TOUGH NIGHT FOR PETES
Chance for redemption on Friday in Kingston
Petes fall 7-3 to Kingston; Matt Puempel concussed in first game back from suspension; Slater Koekkoek’s season over.
Thursday is a day the Peterborough Petes would rather forget.
In addition to a 7-3 loss to the Eastern Conference’s last place Kingston Frontenacs, captain Matt Puempel was taken to hospital by ambulance with a head injury.
In Puempel’s first game back from an eight-game suspension, he was dealt a check to the head by Kingston defenceman Alex Gudbranson 3:10 into the third period. Gudbranson did not receive a penalty on the play despite appearing to elbow Puempel while he was in the midst of taking a shot on goal.
“The doctor thinks it’s very likely a concussion,” said Petes’ coach Mike Pelino. “That’s why he’s going to the hospital, for observation.”
Earlier in the day, the Petes learned Slater Koekkoek is done for the season after securing a Jan. 20 surgery date to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. It’s also not clear whether cocaptain Austin Watson will return to the team after finishing the world junior championship with Team USA on Wednesday. He’s expecting a trade before Tuesday’s OHL trade deadline.
Pelino described Puempel’s injury as “another blow” to a team that played most of the last month with a depleted lineup.
“He comes back after eight games and now he’s, probably, going to be out until we know more. It’s tough for the team and tough for Matt,” he said.
The Frontenacs, dealing with distractions of their own after three trades earlier in the day, broke open a 3-3 tie with four unanswered goals in the final period. They fired 49 shots at Petes’ goalies Mike Morrison, lifted after the sixth goal, and Andre D‘agostini. The two teams meet again Friday in Kingston.
After winning two of three last week with a depleted lineup, Pelino believes his team took Kingston too lightly.
“They, probably, looked at the standings and looked at the fact we played three pretty good games last week and thought we just had to show up,” said Pelino. “We were lackadaisical and weren’t focused and let little things get to us with retaliation penalties.”
Veteran Jonathan Jasper said his team just wasn’t ready to play.
“Maybe, we doubted this team with them being lower in the standings,” Jasper said. “They came out ready to play and took advantage of us.”
Jasper said the loss of Koekkoek and Puempel and the distractions of the trade deadline may have impacted the team.
“It’s a big loss losing Koekkoek and seeing Puempel get hit like that really hit the team hard, but we just have to battle through it. We’re still waiting to hear what’s going on with Watson. It’s definitely a tough time” said Jasper.
Nick Ritchie said the excitement of returning from the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge was diminished by Thursday’s result. He had an assist on Stephen Pierog’s goal. Joey West and Steven Trojanovic also scored for the Petes who led 1-0 after 20 minutes.
“It felt good to put the Petes’ uniform on after a bit of a break,” Ritchie said. “Hopefully, we can get back in the win column (Friday).
“We had a decent start. Kingston played a good second period and I guess you could say took the wind out of us. They played hard and we didn’t work as hard as they did.”
Darcy Greenaway led the Kingston attack with two goals and an assist while newcomers Jack Nevins, a goal and two assists, and Billy Jenkins, a goal and assist, contributed in their Frontenac debuts after trades earlier in the day.
Petr Beranek also had two goals and Trevor Morbeck a goal and assist.
Greenaway said contributions by Nevins, who had the winning goal, and Jenkins sparked them.
“They stepped up right away and learned our systems and did really well,” he said.
“We stuck to the game plan and worked hard in the third and it really paid off.”