It will come down to Game No. 68 to figure out where the Attack will land in the Western Conference.
Josh Avery scored 1:39 into the game to get things rolling for the Guelph Storm in a 6-3 win over the Owen Sound Attack in Ontario Hockey League action Friday evening at the Sleeman Centre.
Tyler Hopkins, Grant Spada, Ethan Miedema, Mark Pape and Illia Shybinskyi also scored for the Storm (28-24-2-3), which ended a five-game losing streak.
Julian Brown and Noah Roberts had the goals for the Attack (26-32-4-5). Both were shorthanded markers.
The Storm never trailed in the game, and the win pulled them even on points with the Attack.
“We weren’t ready to play. They punched us in the mouth with a goal in the first few minutes,” says Owen Sound Attack Assistant Coach Brandow Shaw. “They got a bounce off their second goal … and then the third goal we have a couple of breakdowns.”
“Once you put yourself behind 3-1 in the first period, it’s tough,” Shaw continues. “But with our young group, hopefully it’s a lesson and we take it into tomorrow and into playoffs.”
Avery, Hopkins and Spada scored for Guelph in its three-goal first period. After Avery staked the Storm to a 1-0 lead just over a minute-and-a-half in, Hopkins made it 2-0 at 13:36 with a power play goal that pin-balled its way to the Attack net and past Trenten Bennett.
Brown answered for the Attack at 14:01. He skated up ice short-handed to lead a 2-on-1, then drove hard to the net and deked backhand – tucking the puck past Zach Jovanovski to cut Guelph’s lead to 2-1.
The Storm restored the two-goal advantage less than two minutes later. Just after a Guelph power play expired, Shybinskyi flipped a pass from the board to a wide open Spada inside the left faceoff dot. He fired a shot past Bennett glove side to put Guelph up 3-1.
The Attack would claw back early in the second with another short-handed goal. This time it was Roberts, stepping up and taking the puck to the net before banging a backhand past Jovanovski at 5:21 to trim the Storm advantage to 3-2.
Miedema scored a key goal past the midway mark of the second to restore Guelph’s two-goal lead. He came in on the left wing and ripped a perfect wrist shot short-side, over the blocker-side shoulder of Bennett. 4-2 Guelph.
That was the score heading into the third. Then the Attack ran into all kinds of penalty trouble. Owen Sound took three straight minor penalties over the first seven minutes of the third, resulting in a pair of short 5-on-3 opportunities for Guelph. One was 19 seconds, the other just three.
The Attack actually had another high quality scoring chance short-handed, but Noah Nelson was denied on a breakaway trying to shoot five-hole on Jovanovski.
Then – like the Spada goal in the first – shortly after the return to even strength, Guelph scored. Bennett left his net to play the puck behind the goal and gave it right to Hunter McKenzie. He flicked a pass to Pape, who put a wrist shot by Bennett on the glove side. That made it 5-2 Storm with 9:18 to go.
Owen Sound pulled Bennett for the extra attacker with just over three minutes remaining, down by three. They got one back. Delisle deflected a low shot towards net by Caden Taylor for his 30th of the season, bringing the Attack back within two with 2:17 to go.
But Shybinskyi would ice it with an empty-netter just 21 seconds later.
So Owen Sound will head to its final game of the regular season Saturday night on home ice against the Kitchener Rangers still with an opportunity to finish as high as sixth, but also still could fall as low as eighth.
Guelph now controls its own fate. The Storm can finish no lower than seventh, and can simply win its regular season finale Saturday in Erie to get sixth. It may not even take that, depending on what the Attack do.
“Out of our hands which is disappointing. You always want these opportunities in your hands, ball in your court. It is for seventh,” Shaw says. “We should have no expectation other than to win tomorrow, and at least control our fate for seventh. And then hopefully we get lucky and get sixth.”
“But we have to prepare tomorrow like it’s Game 1 of the playoffs,” the Attack assistant coach continues. “And take that momentum into playoffs.”
SLOW DOWN, SAY THAT AGAIN
It’s a bit to keep up with the many different playoff scenarios for the Attack heading to the regular season finale, but let’s have at it.
Here’s what we know:
- They will finish sixth, seventh or eighth in the Western Conference
- They will face the Kitchener Rangers, Windsor Spitfires or Flint Firebirds in Round 1
Now, the battle for playoff positioning. Friday’s results left the Attack and Storm both at 61 points, with Guelph sitting in sixth because it holds the regulation-and-overtime wins (ROW) tiebreaker over Owen Sound.
So for the Attack to finish sixth tomorrow, they need to earn at least one more point than the Storm. That means either a win and any Guelph loss, OR an overtime/shootout loss and any regulation loss by Guelph.
The Storm are visiting Erie. The Otters have dropped 13 in a row.
Still following?
For seventh, a single point by the Attack puts them out of reach of the Spirit. Owen Sound could still finish seventh if they lose in regulation to Kitchener Saturday, but not sixth.
That’s because Saginaw (26-24-3-4) needs a win to have any chance at finishing higher than eighth. The Spirit close out their season Saturday night as well, against Sarnia Sting.
A win by Saginaw, and a regulation loss by the Attack will drop Owen Sound into eighth. Both the Attack and Spirit currently have 24 regulation or overtime wins, but Saginaw holds the second tiebreaker — having swept the season series with Owen Sound.