Draft Day

First Round: Ottawa 67s picking 7th (7th overall) select:

Tyler Toffoli from the Junior Canadians
RW 5.11 175
GP:83, G:68, A:106, Points:174, PIMS: 72
Lead his team in points this year

Scouting Report (from the OHL Prospects Guide):
Toffoli is a skilled forward that regularly plays both center and the wing. He possess quickness and keeps his feet moving all the time. He has great hockey sense and feel for the game. Toffoli has excellent puck skills, displays very soft hands and has a great touch when moving the puck. He has the ability to make plays at top speed. When in possession of the puck Toffoli displays a ton of composure and confidence, especially in the offensive zone.

photo from the Ontario Hockey League site

Second Round: Ottawa 67s picking 3rd (23rd overall) select:

Derek Hartwick from the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs
LD 6.00 160
GP:66, G:9, A:34, Points:43, PIMS: -

A late-birth player that still needs to grow into his frame (looking at his numbers). No report in the prospect guide.


from the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs site

Second Round: Ottawa 67s picking 7th (27th overall) select: Pieter Schinkelshoek from the London Junio Knights
RC 6.00 185
GP:47, G:25, A:32, Points:57, PIMS:53

Scouting Report (from the OHL Prospects Guide): Schinkelshoek is a physically strong center that is a very offensively minded and productive player. He possesses good size and a fair amount of skill. He skates quite well displaying speed and quickness while being very tough to knock off stride. He has shown the ability to take control of the puck, skate hard off the wing and plow through traffic and defenders and get a shot on net. His speed and strength make him pretty tough to handle.



Third Round: Ottawa 67s picking 18th (59th overall) select: Ryan Hanes from the Ottawa Senators
LD 6.00 185
GP:53, G:7, A:24, Points:31, PIMS:76

A teaser from the Scouting News: Ryan Hanes, a 1992 born defenseman who played this past season with the Ottawa Senators minor midget hockey team, has every reason to look into his hockey future with optimism. See Hanes’ stock is on the rise! The youngster could be a major sleeper pick in this year’s OHL draft …

Fourth Round: Ottawa 67s picking 4th (65th overall) select: Dalton Smith from Oshawa
LW 6.01 170
GP:62, G:22, A:38, Points:60, PIMS:192

no scouting reports that I can find.

Here's what the Ottawa Sun had to say about the draft.

And here's what the Ottawa Citizen had to say.

Here's the entire list:

The Ottawa 67s 2008 OHL Priority Draft

Rnd	No.	Player	Pos.	Ht	Wt
1	7	Tyler Tollofli	RW	5.11	175
2	3	Derek Hartwick	LD	6.01	165
2	7	Pieter Schinkelshoek	RC	6.00	185
3	18	Ryan Hanes	LD	6.00	195
4	4	Dalton Smith	LW	6.01	170
7	20	Michael Hawkrigg	LC	5.08	175
9	7	Chris Williams	RD	6.02	195
10	7	Christopher Lane	RD	6.01	170
12	7	Dylan Hutton	LW	5.11	150
13	7	Joe Jackson	LD	6.01	185
14	7	James Watson	RD	5.11	170
15	4	Elliot Burton	LW	6.01	190

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Ducks Sign Beleskey, Bailey and De Gray to Contracts

The Ducks announced today that they have signed left wing Matt Beleskey, right wing Jason Bailey and defenseman John de Gray to three-year, entry-level contracts. Per club policy, financial terms were not disclosed.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

This was reported a week or so ago in the Ottawa Sun but there hadn't been any official announcement.

Congratulations Jason!

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Getting Ready for the OHL Priority Draft

Teams are able to make trades up until 3:00 this afternoon in preparation for the Priority Draft tomorrow. According to the OHL site, the Ottawa67s have been in involved in a couple of trades this week.

On Wednesday Oshawa traded their 4th round pick in 2011 for Ottawa's 4th round pick this year. Until this trade, Oshawa only had 3 picks in the first 8 rounds. Now they have a 4th pick (a 4th round pick). Ottawa still has the 4th in the 4th round.

Then yesterday Ottawa traded their 2008 6th round pick to Windsor getting the Kitchener 7th round pick and Owen Sound 8th round picks for this year that Windsor held. This gives Windsor the 7th pick in the 6th round where they didn't previously have a pick. I would think there is more to this trade as now Ottawa does not have a 6th round pick at all and is left with a very late pick (20th) in the 7th round (but gains an early pick in the oh-so-critical 8th round - picking 3rd).

