Attack fall in six games, eliminated from playoffs

Just days after defeating the London Knights in overtime and sending their Western Conference Quarterfinal to six games, the Owen Sound Attack saw their season come to an end.

The Attack fell 5-2 on home ice on Sunday, Apr. 3 as the Knights would take the series four games to two and put an end to Owen Sound’s 2015-16 OHL campaign.

Reacting to a big Attack win in Game 5, the Bayshore faithful were noisy early and had the building rocking before the puck had even dropped to begin the game.

The Knights would take the crowd out of it early though, scoring with just 52 seconds gone in the opening period to make it a 1-0 lead for the visitors.

Matthew Tkachuk would be the triggerman, putting the puck into the back of the net on a set up from Robert Thomas.

The goal would seem to wake the Attack up though, and Owen Sound took charge when the game restarted.

And while it took until there were less than three minutes left in the opening 20, the Attack would eventually answer back with London native Nick Suzuki ripping home his 2nd of the series to make it 1-1.

Suzuki’s goal would come just an Owen Sound man advantage expired at 17:03 of the first, and it would be the result of a gorgeous passing play started by Damir Sharipzyanov and Bryson Cianfrone, who both drew assists on the play.

The 1-1 score appeared to be how things would stand at the first intermission, but the special teams battle that the series turned into would continue, and with just 2 seconds left in the 1st, Christian Dvorak capitalized on a rebound to give London a 2-1 lead at the break.

While the first period had moments where both teams held the momentum, the 2nd frame would be a much more back and forth affair with a lot of the play happening in the neutral zone.

That would last until the Attack forced the Knights to ice the puck on consecutive occasions, drawing a London timeout.

And unfortunately Owen Sound, the Knights would take advantage of the break.

Fresh out of the timeout, London would win the draw in their own zone and go down the ice before Victor Mete would beat McNiven up high to make it 3-1 with 6:56 gone in the frame.

A furious push by the Attack after Mete’s goal would generate a number of chances as time wound down in the 2nd, but it would ultimately prove fruitless as neither team would find the back of the net again before the game’s final 20 minutes of play.

The Attack came the closest to finding the back of the cage after it was a two goal London lead, with Ethan Szypula blasting a one-timer off of the outstretched blocker of Tyler Parsons, who stopped a handful of sure fire goals for the Attack to that point.

When the 3rd period began, it appeared to be a carbon copy of the 1st, with London scoring early to deflate an amped up crowd.

Cliff Pu would break in and deke around Michael McNiven to poke up a backhander with 1:06 gone in the frame after taking a pass from Mitchell Marner.

Time wasn’t on the side of Owen Sound though, and as the clock wound down in the 3rd, it appeared the Attack were going to run out of clock.

But they weren’t going anywhere without a fight, and while on a Baywest Nissan Powerplay, head coach Ryan McGill pulled Michael McNiven for the extra skater with 5:30 left in the period.

It would be a move that paid off, and just 14 seconds later overage forward Josh Sterk would one-time a Thomas Schemitsch pass into the back of the net to draw within 2 and make it a 4-2 London lead.

That would be as close as the Bears would get though, as a furious push in the final two minutes would come up just short.

With the net empty again, London’s Tkachuk would score his 2nd of the game into the yawning cage with 1:23 to play to make it a 5-2 Knights’ lead, a score that would stand as the game’s final.

Attack rookie Nick Suzuki would be named the Mac Taylor Corporation 3rd Star of the Game for his efforts on the afternoon while London’s Matthew Tkachuk and Tyler Parsons would pick up 1st and 2nd stars respectively.

Petrus Palmu was named the Hatten Home Building Centre Hardest Working Player of the Game.

The Mark McDade Remax Shots on Goal finished at 33-30 in favour of the Attack with Michael McNiven turning aside 25 shots on the afternoon.

The Owen Sound Attack now turn their attention to the 2016 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection which will take place on Saturday, Apr. 9. The Guelph Storm hold the first overall pick and the Draft will get underway at 9:00am.

This season of Attack Hockey was brought to you by Caframo.