Landon Hookey sealed both his hat-trick and the win with an empty netter late in the third period, as the Owen Sound Attack held off a third period London Knights push for a big 7-5 win. After being mired in a five game losing skid, Owen Sound has now won two straight, both over Midwest Division rival teams, as the Bears claimed a big overtime win Friday night in Kitchener to originally snap the streak.
Owen Sound jumped out to an early lead, as Landon Hookey was able to corral a rebound in front and squeak a shot through London goalie Zach Bowen, just over three minutes into the action. The early goal was indicative of how the first half of the game would be played, as the Attack were aggressive and took the play to London for most of the first period. The pressure resulted in Servac Petrovsky breaking his personal goal slump as he cleaned up his own rebound after stripping the Knights player in the high slot. Hookey would round out the period scoring for Owen Sound, just past the halfway point, showing of his slick hands in tight, sliding a backhander five-hole for his first career multi-goal game.
Owen Sound would face late adversity in the opening periods as defensemen Teddy Sawyer received a five minute major for slew footing, forcing the rest of the Bears to step up on the penalty kill. It was a full team effort as Owen Sound players did their best to limit the chances on goalie Nick Chenard, who stood tall every time London got a shot through the traffic. The Attack successfully killed the major penalty, and would extend their lead shortly after its expiry.
After getting back to 5-on-5, it was Cedrick Guindon showing smarts and patients as he stole the puck, before finding captain Colby Barlow streaking through the neutral zone. Barlow, who scored the overtime game winner in Kitchener, produced an almost carbon copy of the goal for the Bayshore faithful to see, as is glove side snipe stretched the Attack lead to 4-0. London would get their chances to cut into the lead, as the Attack had a small parade to the penalty box, but it was Petrovsky taking advantage of a Bowen blunder with the puck, for a short-handed marker and his second of the game.
It looked as though the Attack would completely run away with this one, giving London some pay back for the team’s most previous meeting, but shortly after the second period TV timeout the Knights would get on the board. The visitors were able to cut the Bear’s lead down to three, and looked like they would inch closer, but the Attack’s bend-don’t-break mentality won out as they survived a late period onslaught.
Though not allowing a third goal in period two, the Attack did surrender a pair of goals to London rookie Sam Dickinson within the first seven minutes of the third to cut the lead to 5-4. Reeling a bit, it was Barlow bringing the Attack and the Bayshore a sense of calm, as the captain drew a penalty and subsequently scored just seconds into the power play to restore the two goal lead.
London would refuse to go away however, as they again pulled within a goal. With momentum on their side the Knights decided to call a timeout and pull their goalie with an offensive zone face-off. The Attack may have lost the face-off but Hookey battled hard, winning the puck battle and clearing the zone with a backhand. As the puck landed, it caught an edge and rolled into the empty net for Hookey’s first career hat-trick and sealing the Attack win.
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Owen Sound will now enjoy a week of down time, before traveling south for a final visit to Cops Coliseum to face-off against the Hamilton Bulldogs. A return home Saturday will see the Bears tangle with the Rangers at the Bayshore as the push for playoffs intensifies. Tickets for next Saturday’s home game can be purchased at the MacVicor and McComb Sutton Realty Attack Box Office by calling 519-371-7452 or going online.
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