I made a mistake in my earlier accounting for Ottawa's picks this year. Ottawa picks 7th in the first round, 3rd and 7th in the second (I missed the 3rd pick), and until the trade with Oshawa, Ottawa had the 4th and 7th pick in the 4th round.

Could be more moves before the day is done.

Cheers!

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OHL Priority Draft Webcast

The Ontario Hockey League is taking the next step in providing coverage of the 2008 OHL Priority Selection.The first three rounds of this year's event, which will take place this Saturday beginning at 9:00 a.m., will be covered via video Webcast available exclusively at www.ontariohockeyleague.com.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

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OHL Priority Selection

The OHL Priority Selection (aka The Draft) happens this Saturday starting at 9:00. The Ottawa 67s order of go is as follows (unless there are some trades on draft day):

Round 1 - 7th
Round 2 - 3rd
Round 3 - 18th
Round 4 - 4th
Round 5 - no pick
Round 6 - 7th
Round 7 - no pick
Round 8 - no pick
Round 9 - 7th
Round 10 - 7th
Round 11 - no pick
Rounds 12 through 14 - 7th
Round 15 - 4th

Check out the information on the Ontario Hockey League site for the media guide and prospects magazine. I haven't had a chance to go over any of this information, and quite frankly would not know anything about these players. Let's just hope that Killer choses well in the first 4 rounds. It would be nice to get some additional solid talent for the team.

Would be happy to hear from anyone out there who has info on these prospects.

Cheers!

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Adam Courchaine Makes His Professional Debut

P-BRUINS DEFEAT MONARCHS 3-2

Will Face Manchester in Atlantic Division Semifinals

Providence, RI - The Providence Bruins defeated the Manchester Monarchs 3-2 in a shootout Sunday afternoon at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. The P-Bruins got their goals in regulation from Jordan Knackstedt, and Pascal Pelletier and in the shootout from Knackstedt and Nate Thompson. The 53-16-3-4 Regular Season Eastern Conference Champion P-Bruins are back in action Wednesday against the Worcester Sharks at the DCU Center at 7:05 p.m. Following all of today's American Hockey League action, the P-Bruins now know they will face the Monarchs in the Atlantic Division Semifinals of the 2008 Calder Cup Playoffs.

Here's the rest of the article.

Here's the game sheet.

Congrats Adam! It's on to the playoffs for you.

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Tyler Cuma Named to Men's U18 National Team

HOCKEY CANADA ANNOUNCES ROSTER FOR 2008 IIHF WORLD UNDER-18 CHAMPIONSHIP

CALGARY, AB – Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) announced on Tuesday the 22 players who will make up Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team at the 2008 IIHF World Under-18 Championship, April 13th to 23rd in Kazan, Russia.

Click here for the rest of the press release.

Click here if you just want to see the roster.

Congratulations Tyler. Have a great tournament!!

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Adam Courchaine Signs ATO

Goaltender Joins Providence from OHL's Ottawa

Providence, RI - The Providence Bruins, member of the American Hockey League, announced today that they have signed goaltender Adam Courchaine to an Amateur Tryout Agreement from the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League. With the move, the P-Bruins now have 21 players on their roster, including 11 forwards, seven defensemen and three goaltenders.

See the rest of the press release here.

He was on the roster for the game against Jamie McGinn and the Worcester Sharks yesterday.

Good Luck Adam.

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Another Year in the Books

Well, this wraps up another season of the Ottawa 67s and my second year as a blogger.

There were three signed NHL prospects on the roster this year: Jamie McGinn and Logan Couture with the San Jose Sharks and Adam Courchaine with the Boston Bruins, and two unsigned prospects: Radim Ostrcil (Boston) and Jason Bailey (Anahheim).



