Loss marred by injury as Greyhounds wrap up weekend

While they weren’t happy with their performance, the focus understandably shifted after the game.

The Soo Greyhounds lost a 6-1 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Ottawa 67’s at TD Place in Ottawa on Sunday afternoon.

After the game it was more about an injured teammate.

Greyhounds defenseman Luc Brzustowski left the game on a stretcher early in the second period after taking a hit from Ottawa forward Tyler Boucher near the ’67 bench.

Brzustowski fell to the ice and the game was instantly blown dead. Paramedics were immediately called to the ice and the Greyhounds’ blueliner was rushed to a local hospital after suffering a seizure.

Dean said before speaking to the media he spoke to Brzustowski and the defense attorney was in good spirits. Dean also said initial testing had eliminated some of the significant concerns about the injury.

“He’s fine now,” Dean said. “He has to undergo some tests because of the incident on the ice. He was in good spirits. He laughed and giggled.”

The team planned to visit Brzustowski in the hospital after leaving the rink, whether or not he would travel back to Sault Ste. Marie with the team stayed in the air today.

Dean said the injury took an emotional toll on the players.

“We had three or four kids in tears on the bench,” Dean said. “It’s hard to come back from something like that. When perspective hits you like that and you realize how fragile life is, it’s hard to reveal everything right away. It’s exhausting.”

Greyhounds captain Bryce McConnell-Barker called it “difficult to spot”.

“We all love Luc and we were really concerned,” McConnell-Barker added.

In an interview on the 67’s website, Ottawa coach Dave Cameron also addressed Brzustowski’s injury.

“He gave us a thumbs up on his way off the ice,” Cameron said. “We all breathed a sigh of relief.”

Boucher also spoke briefly to Brzustowski as the latter was being taken off the ice.

For the greyhounds, the game itself is one they would rather forget.

“We were very passive in our own zone,” Dean said. “We moved the puck sloppily, not aggressively in the precheck. We paid for that in Kingston. This is a game where any question you have for me will probably be answered with ‘yeah, we didn’t do that very well’.”

Dean called the game “probably our worst performance of the year.”

“It’s one we need to wipe away real quick,” Dean said as well.

McConnell-Barker called it a game where they were outplayed.

“We didn’t start today and we were definitely outplayed,” said McConnell-Barker. “They had a lot of O-Zone time and we didn’t really control the puck or make a lot of plays today.”

After a scoreless opening period, Brad Gardiner brought the 67s onto the board 19 seconds from center picture. The puck landed on Gardner’s stick near the net after a poor clearance attempt by the Greyhounds; Gardiner got the puck and hit Schenkel’s tall glove.

Shortly after Brzustowski’s injury, Ottawa made it 2-0 when Sault product Cooper Foster blocked an Anthony Costantini point shot 1:58 past thigh.

Luca Pinelli gave Ottawa a 3-0 lead 28 seconds later when he defeated Schenkel after a tight-angle shot by Vinzenz Rohrer down the right was stopped by the Greyhounds goaltender. The rebound got to Pinelli, who hit thigh’s glove side.

Chris Barlas made it 4-0 Ottawa at 13:31. The second-year forward ran down the right wing and sliced ​​at goal before being initially stopped by Schenkel. Barlas slammed the rebound into Sault’s goal to further extend the lead.

Ottawa took a 5-0 lead on the power play early in the third period. Parked in the left faceoff circle, Boucher once played a Costantini pass past Samuel Ivanov into Sault’s goal.

Just before halftime in the third, Cameron Tolnai made it 6-0 when he took a pass from Brady Stonehouse in a give-and-go before beating Ivanov’s glove side.

Rookie forward Connor Clattenburg broke Ottawa goalie Collin MacKenzie’s shutout bid when he ran down the left wing and defeated the 67’s goalie from the left circle.

In two periods of service for the Greyhounds, Schenkel stopped 32 of 36 shots, while Ivanov made a relieved stop of 10 of 12 in the third period.

Pinelli ended the day with a goal and an assist for Ottawa while Costantini had two assists in the win.

MacKenzie stopped 22 shots.

Before returning home for a few games next weekend, the Greyhounds will be back on the road in Sudbury on Wednesday night to face Wolves.

Over the weekend, the team will host the Guelph Storm on Friday night and the Niagara Ice Dogs on Saturday.

The Greyhounds fall to 3-5-3-1 with Sunday’s loss while Ottawa improves to 10-1-0-0.