There’s obviously something special about coming home in sports, performing in front of those you knew best.
Tonight in the Ontario Hockey League, Garrett Meurs of Ripley, more or less, comes home when he and the Plymouth Whalers are in Owen Sound to meet the Attack who have won 8 straight.
In an impressive OHL rookie season last year, Meurs scored 16 times for the Whalers, the catch being that a quarter of those goals came against the Attack, including a hat trick one night in Michigan.
The success of Meurs isn’t an isolated case.
Checking the Plater & Attack stats through the years, there’s a common link between hometowns and goals scored.
Jeff Kostuch, who was from Brockville, was never a big scorer, yet he holds the Owen Sound mark for the most goals against the Ottawa 67’s.
Brad Richardson of Belleville is the leader in Owen Sound goals against the Bulls.
In fairness, Richardson was a tremendous scorer, but being at ” home ” in Belleville was an additional scoring tonic.
Josh Bailey of Clarington only played a year and a half for the Attack, but no one has scored more goals against the Oshawa Generals than he did.
Even the reigning OHL Player of the Week, Elmvale native Garrett Wilson, after a hat trick at Barrie last week, is very close to becoming the Attack goals leader head to head against the Colts, the team he grew up watching.
There’s some kind of magic when a player comes home and the Attack need to stymie that trend tonight when they host Garrett Meurs & the Whalers
Game time is 7 pm at the Lumley-Bayshore
I’m Fred Wallace