By all accounts Killer had drafted reasonably well (draft held Saturday May 5th), picking 6th. The complete list is (Round. Overall draft pick, OHL Team Player Name Team Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate):

• 1 6 Ottawa 67's Michael Latta Waterloo Wolves RC 5.11 180 5/25/1991
  
• 2 26 Ottawa 67's Ryan Martindale Whitby Wildcats LC 6.01 170 10/27/1991
  
• 3 46 Ottawa 67's Chris Perugini Mississauga IceDogs G 5.09 125 2/6/1991
  
• 4 66 Ottawa 67's Johnathan Carnevale Central Ontario Wolves RW 5.10 165 6/21/1991
  
• 5 100 Ottawa 67's Marc Anthony Zanetti Toronto Marlboros LD 5.11 180 5/20/1991
  
• 6 106 Ottawa 67's Cam McLean Niagara Falls RW 6.00 165 2/13/1991
  
• 7 126 Ottawa 67's Paul Phillips Chicago Chill Midget LD 5.11 175 7/16/1991
  
• 8 146 Ottawa 67's Blake Barbieri Mississauga IceDogs RD 6.00 170 3/3/1991
  
• No 9th round pick
  
• 10 186 Ottawa 67's Riley Sonnenburg Cambridge Hawks LW 6.01 170 1/1/1991
  
• 11 206 Ottawa 67's Brian Birkhoff Wexford Raiders LD 6.00 180 5/27/1991
  
• 12 226 Ottawa 67's Dustin Walsh Quinte Red Devils LW 5.10 140 3/20/1991
  
• 12 228 Ottawa 67's Ben Sexton Kanata Blazers RC 5.10 165 6/6/1991
  
• 13 246 Ottawa 67's Jonathan Demme Brampton Battalion AA LD 6.01 175 3/11/1991
  
• 14 266 Ottawa 67's Joseph Quattrocchi Kanata Blazers G 6.00 165 4/30/1991
  
• 15 286 Ottawa 67's GianPaul Delle Donne Guelph RW 5.11 160 2/11/1991
  

The first four draftees reported, stayed and contributed in a year when rookies played more than they normally would have. We also had a chance to see Marc Zanetti for a few games during the flurry of tournaments that had a few regulars out of the lineup.

The import draft was held on June 28, 2007 and Killer’s picks were (Overall, Team, Time of Pick, Player, DOB, Pos, Last Team/Country, Height, Weight, NHL Draft):

• 17, Ottawa 67's , 12:10, Radim Ostrcil, Jan.15.1989, D, HC Vsetin/Czech, 6.00, 194, '07, 169th
  
• 38, Ottawa 67's (from Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds), 3:40, Martin Paryzek, March.23.1989, D, HC Ceska Budejovice/Czech, 6.01, 185, 2008
  

Again, both players reported, stayed and contributed.

Other player changes during the year:

• Aaron Alophonso was traded to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the off-season for a 3rd round draft pick in the 2008 OHL priority selection and the 38th pick in the European draft.
  
• Tye McGinn, younger brother of Jamie, was acquired in a deal for future consideration with Owen Sound. He was drafted by Owen Sound in the 9th round, 168th overall, 2006 OHL Priority Selection.
  
• D-Keith Wynn was acquired from the Windsor Spitfires (for future consideration) as an overager. He didn’t last too long – not sure whether he quite or was fired. He just slipped off the radar without (or because of) making much of an impact.
  
• Overager D-Zach McCullough was acquired from the Sudbury Wolves for a 3rd round draft pick in the 2008 OHL entry draft.
  

The season started with high hopes and expectations given that Jamie and Logan were back together, signed by their NHL teams and for all intents and purposes healthy and ready for a stand-out season. Some solid veterans were returning and the crop of rookies was promising.

But, it wouldn’t quite turn out that way. The first sign of trouble was rookie goal tender Adam Courchaine coming down with mono during the summer. By all reports it wasn’t a serious bout but it was a sign of things to come. Then Radim Ostrcil suffered a broken wrist at camp with the Boston Bruins. It delayed his start with the 67s. The OHL doesn’t produce a list of player games lost due to illness or injury but here’s a partial list of the major games lost:

• Jason Bailey only played 34 games of the regularly scheduled 68 games. Reasons for his absence: mono (17 games), broken face (nose and orbital bone), hip flexor and sports hernia. He needs to go under the knife for the hernia.
  
• Logan Couture and Jamie McGinn missed 17 games each due to concussions and back / shoulder issues respectively.
  
• Matt Lahey only played 22 games before being permanently side-lined with a shoulder injury that requires surgery.
  
• Jon Carnevale was just about to play in the 2008 World Under 17 Hockey Challenge as a member of Team Ontario when he was diagnosed with mono.
  
