'Nail' In The Coffin; 67's Slow Down Yakupov in 5-2 Win

Former 67 Logan Couture, joined by another familiar face in Brian Campbell, watched a trio of his old teammates help beat the Sarnia Sting 5-2 on Friday night in a nationally broadcasted game. Expected to go first overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Nail Yakupov made his return to the Sarnia lineup from injury and had the spotlight on him all game.

67's edge Rangers 4-3

Shane Prince scored the game winner against his former team as the Ottawa 67’s defeated the visiting Kitchener Rangers 4-3 in regulation Friday night. That marked Prince’s team leading 5th game winning goal of the season.

67’s spank Gens 8-3

OTTAWA – After steamrolling over the Peterborough Petes 9-4 just the night before, the 67’s didn’t seem to want to let up. Steven Janes had a pair of goals and an assist enroute to the Ottawa 67’s to an 8-3 victory over the Oshawa Generals Friday night.

At The Midway Point: Top Five Games of 2011-2012, thus far

by Alex Quevillon
The opening stages of the Ottawa 67's season had it's ups and downs. Many fans expected Ottawa to dominate this season, and there was a little bit of doubt as they blew a few leads, took a few tough losses and fell out of the CHL's rankings and seemingly out of the top tier in the OHL. But by the time 2012 had rolled around, this team has fought back, finding themselves tops in the Eastern Conference for the better part of the campaign's first half. They've also given us some really exciting contests along the way. Here's part one of two, featuring the top games thus far.

Toffoli nets 300th point as 67’s stomp 6-1 over the Bulls

After a disappointing effort Friday night, the 67’s stormed out of the gates and bounced back quickly. Petr Mrazek stopped 37 of 38 shots while Jake Cardwell led the way in scoring with 2 goals and an assist.

Consistent Team Effort Gives Petes' a 5 - 3 Win Over Ottawa

The first home game for WJH All-Star Goalie Petr Mrazek and newest 67's John McFarland and Mike Cazzola started well enough, with Cazzola getting his first goal just 12 seconds into the game (assisted by McFarland and Prince). The 67's were fast, sharp and up 2-goals in the first 10 minutes of the game on Shane Prince's 20th goal of the season (assisted by Ceci and Zanetti).

Mrazek Ready For "Last Chance To Win in Junior"

The Under-20 World Junior Championships are over, the OHL trade deadline has passed, and the 67’s only have to worry about their play to finish the season. The team was added as the 10th ranked team by the CHL this week. The defense is as deep as it’s been in many years. Ottawa has made deals to improve their already dangerous offense. But their goaltending may be their strongest point heading into the final stages of the season.

Ottawa Adds Cazzola, Dubois Out, Toffoli Player Of The Week

The Ottawa 67’s have made the final adjustments to their roster as the trade deadline has passed and overaged Center Mike Cazzola is on his way to the Nation’s Capital. Ottawa also gets a 12th round pick this summer and gives up a package of draft selections; 5th rounder in 2013 2nd rounder in 2014 and a 7th rounder in 2015. Cazzola, a center who’s name was linked in rumours with the 67’s all season (note the section at the bottom of this article about Erie), has racked up nine points in twelve on the Erie Otters who have spent the season in 20th place.

Smith leads 67’s to 7-2 win over Bulls

Dalton Smith scored his first career hat trick to lead the Ottawa 67’s to a 7-2 romping over the Belleville Bulls Friday night.

With Petr Mrazek returning late Friday night and Malcolm Subban recovering from a groin injury, both teams were without their number one goaltender. Michael Nishi stole the show making 38 saves on the night while John Chartrand had a rougher night letting in 7 goals on 31 shots.

67's Acquire McFarland from Saginaw for Perklin, 4th

Any 67’s fans remember this game? Well, get ready to see some more of the “McFarland Show”. The 67’s came to an agreement with the Saginaw Spirit at the tail end of a trade-filled Thursday to send rookie David Perklin and a fourth round draft choice in 2014 in exchange for John McFarland. The deal was officially announced Friday morning.

Petr Mrazek Helps Lead Czech Republic over United States in Alberta

When the IIHF’s World Men’s Under-20 championship is played during the holiday season, all eyes in this country focus on the young men in red and white; Team Canada. But every now and then, a performance is so outstanding or so unique, that it’s impossible to ignore. On December 30th, 2011, that performance came from Czech Republican and Ottawa 67’s goaltender Petr Mrazek.

67’s shut out Petes in 2-0

Prince scored his second goal in 2 games after being cut from Team USA.

Peterborough Petes goaltender Mike Morrison made 42 saves tonight, but it wasn’t enough to knock off the high flying Ottawa 67’s. Notwithstanding some great saves, the Petes lost 2-0 against their division rivals.

Giftopolous leads 67’s to 4-1 win over Frontenacs

OTTAWA – Igor Bobkov made 36 saves but it wasn’t enough as the Ottawa 67’s defeated the Kingston Frontenacs by a score of 4-1 in OHL action tonight.

With Cody Ceci, Tyler Toffoli and Shane Prince returning from their respective World Junior camps, the Ottawa 67’s were able to ice a full line up. However, still missing from the World Juniors was all-star goaltender Petr Mrazek & Michal Cajkovsky.

Remy Giftopolous opened the scoring after a Jake Cardwell point shot trickled to the side of Bobkov. Giftopolous grabbed the rebound and tapped in for the first lead of the game. The 67’s continued to put on pressure and Bobkov continued to make save after save until Shane Prince got a hold of an errant puck and made a beautiful feed to Sean Monahan who was waiting in the slot.

Cody Alcock responded for the Kingston Frontenacs off a shot Michael Nishi would like to have back. The Fronts centre shot the puck from the blueline, Nishi got a piece of it but went over his shoulder stick side. It was 2-1 67’s after one period.

Off a great individual effort early in the second period, Giftopolous scored his second of the game after picking up the puck off the half boards and skating it all the way into the offensive zone with a nice wraparound goal to end the play.

The Fronts couldn’t seem to get things going offensively and despite the 23 shots on net, they were unable to solve Nishi for a second time.

On the other end of the ice, Bobkov made a couple great saves off scoring chances including one big one off of Giftopolous’ hat trick attempt.

With less than 4 minutes left in the game David Mazurek got caught with two handed slash on the Ottawa forward which led to a 67’s powerplay. Shane Prince rounded out the scoring after he wired a shot from the high slot and past Bobkov.

NEXT UP
The Ottawa 67’s are back in action Friday night at the J Benson Cartage Centre when they host the Peterborough Petes at 7:30pm. The Kingston Frontenacs are back at home Friday night hosting the high flying Oshawa Generals at 7:30pm.

WJC U-20 Update: Prince Gets Cut

The Ottawa 67’s are going to have their top line intact for their next matchup, but it’s surely a small consolation for wingers Tyler Toffoli, cut from Canada’s World Under-20 squad last week, and Shane Prince, who was cut by the United States National Junior Squad last week.