I want to congratulate the Owen Sound Attack on winning their opening playoff series in the Ontario Hockey League.
The Attack scored back to back shutout wins over the weekend to eliminate the London Knights in 6 games.
There are those who will tell you it’s not much of a victory for Owen Sound, beating a youthful, inexperienced, rebuilding Knights team who were seeded 8th and lost their captain due to foul, if not dirty, play by the Attack.
I don’t disagree with that assessment entirely, but I still believe it’s a significant victory
1) they beat the Knights, and even in a very rare down year, they are still the London Knights.
2) they beat the Hunters, and even in a very rare down year, the Hunters and their entourage can inspire, motivate and elevate their team to an exceptionally high emotional level.
3) they beat the environment; that is, the sideshow that we all knew was coming through media clips & quotes out of London, plus they managed to reduce the number of adoring Knights fans at the John Labatt Centre, knocking the number down by 200 people with each sunsequent visit to London in the series.
And 4) for the first time EVER, they managed to eliminate London, not the other way around as has happened every time they met in the post season before.
So congratulations to the Attack……..
But here’s the lingering question,……. did the Owen Sound Attack play to the best of their capabilities ?
We’ll see.
I’m Fred Wallace