OHL Owen Sound Attack

Attack Fall in Tight Road Game to Storm

February 19, 2016 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Owen Sound Attack News Release


The Owen Sound Attack travelled down Highway 6 on Friday, Feb. 19to kick off a weekend home and home with the Guelph Storm, and the first game of that set would go to the Storm, who pulled out a 5-3 victory.

Bryson Cianfrone assisted on all three of the markers for the Attack on the evening, but his sterling performance wouldn't be enough for the Bears to overcome their division rival.

Owen Sound came out firing in the opening period, and the ice was clearly tiled in the favour of the visitors early on with the Attack quickly jumping out to a 14-7 advantage on the shot clock.

But a point blank save by Storm goalie Michael Giugovaz on Bryson Cianfrone would appear to be the turning point of the opening 20 minutes.

The Storm would eventually make the Attack pay for their failure to capitalize on a grade-A opportunity, and with just 50 seconds left in the period, rookie forward Isaac Ratcliffe pounced on a rebound and batted it behind Daniel Dekoning to give Guelph a 1-0 lead.

That advantage would carry over into the 2nd period, but it wouldn't take long for the Attack to make it 1-1 in the middle stanza.

With just 65 seconds gone in the frame, overage forward Bryson Cianfrone would find Jonah Gadjovich flying down the left hand side and Gadjovich would make no mistake in burying his 12th of the year through the five hole of the Storm goaltender. Jacob Friend would also pick up an assist on the play.

Guelph would regain their one goal advantage near the midway frame of the period, scoring on a play that saw the puck bounce off of an Attack defender and right into the middle of the ice. Jake Bricknell would pick up the loose biscuit and rifle it home before anyone could react, making it 2-1 with 8:52 gone in the 2nd.

The teams would head to the 3rd period with the Storm leading by that 2-1 score, but Owen Sound finish the middle stanza with a two man advantage of their own.

And while the buzzer would signal an end of the period before the Attack could do any damage, the Baywest Nissan Powerplay would pay dividends early in the 3rd.

Petrus Palmu would tie the game at two with his 3rd goal in the past two games, a cannon of a slapshot off of a one-time pass from Ethan Szypula. Bryson Cianfrone would grab the other assist on the play, which came at just the 1:01 mark of the frame and kicked off a flurry of goals.

Less than two minutes after Owen Sound drew even, the Storm would take advantage of another powerplay chance with a seeing eye wrist shot by James McEwan finding the back of the net to pull Guelph ahead yet again.

But Owen Sound's never say die attitude would pull through again, and this time it would be Justin Brack finding the back of the net.

With 16:23 left in the game, Cianfrone would put the puck on a tee for a streaking Brack, who blasted his 8th of the season off of the post and into the net to make it a 3-3 thriller at the Sleeman Centre.

The game seemed destined for overtime as the pace slowed down tremendously after Brack's tying goal, but with just under four minutes to go things heated up again as the Attack ramped up the pressure.

But that pressure would turn around and go the other way after a premium scoring chance and James McEwan would score his 2nd of the night on a 2-on-1 to put Guelph ahead 4-3 with 2:26 left to play.

The Attack would attempt to respond, pulling Daniel Dekoning from the cage with 1:48 to play and peppering the Storm with a number of shots in the final minutes, but overtime was not in the cards on Friday night.

Guelph would eventually ice it with an empty netter by Nick Sicoly with 19 seconds left to make it a 5-3 game, a score that would wind up as the final.

Bryson Cianfrone's three assist evening garnered him Mac Taylor Corporation 3rd Star of the Game while Guelph's James McEwan and Isaac Ratcliffe were named 1st and 2nd stars respectively.

The Mark McDade Remax Shots on Goal finished at 43-34 for the Attack, with Daniel Dekoning making 30 saves in the losing effort.

Owen Sound and Guelph go head to head again on Saturday, Feb. 20, with round two of the weekend set taking place at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.

Tickets for the 7:30pm puck drop are available at the DJ's Furniture Attack Box Office, or by calling 519-371-7452.

Check out the Owen Sound Attack Statistics



Ontario Hockey League Stories from February 19, 2016


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