” Dance with who ya brung “….” Do the best with the hand you’re dealt “; take your pick of sporting and lessons-in-life cliches and apply them all to the Owen Sound Attack.
In no specific order, the following absences and departures are well documented and can’t help but have an impact on the team that hits the ice later this month when the OHL season begins.
Justin Wade. Roman Berdnikov. Daniel Milne.
Wade is a defenceman selected in the 4th round, and the belief was that if he showed, and elected to stay, he would have made the Attack and been the equivalent of another first round player.
Wade never showed and is expected to play at Fargo in the USJHL this year.
Berdnikov played here last year, scored 9 times in his rookie season, and showed flashes of having the scoring touch.
But Berdnikov, as best as anyone can tell, is restricted from departing from Russia and his short term status remains unknown.
And Milne, after a highly successful Rookie and Training Camp appearance, elected to accept an offer to eventually attend the University of Michigan on hockey scholarship and play for Red Berenson.
In all 3 cases, the Attack have been anything but idle, logging phone time and face time with the players, families and agents involved, yet at the moment they are 0 for 3 and face the prospect of making the best of the hand they’re dealt come late September.
I’m Fred Wallace