Easy Blandisi
The Owen Sound Attack travelled to Sarnia on Friday evening to take on the Sarnia Sting, the very same team that defeated the Attack at home last Saturday by a 2-1 score.
Prior to this evening’s game, the Sting held a pre-game ceremony for current Attack d-man Nathan Chiarlitti who spent four seasons in Sarnia, serving as the team’s captain for the 2011/2012 season. The Attack wish to thank the Sarnia Sting organization for acknowledging Nathan’s contributions and for the very fitting pre-game ceremony.
Head Coach Greg Ireland preached hard work and a disciplined work ethic all week in practice and that seemed to show immediate dividends early in the game. The Attack started the game with a jump in their step, something they had not shown in the early stages of games last week.
The Attack would be rewarded for a solid start when a flurry in the Sarnia end produced a Joseph Blandisi goal just over two minutes into the first period to give the Attack a 1-0 lead. This game would prove to be much similar to the Attack’s past three games as they would trade goals back and forth.
Owen Sound entered the second period with a 1-0 lead despite the shots being even at 10 apiece. It wouldn’t take long for the Sting to draw even at one when Alex Galchenyuk netted his first of the season of a Jordan Binnington rebound just over seven minutes in. One thing the Attack wouldn’t do in this game is trail….or keep the score tied for an extended amount of time. Holden Cook would net his second of the season from Gemel Smith to restore the Attack’s lead at one.
Sparks would erupt shortly thereafter when Kurtis Gabriel and Craig Duininck exchanged fisticuffs with Gabriel receiving the extra ten for “instigating”. Sarnia would rally and tie the game only thirty three second later on a Charlie Sarault goal. But the Attack would not lie down. After the ensuing faceoff, Daniel “Zweeeeeeeeeeep” and Josh Chapman threw down with Zweep garnering the decisive win. THAT fight seemed to rally the Attack as they would once again pull ahead courtesy of Joseph Blandisi’s second goal of the game. The see-saw battle would resume as Sarnia would once again pull even via Nickolas Latta’s marker at 16:29.
The third period would be the decisive one and fortunately for the Attack, it would end up much like the 3rd period with the Attack scoring the lone goal. Just eleven second into the period, Cameron Brace fired the puck between the walking sticks of JP Anderson to give the Attack a 4-3 lead. While watching the game at home, two things immediately came to mind while the puck was on Cameron’s stick. The first was the Game 4 OT winner in the 2011 Finals where he froze JP Anderson with a wrist shot and the other was the stunning save that JP Anderson made last Saturday evening at the Bayshore on a Brace breakaway.
Jordan Binnington would hold the fort, making several key saves for the win. Jordan’s win is his 58th career win in an Attack uniform which passes Jamie Storr and Scott Stajcer for 2nd all time in franchise wins behind Curtis Sanford, who holds the club record with 65.
The Three Stars (according to the OHL site) in the Attack’s 4-3 win were:
1) Joseph Blandisi 2g
2) Alex Galchenyuk 1g,1a
3) Cameron Brace GWG
The Attack is back in action at home on Saturday night when they take their MidWest Division leading 4-1-0-1 record up against the Guelph Storm.
Tickets are available at the Attack Box Office, by calling 519 371-7452 or online at www.attackhockey.com.
Game time at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre is 7:30pm.
