OHL: Attack’s Brace tickled pink to honour mother with record-tying night

With Valentine's Day approaching, Cameron Brace reminded us all that the most important woman in a man's life is not always a spouse or significant other.

Teams sporting pink jerseys worn as part of fundraisers for breast cancer research are now almost ubiquitous in junior hockey and other spheres of the sports world, so it's easy to become numb to the whole endeavour. (Not without reason, either, if you have seen the documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc.; please excuse the soapboxing.) Regardless, cancer is always very real to those touched by it, so it's impossible to be a cynic about the magical night that Brace had on Saturday.

Brace and and the Owen Sound Attack had a sellout crowd for their first Pink The Rink night, which ended up being a 12-0 pounding of the Peterborough Petes. All Brace, a two-way speedster who is undrafted by the NHL but who is often fun to watch, did was tie the Owen Sound record of seven points in a game. It turns out the night was of very personal significance to Brace.

From Bill Walker:

As Attack coach Greg Ireland noted to the Sun Times, "Sometimes you go into these games and you wear the jerseys and you don't know what it means." That was not one of these times.

Brace, who had a big overtime goal in the OHL final spring when the Attack won the city's first league title, had never scored a hat trick in two-plus seasons in the OHL. His role is usually to use his speed to create chances for teammates such as captain Mike Halmo, who's tied for fourth in the league with 35 goals. However, Brace's first hatty was a Lemieux hat trick with a power-play goal, a short-handed and two at even strength. Oddly enough, he had one assist in each manpower situation, too.

The night started with Brace burying a cross-ice dish from Artur Gavrus to start feeding time in the Owen Sound shark tank just 2:51 into the proceedings. He got the second assist on a Halmo and Daniel Catenacci collaboration late in the first. In the first minute of the second, Brace turned on the jets after intercepting a pass, split Petes defenders Trevor Murphy and Steven Trojanovic and beat goalie Mike Morrison, who had just entered the game.

A short-handed breakaway goal in the third completed the hat trick. One would like to think Brace's last goal, with 1:51 left in the game might attest to the regard his teammates have for him. In an 11-0 game, no one would have thought anything of it if the Attack had just laid back, barely forechecked and preserved goalie Jordan Binnington's shutout. But Gemel Smith put the rush on the Petes defencemen, forcing a turnover that led to Brace snapping in fourth goal and his record-tying seventh point. Jim Ensom had had sole possession of the mark (which only applies to the franchise's days in Owen Sound) since 1996.

The Attack jerseys are being auctioned off. At this writing, Brace's jersey is going for $170. It would make for a nice coda to the story if he got the highest bid. Right now, the leader is Binnington, whose jersey is going for $320.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (image: Rogers Television).