Brown speechless after defensive debacle

Ottawa's defensive collapses have always given Jeff Brown fits, but Sunday's debacle was so bad to the point that he wouldn't speak with media.

While he probably would have liked to discuss his top rookie's scoring touch, he was without words following an epic collapse in the game's final 34 minutes, ending in an 8-5 Greyhounds win.


"We're a much better team than we're showing, we need to get winning again," said Noel Hoefenmayer, paired on the top pairing with Jacob Middleton for large portions of the evening.

"We did some things that were good today and some things that weren't, we just need to get through this."

All looked to be going swimmingly early, Austen Keating sent the stuffed toys flying for the annual Teddy Bear Toss five minute in.

Ben Fanjoy added another in the final minute of the period to send the 67's to the locker room with a two-goal lead.

Before long, the lead and the bear toss were a distant memory.

The Soo put up a six-spot in the second period, highlighted by three goals in 99 seconds which chased Leo Lazarev.

Keating answered once in the second, and continued his torrid pace with another goal and an assist on Sam Studnicka's third period marker, but 6-5 was as close as the Barberpoles would get.

"It's definitely a confidence booster, but I'm here to get the two points," said Keating on his first career hattrick, albeit in a losing effort.

By the third period, Stepan Falkovsky, called out by Brown after Friday's game, was planted on the bench.

With three rookie defencemen in Hoefenmayer, William Brown and Hudson Wilson, as well as a lack of defensive help from the forwards, Ottawa's defence broke when it normally would've bent.

Ottawa has a chance to gain ground on the suddenly-surging Peterborough Petes who come to town on Friday.