Friday Knight
WHEN: Tonight 7:30 at the John Labatt Centre
THE MATCHUP: It’s the first regular-season meeting between the clubs. The Attack are coming off a transition year when just about everything was changed. The Knights are still settling into completing their roster. Both teams are coming off Thanksgiving Day wins. The Attack defeated the Barrie Colts 4-2, while the Knights beat the Generals 6-3 in Oshawa.
WHO TO WATCH: There’s little doubt the local connection in the Attack lineup will be a point of interest. Stratford’s Joey Hishon has been sizzling. He’s among the top scorers in the league and in the last four games he’s had seven goals and two assists. Hishon turns 17 in three days. Ilderton’s Steven Shipley has had a good start to his OHL career. The third pick overall in the draft has three goals and three assists. The Knights top guy is Nazem Kadri, who has five goals and eight assists in 10 games.
BIG PLUS: Knights Matt Clarke is among the OHL leaders in plus-minus. Not bad for a converted forward. He’s tied for second at plus-nine with Plymouth’s Michal Jordan. They both trail Windsor’s Rob Kwiet, who is plus-11.
BUSY MAN: Owen Sound’s No. 1 netminder Tyler Beskorowany has faced almost 260 shots in seven games. He sits third in the league in save percentage at .930.
RETURNING HOME: Former Knight Andrew Wilkins will be back in the house tonight. Wilkins was traded to the Attack for forward Chris Mac-Kinnon during the summer. MacKinnon was supposed to add some offence to the Knights, but instead was recently traded to Kitchener Rangers. Meanwhile, Wilkins continues to do what he did in London, work hard and contribute all over the ice. He has a goal and five assists, but when Oshawa played in Owen Sound recently, he kept John Tavares off the scoresheet while scoring a goal. The Generals won the game in a shootout that went nine rounds.
WHO’S HOT: The trade of MacKinnon certainly benefited Phil Varone, who is getting more quality ice time and in three games has three goals and an assist and is a plus-three.
WHO’S IMPROVED: He may not get much publicity, but quietly and with a lot of hard work Garrett Hunter has become a useful guy in the Knights lineup. He’s come a long way. He kills penalties, does a lot of hard slugging and in 10 games has chipped in with two goals and three assists and is a plus-one.
INJURY UPDATE: Akim Aliu is still out with a groin injury. While he’s started skating, there is no immediate word on when he’ll be back in a game.
TICKETS: There are still tickets available for tonight’s game and Sunday’s 2 p.m. start against the Kitchener Rangers.
