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Majors drop final pre-season game to Attack

September 17, 2011 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Mississauga St. Michael's Majors News Release


Enough of the pre-season...time to play some games that count in the Ontario Hockey League regular season standings.

That was certainly the feeling on Saturday afternoon at Vic Johnston Arena after the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors ended their pre-season schedule with a 5-2 loss to the Owen Sound Attack.

The Majors had to ice a depleted lineup with just 14 skaters due to injuries and players still at NHL camps, and Mississauga ran out of gas in the third period when the Attack scored three goals to put the game away.

Majors General Manager/Coach James Boyd was relieved to get the final pre-season tune-up out of the way and wasn't concerned about either the loss or the team's 1-3-2 record in exhibition play.

"Man to man I liked the effort today and our competiveness," Boyd said. "We stood up for each other and battled hard and when you are short players at the end of the pre-season, that's all you can ask for really.

"We'll take tomorrow off, practice the rest of the week and get ready for the start of the regular season. Hopefully we get healthy and get some players back as soon as possible."

In addition to the injuries, the Majors were without Devante Smith-Pelly, J.P. Anderson, Stuart Percy, Dylan DeMelo and Joseph Cramarossa who are all at NHL camps.

"You never know when players are going to be back from camps, so we'll wait and see what happens this week," Boyd said. "In the meantime, we need guys to get healthy and we'll make some moves before the regular season starts."

It was another chippy game at times on Saturday as the teams battled for the second time in a week after playing to a 5-5 tie in Owen Sound on Thursday night.

Michael Halmo opened the scoring at 3:27 of the first period to give the Attack a 1-0 lead. Cameron Brace picked up the lone assist. The Majors tied the game at 11:20 on a goal from Doug Harvey, unassisted.

The Attack once again took the lead when Joseph Blandisi scored on the power play from Jarrod Maidens at 14:05 of the second period.

Brayden Rose gave Owen Sound its first two goal lead of the game, scoring at the 3:00 minute mark of the third period from Keevin Cutting and Cameron Brace to go up 3-1, but the Majors responded just under a minute later with a goal by Jordan Mayer, assisted by Shaquille Hickey and Junior Harris to cut the Attack lead to 3-2 at 3:53.

The Attack fired back just 21 seconds later, restoring their two goal lead with a goal from Gemel Smith, unassisted at 4:14. Artur Gavrus closed out the scoring at 10:52 of the third period to put the Attack up 5-2, with assists to Smith and Cutting.

JP Cesario started the game for the Attack and made 13 saves on 14 shots before being replaced by Jacob Riley at the 9:40 mark of the second period. Riley stopped nine of 10 shots he faced to finish the game.

Spencer Martin went from start to finish between the pipes for the Majors, allowing five goals on 35 shots.

The Majors regular season begins on Friday, September 23rd when they travel to Sudbury to take on the Wolves at 7:35 p.m. The home opener is one week later, Friday, September 30th when the Majors host the Owen Sound Attack at the Hershey Centre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for the game by visiting the Hershey Centre box office, www.ticketmaster.ca, or www.stmichaelsmajors.com.

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