s net to Mitchell Russell to give North Bay a 1 – 0 lead. Ty Nelson notched the second assist on Mitchell’s 14th of the season. Greyhound Tanner Dickinson fires a snapshot from the top of the left faceoff circle on a Soo five on three powerplay to find the back of Battalion goaltender Joe Vrbetic’s blocker to even the game 1 – 1. Kirill Kudryavtsev and Rory Kerins added the helpers on Dickinson’s 12th of the season at 17:29 of the first. With eight seconds remaining in a North Bay powerplay 3:18 into the second, Simon Rose sends a cross ice pass through traffic to Josh Currie score the go-ahead goal over Tynan’s shoulder from the right faceoff circle. Avery Winslow had the second contributor on Currie’s ninth of the season. From just inside the blueline, Greyhound Robert Calisti fires the tying goal to even the game 2 – 2 for the with his tenth of the season with Kerins and Connor Toms setting up Calisti’s tying goal.
With his 21st of the season, Tye Kartye catches a drop pass Kerins in front of Vrbetic’s net at 14:54 of the middle stanza to give the Soo a 3 – 2 lead. Toms had the other assist on Kartye’s goal. On a North Bay powerplay, Liam Arnsby finds the back of Tynan’s net down on one knee 7:41 into the third to slide the Battalion’s third under the Chicago, Illinois netminder, Petrov and Russell drew the helpers on Arnsby’s tying goal. on a Greyhound powerplay and firing a snapshot over Vrbetic’s right shoulder, rookie Bryce McConell Baker registers his 11th on the season at 11:06 with Jacob Holmes and netminder Tucker Tynan adding the assists. Tying the game 4 – 4 for the hosts was Battalion Matvey Petrov at 16:18 with his 17th of the season. Brandon Coe and Russell notched the contributors on Petrov’s tying goal. 1:11 into the five minute overtime, the Greyhounds and Battalion four on four, Brandon Coe slides the game winner under Tynan’s right pad to give North Bay a 5 – 4 Thursday evening win at home over the Soo. Battalion goaltender Joe Vrbetic stopped 26 of 30 shots while Greyhound Tucker Tynan turned away 29 of 34 shots in his first appearance in a Soo jersey.
With two postponed games in Sudbury against the Wolves on December 9th and 10th, the next action for the Greyhounds will be on the road for their first of two with a stop in Windsor against the Spitfires on Thursday, December 16th and in Kitchener on Friday, December 17th when they face the Rangers. Both games will start at 7:30 p.m on the road for the Greyhounds before their 2021 OHL Christmas Break.
Photo: Gerry Liscumb Jr