• Tyler Cuma had to sit out the Prospects Game as he had bronchitis.
  

In fact, there wasn’t a single player who made it through the entire year without missing a game due to illness or injury.

But it wasn’t all bad news. The Ottawa 67s had good representation on a number of national / provincial teams:

• Tyler Cuma was named to the Under 18 team to defend Canada's title at the eight-country Ivan Hlinka Memorial in Piestany, Slovakia, and Hodonin, Czech Republic.
  
• Tyler Cuma was also named to the OHL Top Prospects team. When he couldn’t make it due to illness, Julien Demers went.
  
• Martin Paryzek was a member of the Czech National Team in the 2008 World Junior Hockey Championship tournament.
  
• Michael Latta and Ryan Martindale were named to the Ontario squad in the 2008 World Under 17 Hockey Challenge
  

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

• Chris Perugini starting in net in Barrie against his brother Andrew and coming away with the win.
  
• Michael Latta playing in Kitchener in front of friends and family and leading the team to a win with two goals and was named the game’s first star.
  
• The 67s beating the loaded-for-Memorial-Cup Kitchener Rangers twice.
  
• The rookies playing much more than expected and stepping up - sometimes outplaying the veterans.
  
• 4 shut-out wins
  
• season sweep of the Barrie Colts
  
• 24 1-goal games
  
• highest scorers on the team, Jamie McGinn and Logan Couture, ranked 56th and 57th respectively in the league.
  
• 6 shut-out losses (2 in a row)
  
• third season in a row of below .500 hockey
  
• 4-game sweep in the first round of the playoffs
  

Final Thoughts

• ya – a tough year to be a fan especially with all the hope we started with. The discussion boards were filled with the usual armchair advice regarding coaching, drafting and trading. But I still had more entertainment value from my 67s tickets than my Senators tickets.
  
• By my reckoning Ottawa should be picking 6th or 7th in the draft again so they should have a good chance for quality picks. Let’s hope Killer will start drafting and trading for bigger lads who can also move the puck.
  
• I don’t want to get my hopes up too early but it appears that the the 67s could have a solid core of players for next year (and the year after that).
  
• Jamie McGinn has already reported to the Worcester Sharks. He registered his first assist in their Saturday night game (a loss – the Sharks are in tough just to make the playoffs).
  
• Logan has not been called up, most likely to take the time to get 100% better for next year. Hopefully that will include some serious training for him to get stronger on his feet. It seemed that every other picture I have of him he’s down on the ice. BTW – belated happy birthday to Logan (March 28th).
  
• Another belated vsechno nejlepsi to Martin Paryzek (March 23rd) (I hope that means happy birthday in Czech – I looked it up on the web.)
  
• Zach McCullough, Matthieu Methot and Jason Bailey have now completed their major junior hockey careers. No word on what their plans are. Good luck guys.
  
• Possible overagers for next year: Thomas Kiriakou (Kilrea has already made it clear that he would love to have Thomas back. I would bet he gets the “C” if he returns), Matt Lahey (I wouldn’t bet on it with his history of injuries), Sean Ryan (on the bubble I would think) and Jamie McGinn (hard to call – depends on how it goes in Worcester).
  
• Special thanks to Walt for his faithful production of his game sheets which he shared with the regulars in our section. He puts a lot of time and effort into these informative documents and it’s greatly appreciated.
  
• We have our tickets to the Memorial Cup in Kitchener. A chance to combine golf and hockey. It should be fun. I’m thinking that I may attempt to work in some time to blog from there (but may get sidelined by other fun stuff).
  
• The NHL Draft is in Ottawa this year and I plan to attend the first round. Hopefully we will see Tyler Cuma go early and get pleasantly surprised with good results for the other eligible 67s players.
  
• Thanks to photographers Mike, Robert and Jean who were generous with their time and advice - it is much appreciated.
  
• And finally thanks to you for taking the time to read my musings and take a look at my pictures. Hopefully we will all be here again next season.

Cheers Everyone!

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Over and Out: Oshawa 4 - Ottawa 1

It’s Friday night in the nation’s capital and instead of sitting in the Ottawa Civic Centre or watching the game on TV, here I am writing the last game summary of the season. Suddenly it’s over and if it’s shocking for me and other fans, I can’t imagine what it’s like for the team. By this time next week they will be back in their own homes and for some finishing the school year in another school.

