Attack off to Great Start in Owen Sound
By Aaron Bell
The Owen Sound Attack are off to a terrific start to the 2010-11 Ontario Hockey League season and coach Mark Reeds is happy to see their hard work over the past few seasons starting to pay off.
“We’ve gone through a three-year cycle and hopefully your team is starting to play the way you want,” Reeds told the Owen Sound Sun-Times. “It’s taken some time for us to get some pieces in place and to try and find an identity.”
Veteran netminder Scott Stajcer has been a big part of the team’s strong start. He made 36 saves to back the Owen Sound Attack to a 4-0 win over the Kitchener Rangers on Saturday. It was just their second win against the Rangers in the past five seasons.
Last year, Kitchener won all six meetings between the two teams, including one overtime win and one shootout win.
Stajcer has won all three of his starts this season and is looking to improve on his sub-.500 record from last year.
Stajcer earned Vaughn CHL Goaltender of the Week recognition and the club cracked the BMO CHL MasterCard Top-10 this week at number 10.
“After coming off last year, I was really focused to start this year to be the top guy here and in the OHL,” Stajcer said. “We’re a brand new team this year and we’re coming together nicely.”
The Attack also picked up a nice win against the London Knights on Friday and are tied with Kitchener for first place in the Mid-West Division with a 3-1-0-0 record through their first four games of the season.
“We didn’t beat Kitchener or London at all last year so this is a good start for us,” Reeds said. “Those are two good teams but it’s early in the season. We can enjoy the victories this weekend and then go back to work.
“Right now we’re playing a pretty good team game. We have everyone on the same page.”
The Attack visit the Sarnia Sting on Friday night before hosting the Brampton Battalion on Saturday.