Hounds of the road
Maybe the Soo Greyhounds just needed to get out of town for a few days. After losing a pair of home games last weekend, the Greyhounds are two for two to begin on Ontario Hockey League road trip this week.
Backed by the rallying goal-tending of Croatian warrior Bailey Brkin, the Greyhounds upended the Niagara IceDogs 5-1 on Thursday before edging the Erie Otters 2-1 on Friday.
Brkin stopped 15 of 16 shots in the win over Niagara and made 28 saves in the victory over Erie.
This follows last weekend’s home-ice flop when the Greyhounds were cuffed 8-3 by the Sarnia Sting before losing 6-5 to the London Knights. Brkin was hung out to dry on several occasions in the two losses, especially against Sarnia.
At any rate, the rebound on the road has boosted the Hounds record to 12-15-2 on the season. The Hounds are 6-6-2 at home and have a 6-9-0 mark on the road.
Individually, Brkin now has a record of 6-3-1 with a 3.32 goals against average and .885 save percentage since being acquired by the Hounds by way of Nov. 12 OHL transaction with the Kingston Frontenacs via Western Hockey League waivers.
The Hounds conclude what is a three-game road swing when they take on the Mississauga Steelheads on Sunday afternoon. Mississauga has a record of 8-17-2.
PHOTO: Soo Greyhounds goalie Bailey Brkin, in action against the Erie Otters on Friday. (Photo by Matt Mead.)
Good stuff Randy. It’s funny Christian Propp is 4-1 with Kingston since the trade. Essentially the Hound team is the same yet they’re playing better in front of Brkin, Sarnia game not withstanding. The wins also were accomplished without O’Rourke as well. The defensive game improved drastically with the Hound’s 2018 first pick returned to the lineup on Thursday, and now they have an opportunity to sweep a 3 game road trip.
Thanks Chris and as I noted in a previous column on HNN, the Brkin for Propp swap has worked out well for both teams, right on, man.