Photo courtesy of James Egan Photography

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON -
The 2012-13 Ontario Hockey League season returned to Sault Ste. Marie in dramatic fashion on Friday Night when the Hounds were host to division rivals, the Plymouth Whalers.

MATT MURRAY (PIT) would get the Opening Night start for Hound Power, while Matt Mahalak would counter for Plymouth.
Murray would prove to be a huge factor on the night with his biggest stops coming while shorthanded and shutting the door on the Whalers offense.

With seven new faces in their line-up (via trade or draft), the Greyhounds were looking to capture their 4th consecutive home opening victory.
And the locals would get the first scoring chance of the game when the trio of JARED MCCANN, BRANDON ALDERSON and MITCHELL DEMPSEY swarmed the Whalers net only to come up empty-handed.

Then at the 7:45 mark of the period SERGEY TOLCHINSKY would grab his 1st Ontario Hockey League goal.  With DAVID BROLL circling to the slot in front of the Whalers net, Tolchinsky re-directed a Broll shot past Mahalak for a 1-0 Greyhound lead.

With the Whalers on their first power-play of the game, ALDERSON would gain a step on the Plymouth defense on the right wing before firing a shot five hole for a two goal lead.  RYAN SPROUL notched his first assist of the nigh on the play.

The Hounds would later end the period short-handed and were slightly outshot 9-7 in the opening 20 minutes, but led by a score of a 2-0.

Before the second period was ten minutes old the locals would kill off a Plymouth man advantage and fail to capitalize on a powerplay of their own before increasing their lead.
Despite getting slightly caught up in the stick of the Whaler netminder, DYLAN STAPLES backhanded a low shot through at the 6:08 mark, for what one would believe to be a commanding 3-0 lead.

But the visitors were far from going down easy.
Cody Payne put a rebound past Murray at the 6:26 mark, Alex Aleardi scored while shorthanded and Connor Carrick got his 1st OHL goal and when the buzzer sounded to end the 2nd period the Hounds and Whalers were deadlocked at three apiece.

Two goals fourteen seconds apart of the third period (6:59 and 7:13) saw a span of five unanswered goals complete for the Whalers and for the first time of the night put the Hounds in a deficit.

Before the third was ten minutes old, RYAN SPROUL's point shot pulled the Hound within a goal with the assists going to DARNELL NURSE and BROLL.

And then with time becoming of the utmost importance, JARED MCCANN (1st Round, 2012) notched his 1st Ontario Hockey League goal to bring the crowd back to life with just 1:21 to play.

Despite being outshot 21-9 in the period, the Hounds gained a point and would force overtime.

Just twenty-two seconds into the extra frame, ALDERSON, the lone overage in the Hounds line-up combined with ANDREW FRITSCH and NURSE to complete the dramatic win as the Hounds dropped Plymouth 6-5 in overtime.

The locals return to the Essar Centre ice tomorrow - Saturday, September 22nd - when they host the Windsor Spitfires at 7:07 p.m.
Tickets are still available at the Essar Centre Box Office (open at 10 a.m.), by phone at 1-866-775-9422 or online at www.essarcentre.ca

DICKIE'S HARDEST WORKING HOUND
#17 David Broll

RED STAR THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1 - Ryan Sproul, SSM
2 - Rickard Rackell, PLY
3 - Brandon Alderson, SSM

GAME NOTES:
- Line Combinations for were;
Broll - Cousins - Tolchinsky
Schumacher - Fritsch - Staples
Dempsey - McCann - Alderson
Halagian - Petaccio - Mallette
Fuller - Sproul
Nurse - Gudbranson
Spinozzi - Ganly
- Overage defenseman COLIN MILLER sat out Friday's game serving Game 2 of a 2-game suspension he received back in March of 2011
- Other scratches were; Schiller, Smith, Kirkup, Clutsam
- Attendance was 4,095