Early Attack buries Battalion
OWEN SOUND, Ont. Bobby Ryan scored two goals and newly acquired netminder Kyle Knechtel made 29 saves as the Owen Sound Attack defeated the Brampton Battalion 5-3 Saturday night, earning a split of their Ontario Hockey League home-and-home series.rrKnechtel was acquired in the early hours of Saturday from the Windsor Spitfires, with whom he played Friday night while the host Battalion was beating the Attack 5-4 in a game decided by shootout.rrRyan, who also had an assist, pushed a points streak to a league-high 15 games, while Jeff Kyrzakos, Marcus Carroll and Jeff Moor each had one goal and one assist for Owen Sound, which improved its won-lost-extended record to 9-6-2 for 20 points. The Attack moved into third place in the Midwest Division, one point ahead of the Erie Otters, who lost 2-1 to the visiting Kitchener Rangers.rrTaylor Raszka scored two goals and Michael Vernace one for the Battalion, which fell behind 3-1 in the first period and never got back to even terms. The Troops, whose won-lost record slipped to 9-7 for 18 points, are tied with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors for third place in the Central Division and have two games in hand.rrWojtek Wolski assisted on Raszka’s first goal, tying Jeff Bateman’s club record of 122 career assists.rrRookie Bryan Pitton made his fourth start of the season in goal for the Battalion, facing 44 shots.rrDefenceman Vernace opened the scoring on the power play at 1:34 of the first period when he jumped on a poor clearing attempt from the Owen Sound end boards and fired the puck from the left-wing circle past an out-of-position Knechtel, who played through some early tentativeness.rrThe Attack scored the next three goals, with Kyrzakos tying it on the power play with his 14th of the season at 7:54 as he tipped Andrej Sekera’s screened shot. Carroll connected from the left wing at 9:44, and Ryan followed at 14:03, putting a sidestep move on a Battalion defender and having the puck slide behind Pitton without benefit of an actual shot.rrRaszka brought the Battalion back within one at 17:37 when his power-play shot from deep in the right-wing circle appeared to deflect off Knechtel from a sharp angle.rrRyan gave Owen Sound a 4-2 lead at 7:30 of the second period, one second after a Battalion penalty expired. Ryan, collecting his 13th goal, converted the last of three rapid-fire shots when the puck bounced to him on the right wing.rrRaszka’s ninth of the season pulled the Troops within 4-3 at 9:46. Raszka, stationed in the deep slot, scored with an assist from J.F. Houle after the Attack turned the puck over behind its net.rrBattalion coach Stan Butler was livid with referee David Koziel later in the period after he ordered a faceoff outside the Owen Sound zone following a drive to the net by defenceman Kyle Sonnenburg. Koziel seemingly believed that Sonnenburg ventured deep after the whistle. Butler also vented his frustration with a bench minor for too many men on the ice with one minute left in the period.rrDefenceman Moor scored his first career OHL goal at 2:25 of the third period.rrPitton went to the bench for a sixth attacker with 1:45 left on the clock, but the Battalion couldn’t get closer.rrTomas Stryncl, Brock McPherson, Matt Smyth, Cody Smith and Corey George were scratched for the Battalion. The Attack was without Russ Brownell, Trevor Koverko, Josh Catto, Zach McCullough, Matt Carter and Marek Bartanus.rrThe Battalion hosts the Guelph Storm at 2 p.m. Sunday.rrBATTALION NOTEBOOK: Attendance at the J.D. McArthur Arena in the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre was 2,918, including a busload of supporters from the Booster Brigade The Battalion went 2-for-6 on the power play, while Owen Sound was 1-for-7 Phil Oreskovic and the Attack’s Theo Peckham fought at 8:53 of the second period, with Oreskovic retiring to the dressing room for repairs. He returned during an early third-period power play, being escorted across the ice to the bench while play was in progress, drawing the ire of the Owen Sound faithful The same faithful were upset when Ryan was assessed a diving minor and misconduct at 9:18 of the period Butler put centre Graham McNabb between left winger Wolski and right winger Michael Klejna for the first time. Raszka centred left winger Aaron Snow and right winger Houle, while Howie Martin skated between Luke Lynes on the left and Jason Cassidy on the right. John Seymour centred Justin Levac on left wing and Nolan Waker on the right side Cassidy had a points streak ended at six games The Attack acquired Knechtel for a 15th-round pick in the 2006 OHL Priority Selection. In his first start since Oct. 20, Knechtel played for the Spitfires in a 5-2 loss Friday night to the host London Knights. He had a 2-9 record in 11 games this season with Windsor, posting a 5.64 goals-against average and an .843 save percentage Goaltender Neil Conway, who suffered the loss Friday night, backed up Knechtel, while Brownell was relegated to the stands The Attack’s Igor Gongalsky marked his 19th birthday with an assist on Moor’s goal The Battalion last won at Owen Sound on March 2, 2002, and has lost all five such games since that date.r
