Hi this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “, brought to you by Auto Logic, the Logical Choice. “
Among the easiest pieces to write on a yearly basis is the perpetual disappointment I feel when I see the release of the Ontario Hockey League schedule for the Owen Sound Attack.
Regardless of whether I think Owen Sound will be brilliant or brutal on the ice in any upcoming season, I can always count on the schedule release to generate an uneasy feeling.
My primary beef, is the number of times Owen Sound has to travel the night, or nights, before playing a home game.
Right off the hop, the Attack open at Kitchener on September 25th and then host Guelph the next night.
In essence, for the Attack ” home opener “, Owen Sound has to travel 4 hours round trip ( Kitchener & back ) to come and face the ” visitors ” from Guelph, who have a 2 hour trip.
I notice too that there are 9 Wednesday games this year; EIGHT of them in Owen Sound. Why is it teams can come to Owen Sound midweek, but outside of a single junket to Hamilton this year, Owen Sound almost NEVER plays a Wednesday road game ?
In the division, Owen Sound will play 14 road games at Erie, Guelph, Kitchener and London. TWELVE of those 14 divisional road games are Friday nights, which no matter how good your team is, more often than not impacts the performance of the Saturday night games.
I could go on and on and on………………..
Head to head in the Midwest Division, Owen Sound has a losing record against their four counterparts; in almost every case, I doubt any of us will ever see Owen Sound get back to .500 in the division.
In fairness, the schedule isn’t the only factor for the losing record against divisional foes, but in my view, it’s a significant contributor.
I’m Fred Wallace