Joe Tomato’s Weekend Preview #13 – Big Week Ahead for Attack, 3 Games in 4 Days

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The Owen Sound Attack return to play from the Christmas break in Week 13 of the Ontario Hockey League season.  The Attack will play three games in four days.  Taking on the Niagara Ice Dogs on Thursday, December 28 and the Kitchener Rangers on Saturday, December 30 at home at the Bayshore at 7pm.  They will then take to the road to close out the calendar year with a New Years Eve battle at Salon Arena against the Barrie Colts at 7:30pm.

The Attack head into the week looking to make up ground in the western conference standings and improve their record on home ice.  They currently sit sixth in the Western Conference with a record of 15-13-2-1.  The Attacks offence continues to be driven by a balanced top-5 including Deni Goure (16G, 22A), Cedrick Guindon (17G, 17A),  Sam Sedley (6G, 28A), Ethan Burroughs (13G, 18A) and Servác Petrovsky (10G, 18A).  The Attack will continue to be without the services of Servác Petrovsky this week while he is away playing for Team Slovakia at the World Junior Hockey Championships.  The Attack will look to continue their success on special teams, where they hold the leagues third best power-play (30.3%) and second best penalty kill (82.7%).

Thursday, December 28, 2023, 7:00pm vs. Niagara Ice Dogs (RogersTV – 53, CHLtv)

Thursday night marks the first meeting between the Niagara Ice Dogs and Attack since the off-season trade that saw Declan Waddick join the Attack and Gavin Bryant head to the Ice Dogs.  This also marks the first of two meetings between the teams this season.  Niagara heads into the weekend in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 8-19-4-1 The Ice Dogs offence is led by three players Kevin He (16G, 8A), Gavin Bryant (8G, 13A) and Zakary Lavoie (8G, 13A).  Given the opportunity the Attack will look to capitalize on an Ice Dogs team that has struggled on special teams this season, however, they will need to be wary of Niagara’s ability to score short-handed, having already tallied a league best 11 short-handed goals this season.

Saturday, December 30, 2023, 7:00pm vs. Kitchener Rangers (ROGERStv – 53, CHLtv)

Another week another big Midwest division battle.  Saturday night the Attack will hit the ice at the Bayshore to take on the Western Conference leading Kitchener Rangers who hold a 24-8-2-0 record on the season.  The Attack however, have had success against the Rangers this year currently holding the edge a 3-2 edge in the seasons head-to-head matchup.  With Carson Rehkopf and Filip Mesar away at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, the Rangers potent offence will rely on Hunter Brzustewicz (7G, 48A), Matthew Sop (22G, 31A), Trent Swick (15G, 22A) and Adrian Misaljevic (19G, 17A).  Similar to the Attack, Rangers special teams have been outstanding this season, boasting the league’s fourth ranked power-play (28.6%), and tied for the leagues third ranked penalty kill (82.4%). Saturday could feature another battle of the leagues top goaltenders with both Jackson Parsons from the Rangers and Carter George from the Attack sitting top-5 in the OHL save percentage.

Sunday, December 31, 2023, 7:30pm at Barrie Colts (ROGERStv – 53, CHLtv, 560 CFOS)

The Attack close out the 2023 calendar year against their highway 26 rival the Barrie Colts at the Salon Arena on Sunday.  The Attack and Colts have met twice this regular season with the Attack coming away with victories in both of these games.  The Colts head into the weekend sitting in ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 12-16-1-0.  The Colts offence continues to be led by the trio of Beau Jelsma (11G, 19A), Connor Punnett (4G, 23A) and Cole Beaudoin (14G, 12A).

Tickets for both Thursday and Saturday’s games can be purchased at the MacVicar & McComb Sutton Realty Attack Box Office, over the phone at 519-371-7452 or online at tickets.attackhockey.com.

Record Watch

Overage defensemen, Sam Sedley continues his ascent up the Attack record books as he chases Santino Centorame for Most Career Points by a Defensemen.  Before the Christmas break Sam moved past Brady Lyle for fourth on the list with 139 career points, three points behind of Bobby Sanguinetti.  Centorame finished his career with 157 points in 232 OHL games as a member of the Owen Sound Attack.