The Owen Sound Jr. Attack Canadian
Tire Tykes suffered a tough 14-2 road loss to the Essa Novice Rep Eagles on
Saturday afternoon in Angus.
The Eagles took advantage of Owen Sound’s inexperience and weary road legs early, finding the back of the net twice in the opening minute.
However, the Tykes, who play up a level in the Georgian Bay Minor Hockey League's Novice C Division, were able to cut Essa’s lead to 2-1 at the 3:59 mark of the first period when centre Jaren Pirie buried a quick shot from the slot after accepting a nifty behind-the-back pass from defenceman Maddox Burgess.
Hunter Stewart notched Owen Sound’s second goal of the contest when he made no mistake on a breakaway with only 1.8 seconds remaining in the second period. Nolan Edmonstone picked up the lone assist.
Despite the lopsided score, Jr. Attack head coach Rick Corbett believes this type of defeat for his young, inexperienced group will be a positive moving forward.
“Essa is a very strong and more experienced team,” said Corbett. “It was good to get beat like that early in the year so the kids can see how far we have to go to play at that level.
“Our team can be very proud of the effort it showed throughout the entire game,” he added. “They played hard until the final buzzer. It was good to see some smiles in the room after the game.”
The Jr. Attack Tykes will seek their first win of the season when they welcome the Dundalk Novice Rep Storm to the Bayshore Community Centre on Friday, Oct. 25. Puck drops at 7 p.m.