It was a battle of two of the Ontario Hockey League’s hottest teams but it was one who came limping away.
A four-goal second period was the difference as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Soo Greyhounds 6-1 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound on Wednesday night.
As one of the OHL’s top teams on the road, a bad second period led to what some called an embarrassing result in the opener of a three-game road trip for the Greyhounds.
“We just got out-worked and gave them too many odd-man rushes,” said Greyhounds forward Jack Kopacka said of the second period.
“It’s obviously embarrassing, especially with the way we’ve been playing on the road all year,” Kopacka also said of the game.
Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister called the game a wake-up call for a Greyhounds team that had six wins and an overtime loss in its seven previous games.
“Sometimes games like this are good in the sense that they knock you back to reality,” Bannister said. “They show you the work that we still need to put in here as a group. Tonight, especially in the second period, we had to be a lot better than we were.”
Joseph Raaymakers got the start in goal for the Greyhounds but was pulled after surrendering five goals on 31 shots in two periods of work. Matthew Villalta came in and stopped nine shots in the third period.
Boris Katchouk had the lone goal for the Greyhounds, breaking Owen Sound goaltender Michael McNiven’s shutout bid with 32 seconds left in the contest.
Katchouk called the loss “probably one of our worst performances all year.”
The loss drops the Greyhounds to 17-4-0-0 on the road and 27-9-2-0 overall. The team remains in top spot in the OHL’s West Division with a three-point lead over the Windsor Spitfires, who were idle on Wednesday and hold two games in hand on the Greyhounds.
The Greyhounds remain in top spot in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the London Knights, who also hold a pair of games in hand on the Greyhounds.
Overage forward Matt Schmalz paced Owen Sound offensively with a goal and two assists. Jonah Gadjovich, Zachary Roberts, and Sean Durzi added a goal and an assis each for the Attack. Nick Suzuki and Maksim Sushko also scored. Justin Brack assisted on a pair of Owen Sound goals.
McNiven made 33 saves for the Attack.
“We’re just trying to keep the momentum going every night,” McNiven told RogersTV following the game of the winning streak. “We’re just working hard.”
Owen Sound has now won eight-straight games and remains in a tight battle for positioning with the Knights, Erie Otters and Kitchener Rangers in the Midwest Division, improves to 24-13-1-0.
Both teams played the game without key players due to the World Junior Hockey Championships as Greyhounds forward Blake Speers is competing with Team Canada while Petrus Palmu competed for Finland in the tournament. The Finnish team finished ninth after beating Latvia in the best-of-three relegation round. The series finished on Tuesday but Palmu had not yet returned to Owen Sound ahead of Wednesday’s game.
The Greyhounds also played the game without veteran forward Bobby MacIntyre who is out with a mild groin strain suffered in Saturday’s shootout win over the Guelph Storm.
Bannister said the earliest he expects the overage forward to be back in the lineup would be next Wednesday when the Greyhounds are in Sudbury to take on the Wolves.
The Greyhounds road trip continues on Friday night in Kitchener against the Rangers. Puck drop at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium is set for 7:30 p.m. The trip then wraps up on Saturday night in Barrie against the Colts.
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OTHER SCORES
In Erie, newly-acquired forward Warren Foegele had a goal and two assists as the Erie Otters beat the Niagara IceDogs 7-2. Gera Poddubnyi, Patrick Fellows and Jordan Sambrook added a goal and an assist each for Erie. T.J. Fergus added a pair of assists. Alex DeBrincat, Kyle Pettit, and Darren Raddysh also scored for Erie. Ben Jones and Hayden Davis scored for Niagara.
In Hamilton, Owen Tippett had two goals and an assist as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-1. Nathan Bastien added a goal and an assist for the Steelheads while rookie netminder Jacob Ingham made 24 saves. Dawson Carty made 31 saves for Hamilton. Michael Cramarossa had the lone Bulldogs goal.
In Sarnia, Nicholas Caamano’s goal at 7:42 of the third period was the game-winner as the Flint Firebirds beat the Sarnia Sting 5-4. Alex Peters had a goal and two assists for Flint while Everett Clark added a goal and an assist. Jake Durham and Jalen Smereck also scored. Kole Sherwood assisted on a pair of Flint goals. Troy Lajeunesse scored a pair of goals while Kevin Spinozzi and Sean Josling also scored for Sarnia. Jordan Kyrou assisted on three Sting goals.
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AROUND THE OHL
With the trade deadline looming, some big deals have already been made.
The Peterborough Petes acquired forward Nikita Korostelev and defenceman Alex Black from the Sarnia Sting. In return, the Petes sent forward Nick Grima, second round picks in 2017, 2019 and 2020, third round picks in 2017 and 2019 and a sixth round pick in 2017 to Sarnia.
The other big trade saw the Kingston Frontenacs deal overage forward Warren Foegele to the Erie Otters. In return, the Frontenacs acquired Brett Neumann and a third round pick in 2021 from Erie.
In Ottawa, the Ottawa Citizen is reporting that 18-year-old forward Drake Rymsha has requested a trade from the Ottawa 67’s.