Greyhounds outpace 67’s
Coach Keefe has new club grasping at first place
No matter the sport, a coaching change usually gives a team an immediate spark.
A month, say, is a much better measure of the effect of the change and after exactly a month behind the bench, folks in Sault Ste. Marie may be starting to think the new guy from Pembroke is the second coming.
Sheldon Keefe, the highly successful former head coach — and still owner — of the Pembroke Lumber Kings has his new club running at a .700 clip after his Greyhounds destroyed the 67’s before a crowd of 4,630 at Scotiabank Place on Thursday night in his first visit back to the Ottawa Valley.
Thanks to a 7-3 run under Keefe since he replaced Mike Stapleton on Dec. 3, the Greyhounds have shot from a game under .500 to within three points of the first-place Sarnia Sting in the Ontario Hockey League’s West Division.
“With Keefer, there’s a little more accountability — there’s no B.S.,” said ’Hounds defenceman Alex Gudbranson, of Orléans.
“All he wants is for you to do your job and be accountable. And there’s no reason we can’t keep it going.”
Of course, no team in the Western Conference is going to catch the London Knights, who only lose a game about once every two months. Still, a division pennant would give the ’Hounds the No. 2 seed in the conference.
The ’Hounds are big and they are disciplined.
And they hit the ice hungry and owned the 67’s in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the home side 206 while scoring the period’s only goal, a rebound by Mark Petaccio that 67’s netminder Clint Windsor had no chance on.
Windsor could have filed suit for lack of support and the roof finally caved in early in the third on Soo goals by Ryan Sproul, David Broll and Dylan Staples, none of which Windsor had a chance at.
Ottawa’s Tyler Graovac finally broke Matt Murray’s shutout bid at 8:28 of the third.
“I was never one for standings or rankings or anything like that,” Keefe said. “I didn’t do it in Pembroke and I won’t do it here. The goal is simple: come to the rink every day looking to get better. And if you do that, you will put yourself in good a good position.”
At least the night wasn’t a total loss for the 67’s, as the Peterborough Petes surprised the Belleville Bulls to leap over the 67’s into 19th overall in the “race” to draft first overall in May.