Photo courtesy of James Egan Photography

SAULT STE. MARIE, ON -
Friday Night was the 3rd Annual Pink in the Rink at the Essar Centre, as the Hounds, their fans and the Northside Auto Group raised funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Down on the ice, the Hounds and Kitchener Rangers were meeting for the first time this OHL regular season.
For the Hounds, the game marked their 2nd game of the week while for the visiting Rangers were playing for the first time in a week.

Entering the game, the Hounds 4-1-0-0 record was good for top spot in the OHL's West Division while Kitchener (3-1-0-0) was ranked #3 in the last BMO CHL Top 10 rankings.

On their first powerplay of the night, the Hounds would open the scoring.
SERGEY TOLCHINSKY's shot beat the Ranger netminder high to the gloveside. at the 6:19 mark, for his 2nd goal of the season and the 1-0 Greyhound lead.
DAVID BROLL and BRANDON ALDERSON notched the assists.
The goal on the man advantage was the first  goal against allowed by the Rangers on 18 shorthanded situations this season.

DYLAN STAPLES, with his 2nd goal of the year, increased the Hounds lead just under three minutes later going high off the iron from the right circle and the homicide was ahead 2-0.

Kitchener had a 5-on-3 powerplay late in the first, but the Greyhound penalty kill flexed it's muscles to the end the 1st period with the lead.  The Rangers would start the second period with 36 seconds remaining on the man-advantage.

After killing off the early shorthanded situation in the 2nd, the Hounds would have a glorious opportunity to increase their lead.
With DARNELL NURSE coming out of the penalty box, the Hounds rearguard joined the rush with ALDERSON only to be turned aside by the pad of Gibson.

Kitchener would beat MURRAY at the 12:08 mark, while on the powerplay, when Radek Faksa was given a feed from Matt Puempel from the left side of the net and the Rangers cut the Greyhound lead in half.

The Hounds would then strike on their 2nd powerplay of the game.
SERGEY TOLCHINSKY pounced on a  RYAN SPROUL point shot and fired home the rebound to Gibson's left, and while grabbing his 2nd goal of the night, put the Hounds ahead 3-1.

NICK COUSINS and MICHAEL SCHUMACHER looked to increase the locals lead shortly thereafter but the nice two-way passing play was fired wide of the net and the two goal lead remained the rest of the way and the Hounds lead stood after forty minutes.

For the 2nd time on the night, a later period powerplay was all but erased and the visiting Rangers would start the third with nine seconds on the man advantage.
For the Hounds, they entered the third period leading a contest for the first time this season.

The Soo faithful believed there team had increased their lead yet again at the 11:54 mark of the third period when ALDERSON drove the right wing to the net and MARK PETACCIO pounced on the rebound only to see the goal waved off and the Hounds assessed a goaltender interference penalty.
On that powerplay, Puempel scored his team-leading 5th of the season and the Hounds lead was down to a 3-2 score.

Holding the lead with 7:28 remaining, the Hounds put three great scoring chances together.
ALDERSON moved the puck off the right wing to PETACCIO but put things high, then with 1:43 left, ANDREW FRITSCH fed SCHUMACHER only to his low drive stopped.

The visiting Rangers would call a timeout, and later pull Gibson from the net and with approximately 40 seconds remaining SCHUMACHER's long shot went off the left post to keep the Hounds lead to 3-2.

Following a defensive-zone face-off, ALDERSON charged the Rangers left defenseman, won the battle and led the Hounds up the right wing before depositing the puck into an empty net for his 3rd goal of the season and a 4-2 Greyhound lead.

TRENT MALLETTE kept the puck on the Rangers side of the red line in the dying seconds of the game as the clock winded down and the Hounds skated to their 4th consecutive victory of the season and improved their record to 5-1-0-0, good for 10 points and top spot in the OHL's West Division.

The Hounds penalty kill went 6-for-8 on the night, and MATT MURRAY was named the games Red Star 1st star of the game with 39 saves on the night in a 4-2 Greyhound victory.

Home ice action continues on Saturday Night as the Hounds complete a three-game stand versus the Sarnia Sting.
Opening face-off is set for 7:07 p.m. and tickets are available at the Essar Centre Box Office (beginning Saturday morning at 10 a.m.), online at www.essarcentre.ca or by phone at 1-866-775-9422.

Special thanks to all our fans, and the Northside Auto Group for another successful "Pink in the Rink" event.

DICKIE'S HARDEST WORKING HOUND
#24 Alex Gudbranson

RED STAR "THREE STARS" OF THE GAME
1 - 30 Matt Murray, SSM
2 - 28 Sergey Tolchinsky, SSM
3 - 73 Matt Puempel, KIT