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One was enough. Ryerson Leenders made sure of that.
Pierce Mbuyi scored on the power play with 2:54 remaining in the third period and Leenders made 29 saves to earn a shutout in his debut, as the Owen Sound Attack clipped the Kitchener Rangers 1-0 in their Ontario Hockey League season opener Friday night at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
Mbuyi was left alone in front of the Rangers net and John Banks found the Attack captain with a pass from inside the Rangers blueline after a failed zone exit. The Pittsburgh Penguins prospect took his time, scanned for a pass – and then whipped a low shot by Jason Schaubel to break a 0-0 deadlock.
It wasn’t the prettiest game. But it was the result the Attack were after, sweeping into the Aud to spoil banner-raising night for the Rangers, who celebrated their 2025-26 Memorial Cup and OHL championships.
“It’s not always going to be a Picasso. But if you stay connected, you stay together. If you bend and don’t break, good things like that happen,” Attack Head Coach Keenan Reynolds says. “Especially when you’ve got one of the top goaltenders in Canada in the crease.”
Leenders, one of the prized offseason additions by Attack President and GM Tyler Nother, impressed in his first outing for Owen Sound. He found himself into what turned into a test of the two goaltenders, as Jason Schaubel authored his own opening night gem.
But it was the Attack overage goaltender who kept the zero.
“He looked poised throughout. The puck touches were great,” Reynolds says. “And the confidence he instilled our group with, as a by-product of being so poised back there, allowed us to steal the two points.”
Leenders made 29 saves in the win, while Schaubel stopped 25 taking the loss. The Rangers outshot the Attack 29-26 while going 0 for 2 on the power play; Owen Sound finished 1 for 3.
The Attack (1-0) will try to make it an opening weekend sweep over the Rangers (0-1), as the two Midwest Division foes play the tail-end of a back-to-back Saturday night, this time at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.
It’s Owen Sound’s home opener. Game time is 7 p.m. Saturday.
OFF AT CAMP
The Attack were without defenceman Elliot Arnett, and forwards Harry Nansi and Lucian Bernat for Friday’s opener. Arnett remains at NHL camp with the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Nansi are Bernat are off at camps with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks respectively.
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