The Soo U18 Jr. Greyhounds put together a perfect 4-0 weekend on the road, winning four games in three different Northern Ontario communities over the October 2nd to 4th weekend in GNU18HL action.
The Greyhounds began the demanding trip with back-to-back games against the New Liskeard Cubs on Friday evening and Saturday morning. They then travelled to North Bay for a Saturday evening matchup against the U18 Trappers before making the trip south to Powassan for a Sunday morning contest against North Bay.
Despite playing four games in roughly 48 hours, the Greyhounds continued to find ways to win, collecting a pair of overtime victories and putting together two convincing regulation-time wins.
Game One — Greyhounds Rally to Beat Cubs in Overtime
The opening game of the road trip took place Friday evening in New Liskeard, where the Greyhounds found themselves trailing the Cubs 1-0 after the opening period.
At 13:13 of the first period, New Liskeard opened the scoring when Keiran McCoy scored his third goal of the season, with assists going to Kohen Zubyck and Nate Gervais.
The Greyhounds answered quickly to begin the second period. Just 49 seconds into the frame, Liam Clark scored his fifth of the season to tie the game at 1-1, with Finlay Escasa and Bryson Palahnuk picking up assists.
The Cubs regained the lead only 45 seconds later, however, as McCoy scored his second of the night and fourth of the season at 1:34, assisted by Ryan Larocque.
New Liskeard extended its advantage at 3:17 when Kohen Zubyck scored his first of the season, with Benjamin Boissonneault and McCoy assisting.
The Greyhounds cut into the deficit before the end of the period. On the power play at 15:49, Kyle Crack scored his first goal of the season, assisted by Brett Archambault, sending the game to the third period with the Cubs leading 3-2.
Sault erased the deficit early in the third.
At 3:46, Nico Bossio scored his sixth of the season, assisted by Clark, tying the game at 3-3.
The Greyhounds then moved in front at 16:08 when Gage Guzzo scored his second of the season, with Rocco Dos Reis and Myka Venneri collecting the assists.
With the Greyhounds just over a minute away from securing the victory, New Liskeard found the equalizer. Lukas Kellar scored his first of the season at 18:57, assisted by Ethan Ethier and Zubyck, forcing overtime.
The Greyhounds needed only 4:37 of the extra period to finish the comeback.
Clark scored his sixth of the season to complete a three-point night and give Sault the 5-4 overtime victory. Bossio and Venneri assisted on the game-winning goal.
Tanner Carriere was in goal for the Greyhounds, while Antoine Ethier tended the net for New Liskeard.
Game Two — Greyhounds Explode for 12 Goals
Less than 24 hours later, the Greyhounds were back on the ice in New Liskeard for their second game of the weekend and came out with a dominant offensive performance, defeating the Cubs 12-2.
Sault opened the scoring at 5:50 of the first period when Bryson Palahnuk scored his second of the season, assisted by Jacob Vincent and Dos Reis.
The Cubs tied the game at 18:53 when Emerik Bray scored his second of the season, assisted by Chase Koostachin.
The Greyhounds took control in the second period.
At 10:26, Dos Reis restored the Sault lead with his sixth of the season, assisted by Reegan Dezordo and Guzzo.
Just 47 seconds later, Vincent scored his seventh of the season, assisted by Archambault and Logan Nakani, making it 3-1.
Clark then added his seventh of the season at 12:27, with Bossio and Logan Watson assisting.
The Greyhounds carried a 4-1 advantage into the third period and then turned the game into an offensive showcase.
Vincent scored twice early in the period, first at 3:16 unassisted before completing his hat trick at 7:22 with an assist from David Francella.
New Liskeard answered at 9:50 when McCoy scored his fifth of the season unassisted, but the Greyhounds immediately responded.
At 10:32, Bossio scored his seventh of the season, assisted by Escasa.
Only 10 seconds later, Bossio struck again, scoring his eighth of the season with Clark and Escasa assisting.
Francella added his first goal of the season at 11:31, scoring unassisted to make it 9-2.
The Cubs added a second goal at 14:21 when Bray scored his third of the season.
Bossio then completed his hat trick at 16:09, scoring his ninth of the season with assists from Venneri and Vincent.
Clark capped the scoring at 19:19, scoring his eighth of the season with Watson assisting.
The 12-2 victory gave the Greyhounds their second win in as many games in New Liskeard.
Noah Jylha was in goal for Sault, while Nicolas Gagnon started for the Cubs.
Game Three — Dos Reis Wins It in Overtime Against North Bay
Following Saturday morning’s victory, the Greyhounds remained on the road and travelled to North Bay for their third game of the weekend and their second game of the day.
