Whalers lose in shootout in Owen Sound

Owen Sound defenseman Andrej Sekera scored twice in regulation and then added the only goal scored in a shootout to give the Owen Sound Attack a 7-6 shootout victory over the Plymouth Whalers last night at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound.

Jeff Kyrzakos also scored twice for Owen Sound, while Bobby Ryan and Mike Angelidis scored one each for the Attack. Plymouth (10-6-1-1, second place OHL West) got a pair of goals from rookie Ondrej Otcenas (pictured) and singles from Andrew Fournier, Vaclav Meidl, Gino Pisellini and Mike Letizia.

Owen Sound outshot Plymouth, 48-25 through regulation and a five-minute overtime. Justin Garay stopped 42 of 48 Owen Sound shots for Plymouth while Kyle Knechtel stopped 19 of 25 shots for Owen Sound.

First-period goals by Fournier and Meidl gave Plymouth a 2-0 lead, even though Owen Sound outshot Plymouth, 23-8, in the first period.

Owen Sound scored four unanswered goals in the second period to lead 4-2 after forty minutes on a pair of goals by Kyrzakos and Sekera.

Plymouth bounced right back at the start of the third period to tie the game at 4-4 on goals by Otcenas (0:24) and Pisellini (0:50). But the Attack regained a 6-4 lead on Angelidis’ goal at 10:28 of the period and a disputed goal by Ryan at 12:19.

Otcenas cut the Owen Sound lead to 6-5 with his second of the evening at 13:55 and then – with Garay pulled for an extra attacker and the Whalers working with a 6-on-4 advantage – Letizia scored from the slot with 30 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 6-6.

After a scoreless overtime, Sekera scored the only goal in the shootout to give Owen Sound the victory. John Vigilante, Dan Collins and Otcenas did not score for Plymouth in the shootout.

Plymouth is back in action Friday night in Sarnia before returning home to face London on Saturday night at 7:30 pm at the Compuware Sports Arena.