Home for the Hounds
Soo Greyhounds will ring in the New Year with five straight games on home ice. The Greyhounds, who are 8-2-0 in their last 10 outings, ended the 2019 portion of the Ontario Hockey League schedule with a road setback in Saginaw.
A highlight for the Hounds in the Monday night loss to Saginaw was the play of overage goalie Bailey Brkin. Brkin stopped 36 of 38 shots before the Spirit sealed the deal with an empty-net goal in a 3-1 win for the home side.
The Hounds, who are in seventh place in the tough Western Conference where only 13 points stand between first and tenth spots, will take a record of 18-17-2 into the New Year.
As for Brkin, the standout goalie has a record of 11-5-1 with a 3.27 goals against average and .895 save percentage since joining the Greyhounds from the Western Hockey League on November 12.
While the Hounds, in the words of head coach John Dean, were “totally outplayed and did not deserve to win” on Monday night in Saginaw, Brkin was “fantastic” in front of a healthy gathering of National Hockey League scouts who were in attendance.
At any rate, it is the home ice of GFL Memorial Gardens where the Hounds will play their next five games, beginning with this Friday against the Windsor Spitfires and Saturday versus the Sarnia Sting.
After that, the Hounds are home to the Mississauga Steelheads (January 10), the London Knights (January 12) and Saginaw (January 17.)
The Hounds have a record of 9-7-2 at home and are 9-10-0 on the road.
PHOTO: Greyhounds goalie Bailey Brkin, via eye-in-the-sky photographer Natalie Shaver.
Good stuff Randy! With these 5 games at home, it will be interesting to see if there will be a work distribution between Taylor and Brkin in the Twine Huts! With the recent play of Brkin and the huge win in relief by Taylor, the Hounds suddenly find themselves in the thick of a playoff race.
With many of the teams in the chase holding the “games in hand” on the Hounds it’s imperative they keep banking points while those teams play catch-up. Those 5 games you speak of are critical, even at this early juncture for serious playoff aspirations and seedlings.
With the trade deadline fast approaching, it will be interesting to seeing who the buyers and sellers are! Sounds like a great radio topic for a future episode of Hockey News North, the best radio show in these parts.
Thanks and good points, Chris.