All the old clichés were trotted out for the game….it’s do or die time, gotta play desperate, there’s no tomorrow, blah blah blah.

Killer didn’t change the line-ups for the game:

Forwards
JMcGinn, Couture, Bailey
Methot, Kiriakou, Latta
Zamec. Lindsay, Nesbitt
TMcGinn, Martindale, Carnevale

Defensive Pairs
Paryzek, Cuma
Demers, Ryan
McCullough, Ostrcil

Adam Courchaine started in net.

Cowie and Valiquette sat out again.

Once again Ottawa started the game strong and carried the play and quickly racked up the shots on Neuvirth. They were physical, they had jump and had puck possession…but no goals. Thomas Kiriakou was tripped up on an early scoring chance and during the ensuing powerplay they put 4 shots on Neuvirth…but no goal.

And on their first shot on goal John Tavares put the Generals ahead just five minutes into the game when he put a good move around the Ottawa defender and hit the good side of the blocker-side post. Patrick Asselin and James DeLory got the assists. And that ended any hope of Ottawa starting with a lead.

Right after the goal, Zamec was called for hooking but it was Ottawa that had the better scoring chances but again the shots went right into the crest of Neuvirth. Oshawa didn’t get any shots through to Courchaine so that should have been a boost for the 67s.

But man oh man the hockey gods were against the 67s as the next goal was a heartbreaker. Two minutes after the first goal Tyler Cuma put the goal in his own net when he tried to skate in front of Courchaine and ended up surprising him with the puck. Dale Mitchell was credited with the goal. Probably the easiest one he scored all season. And before the night was over, he would wreak havoc on Cuma again…keep reading for that one.

Cuma didn’t really recover after that for the rest of the period and neither did the team. Martindale took a penalty and Ottawa was discombobulated during the ensuing PK. Oshawa took advantage with their third straight goal when Ryan McGinnis was given a golden rebound off an Ottawa shin pad and he scored. Brett McLean and Michael Del Zotto got the assists (although if it was a rebound off an Ottawa player should they have been given the assists??? hmmm).

And that was the end of the game (and the season) for Adam Courchaine – he was pulled before 10 minutes had expired in the game having given up 3 goals on 5 shots. Chris Perugini took over. I should note that Ottawa had 10 shots on goal at this point. But no goals.

Ottawa had another powerplay opportunity but I think they were still reeling from the quick turn of events and they were really unable to get much going.

With a 3 – 0 lead and confidence that Ottawa’s powerplay wasn’t all that effective, Oshawa started hitting again. To some observers (the spousal unit in particular) many, if not most, of the hits were late’ish. In the esteemed opinion of said spousal-unit, late hits have replaced much of the hooking and grabbing that used to take place. Kilrea does not seem to advocate such strategies judging by the style of the 67s play.




As the period wound down, Ottawa was on the PK and had a short-handed opportunity with Cuma bringing the puck up the ice. You could see that he was trying to run out the clock but in the process of doing that he completely missed that Bailey was open for a scoring chance. Oshawa got control of the puck and sent it down ice. The linesman didn’t signal for icing so Cuma and Dale Mitchell skated hard after it. Dale cross-checked Cuma and he went down hard. And he stayed down. Patafie went out to ice, the team doctor came on the ice and eventually Tyler got up to his feet and left the ice with the assistance of Paryzek and Couture (a role to be reversed later in the game). As he left the ice, he was not putting weight on his right leg. Not a good period for Tyler Cuma. Dale Mitchell was assessed a 5-minute penalty and a game misconduct. He actually looked contrite as he left the ice.



That what doesn’t kill you only serves to make your stronger – right? By that reckoning the 67s should have been in fine form in the second period especially starting the period wiht a man-advantage for over 4 minutes.

Not quite.

The 67s just didn’t manage to show the same PP skill as they had earlier in the series. Actually, it was the Generals who had the better scoring chances including a breakaway by Baker that was stopped by a great pad save by Chris Perugini. Killing this PP had to have been a big lift for Oshawa.

Tyler Cuma returned to the bench at about the halfway mark of the period and was taking a shift shortly after that.

