Bears Complete Come Back for 3-2 Win over Battalion
The Owen Sound Attack closed out their pre-season schedule at home on Sunday against the North Bay Battalion, completing the comeback for a 3-2 victory. Declan Waddick, Rafik Varosyan and Taos Jordan had goals for the Attack, while Natan Teshome and Amidovski answered for the Battalion. Matthew Koprowski made 30 saves for the win.
The Battalion outshot the Attack in the first period 11-5, opening the scoring with just under four minutes to play when Teshome buried a shot from the wing to make it 1-0. With under a minute to play in the period overage forward Landen Hookey energized the crowd and the Attack bench with a big shift of solid physical play, With 15 seconds left and the Attack bench energized, the Bears pushed the play at the Battalion and were rewarded when Waddick finished off a pass from Harry Nansi to tie the game heading into the break with 0.18 seconds on the clock.
The play and shot total evened out in the second period, but unfortunately for the Attack it was the Battalion who were able to find the back of the net when Amidovski scored a power play marker to make it 2-1 a score that would hold until the end of the period.
The two teams continued to battle in the third period, but this time it was the Attack that were able to capitalize, with Varosyan tipping home his first goal as a Bear to tie the game eight minutes into the final frame. The Attack continued to push and were once again rewarded for their hard work and puck movement when Bruce McDonald found a wide open Taos Jordan sneaking in from the point. Jordan made no mistake beating the North Bay net minder to put the Attack ahead 3-2. The Battalion pulled their goalie with under two minutes to play but the Attack were able to hold them off to take away the 3-2 victory, improving their pre-season record to 2-1-0-1.
In unrelated news, the Toronto Maple Leafs reassigned Attack forward Sam McCue back to junior on Saturday. He has returned to Owen Sound, was in the building but did not play on Sunday.
With the 2024 pre-season now finished, the Attack will turn their attention to the regular season, which opens next weekend when the Attack open the regular season with a home and home series against Guelph Storm. The Attack will play in Guelph on Friday night before returning to the Bayshore for their home opener on Saturday, September 28 at 7pm. Tickets for all regular season games are available in person at the MacVicar & McComb Sutton Realty Attack Box Office, on the phone at 519-371-7452 or online at tickets.attackhockey.com.
