Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
On Friday, February 20th, the fourth-place Soo Greyhounds welcomed the ninth-place Sarnia Sting to Memorial Gardens for a Western Conference showdown in Sault Ste. Marie. Coming off a 6–5 shootout loss to the Sting just four days earlier in Sarnia, the Greyhounds were looking for a strong response on home ice—and they delivered with a 6–3 victory.
The Soo jumped out to an early lead just 1:06 into the opening period when Christopher Brown opened the scoring with his 19th goal of the season, assisted by Spencer Evans and Justin Cloutier. Sarnia answered quickly at 1:23 as Matthew Manza evened the score at 1–1, finishing a play set up by Jacob Reese and Cameron Aucoin.
Momentum swung back in favour of the Greyhounds at 4:18 when Marco Mignosa struck shorthanded for his 26th of the season, with Brady Smith earning the assist. The Soo continued to press, and at 8:38 Callum Croskery made it 3–1 with his second goal of the campaign, assisted by Travis Hayes and Harris Pangretitsch. Late in the period, Mignosa capped off a dominant first frame with a power-play goal at 18:21—his 27th of the season and second of the night—set up by Lukas Fischer and Colin Fitzgerald, giving the Greyhounds a 4–1 lead after one.
The Sting pushed back in the second period. At 2:07, Carson Hall cut the deficit to 4–2, scoring his second of the season with assists from Easton Walos and Logan Hawery. Sarnia made it a one-goal game at 6:42 when Chase Gaughan netted his second of the season, assisted by Dallas Hibbert. The Greyhounds settled things down midway through the period, restoring their two-goal cushion at 12:34 as Noah Laus scored his 12th of the season off feeds from Mignosa and Quinn McKenzie to make it 5–3.
The third period saw the Soo lock things down defensively, and with the Sting net empty late, Mignosa completed his standout performance. At 18:07, he scored into the empty net for his 28th goal of the season and fourth point of the game, with Travis Hayes picking up the assist, sealing the 6–3 victory.
In goal, Carter George turned aside 27 of 30 shots for the Greyhounds. Sarnia received 9 saves on 13 shots from Kale Osipenko in the first period before Patrick Quinlan stopped 14 of 15 shots over the final two periods in relief.
The Greyhounds will look to keep the momentum going when they host the visiting Guelph Storm on Saturday, February 21st, with puck drop scheduled for 7:07 p.m at the Memorial Gardens.