The only goal of the period came with less than 5 minutes left when Logan Couture finally scored Ottawa’s (and eventually only) even-strength goal of the series when he tipped in the point shot from Julien Demers. Jamie McGinn got the other assist. At last – now down just down two goals.

Chris Perugini made some great saves early in the third period to keep the 67s in the game.

Killer rode his top line as much as possible for the third period – what did he have to lose. Well, Logan Couture for one. No one seemed to see what happened but Logan ended up prone on the ice near the Ottawa bench. No word on the nature of the injury but from all descriptions it appears that he may have had his bell rung….again. He made it to the bench for a bit but he eventually left the bench for the locker room. What a time that kid has had in Ottawa with various injuries over the course of his tenure.


Somehow with all that happened up to this point the remaining 67s could not generate enough emotion to play angry. Bailey excluded of course. He laid a perfectly clean open-ice hit on Cowick and Cowick decided to hang on Bailey’s leg…and the scrap was on. Despite playing injured and in pain, Bailey was not about to go down with bullets in his gun. It was short and intense and Bailey carried the day. Cowick knew he was hit and owned. Easy to take however given that the Gens won the game.


The killing blow came with less than two minutes to play in a goal-mouth scramble where Cory Nagy was able to force the puck past Chris Perugini who had kept Ottawa in the game since taking over. Tavares and Regan got the assists.

Ottawa never had a chance in the dying minute of the game to pull Perugini for the extra attacker. And the series ended with a sweep with Oshawa taking the 4th game 4 – 1. Final shots were 32 – 34 for Oshawa.

Hardest Working Ottawa 67s as Selected by the Team1200: Chris Perugini (1 goal on 31 shots)

Random Thoughts

• The Brian Kilrea award was presented to Jason Bailey and Matthieu by Max Keeping.


• I cannot imagine the frustration of playing hard, controlling the puck and just having everything go against you. If they didn’t have bad luck they wouldn’t have had any luck at all. That the first goal didn’t completely let the air out of them after controlling the play for the whole time up to that point is a credit to their determination in my opinion. That the team didn’t completely fold up their tent and go home after the first period is amazing too.
  
• Jason Bailey played on guts and adrenalin. According to team trainer Brian Patafie, if it were September Jason would have been under the knife with an expected return no sooner than January. You certainly cannot criticize him for lack of commitment. This year he has had mono, a broken nose, a broken orbital bone and the sports hernia. Among all his injuries, the sports hernia is clearly the most painful. Hurts when trying to stride hard, hurts to shoot, hurts giving and taking hits. Just plain hurts. Was that a smile or a grimace when he took his turn in recognition for being selected the second star of the game?
  
• Chris Perugini made some really good saves to keep the score closer than it might have been including stoning Cowick at the beginning of the third period on a turnover in their own zone during an Ottawa 67s line change.
  
• The Ottawa 67s could not have bought a goal in the game. Absolutely no bounces their way. Clearly someone committed some enormous crime against humanity in their previous life to have this fate visited upon them and the entire team.
  
• I was expecting to see more anger and desperation, especially after the hit on Cuma and on Couture and knowing how hurt Bailey was playing. Maybe I don’t know how to recognize it.
  
• To give the Oshawa Generals credit, they were graceful winners in their opponent’s rink.
  
• I hope to write a wrap-up blog by next weekend.
  

The Game's Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

1st Star	2nd Star	3rd Star
John Tavares	Jason Bailey	Patrick Asselin

More pictures – click on any picture in the blog to see a larger image

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In a Deep Hole: Ottawa 1 – Oshawa 2 and Down 3 Games

After Oshawa taking both games on home ice in this playoff series, play shifts to the Ottawa Civic Centre for games 3 and 4. Game 3 was not as close as game 1 and Oshawa had a solid win (5-2). Chris Cowie and Brett Valiquette were the healthy scratches again in that game and Adam Courchaine started although he was pulled after letting in 3 goals on 14 shots (if memory serves me correctly).

For game three, Chris and Brett were the healthy scratches again and Killer went back to Adam in net.