The matchup against the North Bay U18 Trappers took place at Memorial Gardens, with the Greyhounds looking to maintain their perfect weekend despite the demanding schedule.
Sault opened the scoring at 5:51 of the first period when Dos Reis scored his sixth of the season, assisted by Escasa.
The Trappers responded late in the opening frame. Joe Monet scored his third of the season at 17:39, assisted by Jackson Porter and Ronan Grant, tying the game at 1-1.
With only four seconds remaining in the period, Guzzo restored the Greyhounds’ lead. His third goal of the season came at 19:56, assisted by Dos Reis.
North Bay tied the game again at 15:39 of the second period when Brayden Hodges scored his fifth of the season, with Michel Culbert and Bentley Bobbish assisting.
The Trappers then took their first lead of the game at 3:20 of the third period. Hodges scored his second of the night and sixth of the season, assisted by Brayden Hanam and Grant.
The Greyhounds answered just over three minutes later.
At 6:43, Guzzo scored his fourth of the season to tie the game at 3-3, with Watson and Dezordo picking up assists.
Once again, overtime was required to determine a winner.
The Greyhounds needed only 2:05 of the extra period to secure their third victory of the weekend.
Dos Reis scored his seventh of the season, with Dezordo assisting, giving Sault a 4-3 overtime victory.
Carriere made his second start of the weekend for the Greyhounds, while Hudson Horsley was in goal for North Bay.
Game Four — Greyhounds Finish Perfect Weekend in Powassan
With three games already played, including two on Saturday, the Greyhounds headed into Sunday morning looking to complete the road trip with a fourth consecutive victory.
The final game took place in Powassan, giving Sault its third different rink in 48 hours as they once again faced the North Bay U18 Trappers.
North Bay jumped out to an early lead.
At 1:26 of the opening period, Michel Culbert scored his eighth of the season, assisted by Hodges.
Culbert struck again at 11:07, scoring his ninth of the season with Hodges and Warren Little assisting to give the Trappers a 2-0 advantage.
The Greyhounds, however, responded with two goals late in the opening period to completely change the momentum.
At 17:34, Escasa scored his sixth of the season, assisted by Clark and Bossio.
Just over two minutes later, at 19:46, Guzzo tied the game at 2-2, with Dos Reis and Preston Gioia assisting.
The Greyhounds completed the comeback at 15:30 of the second period.
Dos Reis scored his eighth of the season, assisted by Watson and Guzzo, giving Sault its first lead of the game.
Sault then added two more goals early in the third period.
At 4:33, Archambault scored his fourth of the season on the power play, assisted by Vincent and Finlay Carlson.
Clark added his ninth of the season at 6:53, with Bossio and Escasa assisting to make it 5-2.
North Bay managed to cut the deficit with just 23 seconds remaining in regulation when Reed Sauve scored his third of the season, assisted by Porter.
The late goal wasn’t enough, however, as the Greyhounds held on for the 5-3 victory and completed the four-game sweep.
Jylha made his second start of the weekend for Sault, while Jayden Claveau was in net for North Bay.
Four Games, Four Wins
The weekend was an impressive test of the Greyhounds’ depth, endurance and ability to respond to adversity.
Sault trailed in all four games at different points of the weekend, yet never allowed a deficit to derail the trip. The Greyhounds opened the weekend with a 5-4 overtime comeback against New Liskeard, followed that with a 12-2 offensive explosion, edged North Bay 4-3 in overtime later Saturday and then completed the sweep Sunday morning with a 5-3 victory in Powassan.
The Greyhounds also received significant offensive contributions throughout the weekend.
Dos Reis, Clark, Guzzo and Bossio were among the team’s biggest contributors, with each producing multiple-goal performances during the four-game stretch. Bossio’s hat trick in Saturday morning’s 12-2 win highlighted the offensive outburst, while Vincent also recorded a hat trick in the same game.
Clark was particularly consistent throughout the weekend, scoring six goals across the four games, including the overtime winner in Game One.
Dos Reis also came through in key moments, scoring the overtime winner against North Bay on Saturday evening.
Perhaps most importantly, the Greyhounds managed to remain focused despite the challenging schedule, which included four games, three different communities and three different rinks in approximately 48 hours.
With the four-game road trip now complete, the Soo U18 Jr. Greyhounds will have some time to rest and prepare for their next stretch of GNU18HL action.
The Greyhounds will return to the ice on the October 23rd to 25th weekend when they host the Kapuskasing Flyers for three games at the John Rhodes Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.
After a perfect weekend away from home, the Greyhounds will return to Sault Ste. Marie riding a four-game winning streak and looking to continue the momentum on home ice.
