Attack rout Colts
www.attackhockey.com
Written By: Bisson, Shaun
Ethan Szypula and Chris Bigras both had a pair of goals as the Owen Sound Attack defeated the visiting Barrie Colts by a score of 6-1 on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
Playing their 4th of six games in 9 nights, the Attack turned the jets on early and often en route to a victory over the Eastern Conference’s 2nd place team.
Thomas Schemitsch scored his 3rd goal in two games at the 5:03 mark of the 1st period when he snapped a shot off of a post and into the goal to put the Attack up 1-0.
Captain Zach Nastasiuk and Holden Cook picked up the assists on the goal, and Nastasiuk would add another assist just moments later when Chris Bigras took a backdoor pass from the captain and made it 2-0 on the power play. Also helping on Bigras’ tally was Kyle Platzer.
The Attack took that 2-0 lead into the 2nd period, and just like the 1st they would score about five minutes in.
Tyler MacArthur fired a shot on Colts’ netminder Daniel Gibl after taking a pass from Jonah Gadjovich, and the shot was hard enough to generate a rebound that popped right onto Ethan Szypula’s stick.
Szypula, who scored three goals in his rookie season last year, made no mistake as he picked up his 5th of the year to give Owen Sound a 3-0 lead.
The three goal advantage lasted under a minute though, as Barrie’s Brendan Lemieux scored a shorthanded marker to cut into the Attack’s lead.
But that was all the Colts could do offensively, as Szypula tallied his 2nd goal of the night at 13:24 of the 2nd period to restore the three goal cushion, and he, along with Jeff Gilligan, helped out on Daniel Milne’s power play goal at the 18:34 mark to give the Attack a 5-1 lead.
Ethan Szypula’s two goal, three point night earned him 1st Star of the Game, while Bigras’ pair of goals was good enough for 2nd Star. The Ryobi Power Tools Hardest Working Player of the game went to Jonah Gadjovich.
Leading 5-1 going into the 3rd period the Attack would add one more goal when Kyle Platzer walked around all of Barrie’s defence only to find a wide open Chris Bigras who rifled a howitzer into an empty cage, sealing the 6-1 win.
While the Attack dominated on the scoreboard, they also received timely goaltending from starter
Brandon Hope stopped 20 of 21 shots, while Gibl could only turn away 34 of 40.
The only thing that could sour the victory were injuries to both Holden Cook and Ryan Heeps.
Cook left the game with an upper body injury and is day to day, while Heeps suffered a lower body injury and is also day to day.
The Colts will head to Kingston Friday night to take on the Frontenacs before heading home to host the visiting North Bay Battalion on Saturday night.