The lines were:
JMcGinn, Couture, Bailey
Methot, Kiriakou, Latta
Zamec, Lindsay, Nesbitt
TMcGinn, Martindale, Carnevale

Defensive Pairings
Paryzek, Cuma
Demers, Ryan
McCullough, Ostrcil

It took almost 2 minutes into the game before anyone got a shot on goal (it was Ottawa) and in the first half of the period the whistle might have been blown maybe three times (at least twice as each team was assessed a penalty). Ottawa carried the play early in the period as they racked up the shots but they continued to be unable to beat Neuvirth. In all honesty, it didn’t seem like many of the shots were dangerous but they still had to be stopped. Compared with Game 1, there was almost no hitting in the first period. I noticed from Sunday’s game sheet that Oshawa was assessed 4 hitting from behind penalties so I wondered if Oshawa was being careful since all of the Ottawa goals so far had been on the powerplay. Neither team scored in the first period.

As they did in the previous two games, Oshawa was the first to score. It was early in the second period when Brett Parnham picked up his own rebound and beat Courchaine. Ryan McGinnis got the lone assist. Ottawa tried to get it back and had a powerplay opportunity but they were unable to get it working for them. They had chances but just could not seem to finish anything. In fact it wasn’t until the final 20 seconds of the PP until they finally got anything through to Neuvirth.

Oshawa went up by two on their first shot of their only powerplay of the period when James DeLory scoring from the point. Dale Mitchell and Ryan McGinnis got the assists. And with the two goal lead Oshawa hunkered down into protect-mode for a bit. For their part Ottawa was able to get through the neutral zone but still were unable to beat Neuvirth.

Ottawa kept it coming for the third period – controlling the puck and spending a lot of time in the Oshawa zone peppering Neuvirth with 22 shots while Courchaine saw only 5 for the entire period. With under two minutes left and with Eric Regan off for high-sticking, Killer pulled Adam Courchaine so that the 67s had a two-man advantage. They finally had Neuvirth scrambling and Logan Couture broke the shut-out and made it a one-goal game. They kept it up for the remaining time and once again it was a nail-biter right to the end including interrupting at least two empty-netters. But it was not enough and once again the 67s were short by one goal. But more importantly they are down by three games in the series.

The Game's Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

1st Star	2nd Star	3rd Star
Michal Neuvirth	Brett Parnham	Michael Latta

Team1200 Hardest Working 67s: Jason Bailey

Random Thoughts:

• Ottawa has played well for the two games that I have seen but it's just not good enough. Running into a hot goalie sure doesn't help. The chatter going into the series was that Oshawa would need Neuvirth to play realy well for them to win this series. Their problems had not been about scoring goals but rather keeping them out of their net. Ottawa has outshot the Gens for all three games so it's not like the defensive play of the Gens is keeping the scoring chances down. So you could say that Neuvirth is really stealing these games for his team.
  
• Not much of a crowd which was pretty much expected for a weeknight game in Ottawa. The announced attendance was 4738 but I highly doubt there that many bums in seats. This is really disappointing given the normal attendance this team can draw on a weekend. Too bad the Civic Centre bookings do this to the 67s each year.
  
• Not one even-strength goal in three games. Hard to win like that. On the up side, the Generals didn’t score in the first two minutes like they did in the last two games.
  
• Jason Bailey played injured and played as hard as he could - he left all of it on the ice. Hope he’s as OK as possible under the circumstances.
  
• Killer rolled 4 lines all game. He clearly has confidence in his rookie line as they got good ice time all game including later in the third period.
  
• While it seemed like most of the shots (there were 47 in all by Ottawa versus 24 by Oshawa) were all right on Neuvirth - the up-side is that they were on the net as opposed to ending up hitting the boards and the glass behind the net.
  

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Outscored but not Outplayed: Oshawa 3 - Ottawa 2

Hit the road to see the opening game of the first round and my first visit to the General Motors Centre in Oshawa. We arrived quite early and went to a local establishment called Riley’s for some pre-game sustenance and refreshment. It’s really close to the arena and clearly a pre-game haunt for some fans. The food was good, plentiful and reasonably priced; I would recommend it as a hockey-night-out starter.

The spots for taking pictures are much more limited than at the Civic Centre. I altered with the Oshawa team photographer at the photographers’ cut-outs in the plexiglass on the goal lines. He took the Oshawa attack for each period.

So, from that fixed vantage point, lacking a radio feed (I could not pick up the local broadcast with my radio), and the game moving too fast for decent note-taking, this is a really abbreviated summary. Click here if you want to see the game sheet.

Both teams started with their top lines: McLean, Tavares and Asselin against McGinn, