Pierce Mbuyi etched his name into the Owen Sound Attack record book on a night when it was mission accomplished for his team: two points in the tight battle for a playoff spot.
Mbuyi scored a pair of goals, and Carter George starred in net with 49 saves and an assist as the Attack downed the Guelph Storm 7-2 in Ontario Hockey League action Friday evening at the Sleeman Centre.
The pair of goals for Mbuyi put him up to 48 points in his OHL “true rookie” — or age 16 – season, setting a new record in Owen Sound OHL history. The previous true rookie scoring record was 47 points, done twice before by current Oshawa Generals forward and former Attack player Colby Barlow in the 2021-22 season, and Attack alumnus Joey Hishon in the 2007-08 campaign.
“It’s awesome. It’s an honour to have that, super special,” Mbuyi says in a post-game interview. “Main focus right now is to get into the playoffs. But I could’t have done this without my team, and my coaches and their trust in me. They’ve given me the opportunity every night to come out and play, so I’m super thankful.”
The No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 OHL Priority selection is also up to 28 goals, two away from tying Barlow for the Owen Sound OHL record in a true rookie campaign. He’s also scored three hat tricks this season, another true rookie record in Owen Sound.
Mbuyi was one of many stories for the Attack in Friday’s 7-2 win over Guelph. George was another – making save after save with his pads and glove as the Storm outshot the Attack 51-20. It was just the latest gem from the team’s star goaltender, and helped Owen Sound move into seventh in the Western Conference with four games to go in the regular season.
Declan Waddick, Tristan Delisle, David Bedkowski, James Petrovski and Bruce McDonald also scored for the Attack (24-33-4-3), which made it back to back wins to go one point up on both the Soo Greyhounds (25-35-2-2) and Sarnia Sting (21-31-5-7) for seventh. Soo beat Sarnia 5-4 Friday evening.
It was Owen Sound’s first win in Guelph since the 2023-24 season — Attack teams had lost five in a row at the Sleeman Centre, going back to Dec. 8, 2023.
Charlie Paquette and Alex McLean had the goals for Guelph (18-36-5-4), which lost its ninth in a row.
The Attack led 3-0 after the first. Waddick opened the scoring at 7:23, sneaking a wraparound on the backhand past Zach Jovanovski to make it 1-0.
The Storm took it to the Attack from there, but couldn’t solve George. The Thunder Bay native and Los Angeles Kings prospect shut down rush after rush, as the Storm outshot Owen Sound 17-7 in the first.
Then the Attack scored twice in the final minute of the period. Braedyn Rogers zipped a pass up the middle to spring Mbuyi on a breakaway, who went fivehole at 19:01 to make it 2-0. Thirty seconds later it was Delisle, 3-0 Attack.
Bedkowski made it 4-0 Owen Sound early in the second period, breaking up the right wing and then cutting toward the net and putting a backhand past Colin Ellsworth – who came out to replace Jovanovski to start the period.
Then with a minute left in the frame, it was Mbuyi on the power play with a shot through Ellsworth to make it 5-0 Attack – that goal was the magic one for him for the new Owen Sound true rookie points record.
Paquette made it a 5-1 game early in the third, spoiling George’s shutout bid with a low shot through traffic in the high slot.
Then with just over six minutes remaining, McLean scored to cut the Attack lead to 5-2. Storm head coach Cory Stillman had pulled Ellsworth for an extra attack with over seven minutes left in the third and his team down by four – no doubt a last stand in what was a must-win game for Guelph to keep any hope of reaching the playoffs alive.
Petrovski and McDonald would add empty-netters.
George made 49 saves in the win, while Jovanovski stopped four taking the loss. Ellsworth made nine saves in relief.
Guelph outshot Owen Sound 51-20 while going 0 for 7 on the power play; the Attack finished 1 for 3.
Next up for the Attack is a home game against the Kitchener Rangers (45-13-4-2) Saturday night at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre at 7 p.m.
FOUR TO GO
In case you missed it, the Attack will wake up Saturday morning alone in seventh place in the OHL’s Western Conference. They are now one point ahead of both Sarnia and Soo, after the Greyhounds beat the Sting Friday. All three teams have four games to go. Only two will get into the postseason. After tomorrow, the Attack close out their 68-game campaign with a three-in-three next week. Thursday, they visit the Barrie Colts. Friday, a trip to Kitchener. And then on Saturday, March 22, the Attack finish their season at home against the Storm. Should note, the OHL regular season wraps up the following day on Sunday, March 23. And as fate would have it, Sarnia plays Soo. Can’t help but think that game will matter to all three teams.
