Goals, goals and more goals.
Tristan Delisle and Cole Zurawski each scored hat tricks, and Pierce Mbuyi had a four-point game as the Owen Sound Attack outlasted the Guelph Storm 10-7 in Ontario Hockey League action Friday night at Sleeman Centre.
Harry Nansi also scored twice for the Attack (14-8-0-2), while Mbuyi and Blake Munnings added singles. Munnings’ goal was his first in the OHL.
Charlie Paquette had a hat trick for the Storm (11-9-2), which lost its second straight. Illia Shybinskyi scored twice, and Parker Snelgrove and Jaako Wycisk also found the net for Guelph.
This one wasn’t necessarily wild from the get-go, but that’s where things went.
It was tied 2-2 after one. The Attack led 5-3 after two. There were two lead changes in the game. The Attack and Storm combined to score nine goals in the third period.
“That’s the saving grace, we found a way to win. We scored a lot of goals and gave up a lot of goals,” says Attack Head Coach Scott Wray. “You gotta figure that out. We have to stay out of the box, had some untimely penalties. And that part’s really frustrating.”
The Attack jumped out to a 2-0 lead seven minutes into the game. Munnings, a rookie defenceman, was skating as a forward for Owen Sound in the game. And he managed to score his first OHL goal at his first shift at the position. He went to the net on a 2-on-1 with Easton Mikus, and after a shot was stopped, Munnings tucked the rebound low past Zach Jovanovski on the backhand to make it 1-0.
Delisle picked up his own rebound at 6:52 to make it 2-0.
But the Storm would find a pair before the period ended. First it was Wycisk on the power play, just prior to the midway mark of the first. And then Paquette scored with 3:45 remaining to tie it 2-2.
Forgive this writer if some of the descriptions on the goals have faded. There were 17 to keep track of.
Snelgrove scored Guelph’s third unanswered just over five minutes into the second to give the Storm their first lead of the night, 3-2.
Then the Attack pushed back with three unanswered of their own before the second ended. Delisle, Nansi and Mbuyi – Mbuyi’s was a highlight reel goal on a breakaway just after an Attack power play expired. Jovanovski stopped his shot and it bounced high right in front of Mbuyi, who took a baseball bat swing at the puck and connected in mid-air, swatting it in for a 5-3 lead for the Attack with 2:54 remaining in the second.
Then the nine-goal third period followed. The Storm managed to climb back within one twice, but never tied the game. The Attack saw their lead trimmed to 5-4 just 1:54 into the third. Then Zurawski and Delisle scored 1:20 apart to extend Owen Sound’s lead to 7-4.
Four minutes later it was a one-goal game. Paquette scored his second of the contest on a well-placed shot at 7:39 to cut Owen Sound’s lead to 7-6, ending Trenten Bennett’s night in the process. The Attack lifted their starting goaltender and brought in Carter George to close out the third. He made 10 saves on 11 shots.
Not until Zurawski hit the empty-net at 18:17 did it seem the swings in the game had halted, as the Attack took a 10-7 lead and were on their way.
George made 10 saves in the win, while Jovanovski stopped 31 taking the loss. Bennett had 28 saves on 34 shots before he was pulled in the third. The Storm outshot the Attack 45-41 while going 4 for 7 on the power play; Owen Sound finished 1 for 3.
The Attack continue their three-in-three weekend Saturday evening with a home game against Ottawa 67’s at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.
CRAWFORD GETTING CLOSER TO RETURN
Attack forward Jake Crawford is nearing a return from injury. Wray says Crawford “probably could have played today” but the team is being cautious, and he should return sometime next week. Crawford has now missed the past five games with a leg injury he suffered Nov. 5 in Sarnia.
17 GOALS?
The Attack and Storm combined for 17 goals in Friday’s game, but that fell short for most goals in a game in Owen Sound OHL history. Fred Wallace tells us the Owen Sound Platers and Newmarket Royals combined to score 20, and skated to a 10-10 tie on Oct. 10, 1992.