Hope Attacks First OHL Game, Konecny First Star

The OHL season opened Friday night with a full slate of games. Locals Kyle Hope, Dane Fox, and Travis Konecny all played crucial roles for their teams in the first night of games.

In Mississauga, Blenheim’s Kyle Hope and the Owen Sound Attack took on the Steelheads, and walked away with an opening 5-3 win. Hope, who was named an assistant captain for the Attack, had three assists, each coming on the powerplay, and each on Dallas Stars prospect Gemel Smith’s hat trick of goals.

Hope is in his fifth OHL season. The 20-year-old overager suited up this summer at the Vancouver Canucks prospects camp, and played well enough to earn a main camp invitation.

In Guelph, Dane Fox couldn’t stay out of the penalty box for the Erie Otters in their opening game, a 4-3 overtime loss to the Storm. Fox had a 5 minute fighting major in the first period, before picking up three minor penalties throughout the remainder of the game for a total of 11-penalty minutes.

In Ottawa, Clachan’s Travis Konecny, who similar to Fox and Hope, is a Chatham-Kent Cyclones alumni, had two assists and was named the games first star for the 67s, as Ottawa opened with a 5-4 comeback win over Belleville. In the first period, Konecny assisted on Chatham Maroons alumni Sam Studnicka’s goal for Ottawa.

Saturday, Erie plays Plymouth and Owen Sound plays Peterborough.