IceDogs fall flat in loss to Greyhounds
Ryan VanNetten provided the Niagara IceDogs with one of their few bright spots in another wise forgettable performance Thursday night at Meridian Centre.
The rookie defenceman potted his first OHL goal at home as the IceDogs dropped a 5-2 decision to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in Ontario Hockey League action.
VanNetten, who scored his first OHL goal earlier this month in Kingston, has a pair of goals and 12 points this season.
“It was obviously nice to put one in the back of the net,” the 18-year-old Simcoe native said. “It was a nice pass by Lavy (Zakary Lavoie) and I was just able to put it in an open net.
“Everyone loves scoring goals. That’s the most fun part of hockey. It’s a nice feeling.”
VanNetten played last season with Brantford of the Ontario Junior Hockey League where he nine goals and 23 points. The 99ers are owned by IceDogs owner and general manager Darren DeBobbelear.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound defenceman admitted it’s a huge jump to the OHL.
“Bigger, faster, stronger,” he said. “It took me a little bit to get used to but I feel like I’ve been adjusting nicely. It’s been fun.”
VanNetten said he has felt more comfortable as the season has progressed.
“Confidence is key in this game,” he said. “Right now I’m playing with a lot of confidence which is helping my game a lot. Early in the season my confidence was down. I didn’t have much and it affected my play a bit.
“I did not know what I was going to come into. The level, I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s been fun.”
The IceDogs didn’t have much fun Thursday, falling behind 2-0 by the halfway point of the first period and not registering their first shot on net until the 10-minute mark.
“Tough to say, to put my finger on it,” Niagara coach Ryan Kuwabara said. “We didn’t have a great start obviously, but we’ll try to address that coming into tomorrow. I guess some days you have it and some days you don’t.”
Kuwabara admitted the mistakes can be perplexing.
“It’s frustrating for us because we plan and make structure and we don’t go and execute for whatever reason,” he said. “It just wasn’t happening.
“We were flat.”
The offence, which produced seven goals Monday in a 10-7 loss at Oshawa, was out of synch.
“We definitely have a plan. Predictable for us, but unpredictable for the opponent,” Kuwabara said of his team’s offensive strategy. “We have set stuff we work through and guys are supposed to be in the right spot. Today it just seemed we were watching the puck instead of gauging and going and doing the normal stuff we do.”
The Greyhounds broke a 2-2 tie with a late goal in the second and an early goal in the third just 25 seconds into the period to take a 4-2 lead.
“I think if we score on that first two-on-one there early in the third and it doesn’t come back down in our net it changes the game completely. I think we get momentum there and it’s a different story,” Kuwabara said.
Kuwabara had no problem with the effort level for the most part.
“We’re a resilient bunch. I think we’ve proved that over and over. We come and work and battle and we battled back hard to tie it up,” he said. “We made one little slip at the end of the second and they got a goal. A D-zone breakdown and that’s something with video and teaching, it’s something we keep grinding into these young guys.”
Ice cubes: Landon Cato (upper body), Gerard Keane (broken wrist), Anthony Agostinelli (concussion) and David Jesus did not dress for the IceDogs . . . Andrew Gibson, Ethan Montroy, Daylen Moses and Spencer Evans were scratched for the Greyhounds . . . IceDogs media and communications manager John-Morgan Burns celebrated a birthday Thursday.
STATS PACK
Greyhounds 5 IceDogs 2
Sault Ste. Marie’s Justin Cloutier and Niagara’s Ryan VanNetten.
Niagara IceDogs: Daniel Michaud (20); Ryan VanNetten (2).
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds: Justin Cloutier 2 (12, 13); Bryce McConnell-Barker (28); Julian Fantino (9); Caeden Carlisle (5).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Charlie Schenkel (27), by SSM on Owen Flores (48); Power plays: Niagara 0/4, SSM 0/3; Penalty minutes: Niagara 18, SSM 8.
Attendance: 3,542.
Next up: The IceDogs are back at home Friday versus Sudbury at 7 p.m. and Sunday against Barrie at 2 p.m.
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