Attack Double-up Rangers 6-3

It was just that one 4-0 game, right? The Attack couldn't possibly keep up their incredible pace from two weeks ago against this historically one-sided matchup between the once-dominant Rangers and the surprise of the year in the OHL's Owen Sound Attack.

Sorry, Rangers fans. Once upon a time two weeks ago, the Attack placed their foot in the door of OHL elite status when they rang off a few straight wins after an opening night loss to Guelph.

Now they've blown the door wide open.
And the traditional league powers, such as the Kitchener crew are starting to take notice.

Last night's 6-3 win for the Attack forced a better-prepared, but still not-good-enough Rangers team to fight in the game of their lives, and still come up empty-handed, for the first time at home.

Even without team offensive superstar Joey Hishon, out with a hurt hand, the Attack found a way to pot six against these Rangers.

It was strangely reminiscent of last year, where always the matches were tightly fought, but the blueshirts seemed to pull the rabbit out of the hat at the end, just while the Attack were still searching where that quarter behind their ear came from.

This year, things are going to be a little different in the Midwest.

If there were any lingering nay-sayers out there, Owen Sound have proved to the league they're for real.

Now 7-1, the Attack lead the Western Conference with 14 points, and the Rangers' only two gaffes in their 6-2 record have come via the Bayshore Boys from the Sound.

The Rangers played catch-up all night and never commanded a lead, as Attack captain Garrett Wilson (pictured) led the charge with two markers, and 16 year-old sensation Jarrod Maidens added a single, as did tough-guy Mike Halmo and Brendan Childerley.

Halmo had a Mascioli-on-Tavares-esque exchange on top of Rangers centre Andrew Crescenzi after battling along the boards with the puck, holding and beating on the oversized Rangers forward while the play was light years away from them.

Halmo got away with a roughing minor. Crescenzi got a holding call.

Attack head coach Mark Reeds also got into it with referees Matt Parlette and Craig Spada.

Reeds was incensed his Attack were called for five minor infractions in the first and the Rangers were seemingly escaping the whistle with murder.

Reeds was tossed, but stayed to complete the game.

A fine may be forthcoming to the team for his decision to stay with the team and not take part in some early Oktoberfest festivities next door.

While the Rangers may have had some chances to put the Attack away on Spada's and Parlette's calls, the squad again failed to produce anything of significance, finishing a pitiful 1-7 on the powerplay, a trend all too common this season.

The penalty-kill must also improve. The Rangers sit dead last at a meagre 68.4% efficiency rate.
Specialty teams have the ability to kill elite teams and win games.

The Rangers have sensed all too late, that Owen Sound is a foe needed to be put away by an extraordinary effort.

And aside from Andrew Crescenzi and a select few (namely Ben Thomson and Tyler Randell who all scored), the Rangers' lacklustre effort just wouldn't cut it on a night where the Attack's red-carpet entrance into official league stardom was ingrained into the blueshirts' collective conscience.

Attack Hand Rangers Their First Loss

There would be no cavalry galloping across the second period intermission to revive the Kitchener Rangers' ailing 3-0 hole entering the final frame, much like it had in the blueshirts' first three games, where the group found 10 goals over the past three third periods.

In fact, the Rangers couldn't even manage one in a 4-0 decision against a sizzling-hot Owen Sound Attack team which has reeled of three straight wins against Midwest division foes Kitchener, London, and Guelph.

Even more impressive is the air-tight defensive game the Attack have employed, surrendering only six goals in four games to start the season.

Rangers head coach Steve Spott and his crew walked into the Harry Lumley Bayshore Arena Saturday, perhaps expecting to replicate a lot of what last year bestowed upon the team, a six game season sweep, and instead was met with an entirely renewed and entirely revamped Attack squad that looked like a team possessed and hungry for revenge, signalling a role reversal of a year ago.

First round NHL pick Joey Hishon led the way, having a hand in three of the four markers by the Bayshore boys, adding a goal and two assists to dispell the notions of any lingering effects of injuries sustained earlier in the Colorado Avalanche training camp, as well as last year that kept the centreman to just 36 games with his mates.

Scott Stajcer (pictured) recorded his first shutout of the season, stopping 36 shots, and his boyhood Cambridge-based opposite at the other end of the ice, Brandon Maxwell, managed to halt 41 of 46.

The last goal to beat him on this night was an ugly one; as Maxwell went to bat the puck to the corner, the black disc had ideas of its own and deflected off the keeper's poking stick and into the cage.

The Rangers couldn't get their legs under them all night, as the crew went 0-5 on the power-play, and the Attack were much more fruitful in their man-advantage attempts, converting two of five.

A very unexpected and largely unassuming foe to start the campaign, if the Attack can keep their extraordinary defensive pace up, and their relentless puck-pursuing offence going throughout the duration of a full season, the Rangers just may have one more pesky Midwest-division rival on their plate in their hopes for a conference title.

Robby Mignardi, Garrett Wilson and Jesse Blacker contributed goals for Owen Sound, all three a part of the forgettable Bayshore season just one year ago.

It's got to make Rangers fans think, if a culture change is truly possible and sustainable in Owen Sound this year, the high-flying Kitchener team from one year ago, sans defensive powers John Moore, Dan Kelly, ex-Attack member Chris Mackinnon and perhaps Jeff Skinner and Jeremy Morin is also starting to look very different from their current selves.

The question quickly becomes, which team can sustain their impressive starts and elevate their season to greater heights, and command that coveted Western Conference title that the Rangers came so close to claiming one seemingly short year ago?

The Attack have put forth their nomination, and so far, the bid is standing up.