OHL Owen Sound Attack

Lafreniere Shuts out Otters for 1st Career Donut

Published on March 1, 2018 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Owen Sound Attack News Release


A shorthanded Owen Sound Attack squad came up with a big win over the Erie Otters on Thursday, Mar. 1, with netminder Olivier Lafreniere picking up his 1st career OHL shutout in the process.

Goals by Brady Lyle, Jonah Gadjovich, Ethan Szypula, and Mitchell Russell powered Owen Sound to their 32nd win of the season and maintained their hold on home ice advantage in the 1st round of the 2018 OHL Playoffs.

A scoreless opening period saw the ice tilted in Owen Sound's favour as 15 of the 25 shots put on net in the 1st were turned aside by the Otters' Daniel Murphy, with many of them coming on high quality scoring chances.

Olivier Lafreniere was no slouch himself either, making 10 saves on 10 Erie shots in the 1st to send the teams to the 2nd with no goals on the board.

It seemed as though the middle stanza was destined to be similar to the 1st, but with exactly 6:00 gone in the frame the Otters found themselves down a pair of men.

Captain Kyle Maksimovich was sent to the showers early for a slewfoot on Aidan Dudas while Troy Lajeunesse was tagged with a slashing penalty at exactly the same moment.

That sent the Attack to a two man Baywest Nissan Powerplay that was looking for an injection of life after being rather lethargic as of late.

The lengthy two man advantage seemed to do just that.

With 1:40 having elapsed in the man advantage, Markus Phillips corralled a loose puck off the side wall and laid the biscuit on a platter for Brady Lyle.

The former 1st round pick made no mistake on the pass, hammering his 10th of the season into the back of the net for a 1-0 Attack lead that Erie's Murphy almost certainly didn't see.

Despite Lyle's goal coming in the midst of a major penalty to the Otters, it was the only tally scored in the frame by either team, and would stand as the lone marker until Jonah Gadjovich doubled Owen Sound's advantage with 4:23 to play in regulation.

Forcing a turnover on the halfwall in Erie's end, Gadjovich walked into the faceoff dot to the left of Daniel Murphy before unleashing a snapshot that handcuffed the Otters' keeper for Gadjovich's 21st of the campaign in just his 34th game.

And the Attack weren't done there either.

With Erie's net empty and 1:35 remaining in regulation, Ethan Szypula picked up a pass from Maksim Sushko in the neutral zone and casually floated his 14th of the year into the wide open cage to make it a 3-0 advantage for the visitors.

Then, just 18 ticks after that, Mitchell Russell won a battle in the Erie end of the rink and fired home his 2nd career OHL goal to wrap up a 4-0 win for the Attack.

Turning aside all 21 shots he faced on the evening, Attack goaltender Olivier Lafreniere recorded his 1st career Ontario Hockey League shutout in the win and was named the Mac Taylor Corporation 2nd Star of the Game for his efforts.

Brady Lyle's game winning goal was good for the game's 1st star, while Jonah Gadjovich's strong performance on the night was good for 3rd star honours.

The Mark McDade Chestnut Park Shots on Goal finished at 41-21 for Owen Sound on the evening, with Erie keeper Daniel Murphy making an incredible 37 saves on 40 shots.

The Attack will have Friday off before returning to action against the Guelph Storm on Saturday, Mar. 3 in the CHL on Sportsnet's Saturday Showcase.

Fans are reminded that puck drop for the game has been changed to 2:00pm as the game will air nationally on Sportsnet's family of channels. The matinee affair will also be part of the Canadian Hockey League's MasterCard Memorial Cup 100th Anniversary Celebrations.

The #MMC100 Tour has seen the Memorial Cup stop in CHL cities across Canada, and on Saturday the Cup will be part of a special pre-game ceremony at the Bayshore.

Tickets for the game, which are limited, can be purchased at the MacVicar & McComb ReMax Attack Box Office.

This season of Attack Hockey is brought to you by Lerners Personal Injury Lawyers and Bertrand & Muzzell Paralegal Services.

Check out the Owen Sound Attack Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from March 1, 2018


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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