In the first stop of their three-game road trip, the ninth-place Soo U16 Greyhounds (6-16-0-1) came through with a gutsy effort on Friday, January 23rd, skating to a hard-fought 4–3 victory over the sixth-place New Liskeard Cubs (11-14-1-1) in GNU18HL action at the Don Shepherdson Memorial Arena.

The opening period was a tight, defensive affair with both teams trading chances but finding little room through the neutral zone. The Cubs broke the deadlock at 13:36 when Loic Doire capitalized on sustained pressure, scoring his 11th goal of the season with helpers from Evan Rowe and Landen Creasey. Despite some late pushes from the Greyhounds, New Liskeard carried a 1–0 lead into the first intermission.

The Soo found their stride in the second period and quickly turned the momentum. At 8:13, Ethan Farquharson finished off a well-executed play, snapping home his eighth of the season off feeds from Bryson Palahnuk and Logan Watson to tie the game at 1–1. New Liskeard responded on the powerplay at 10:16, as Brady Krieger restored the Cubs’ lead with his seventh of the year, assisted by Kyle Cloutier and Ethan Roy.

Undeterred, the Greyhounds answered back once again. At 16:26, Benjamin McKinlay jumped into the play and buried his sixth of the season, with Gage Guzzo and Matthew Circelli recording the assists. Just over a minute later, the Soo grabbed their first lead of the night when Reegan Dezordo capitalized on a breakdown in coverage, scoring unassisted at 17:58 to give the Greyhounds a 3–2 edge heading into the third.

New Liskeard pushed hard in the final frame and drew even while shorthanded. At 15:10, Emerik Bray turned a defensive stand into offense, scoring his fifth of the season with Ethan Ethier picking up the assist to tie the game at 3–3.

With the contest hanging in the balance, McKinlay delivered again. At 16:00, he pounced on a loose puck created by a turnover at the Cubs’ blueline and fired it past Morgan Hyndman for his second goal of the game and seventh of the season, sealing a 4–3 Soo victory.

Phoenix Bell stood strong in the Greyhounds’ crease, turning aside key chances to preserve the win, while Morgan Hyndman took the loss for New Liskeard.

The Soo U16 Greyhounds will now continue their road trip on Saturday, January 24th, heading to Kapuskasing for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop against the Kapuskasing Flyers.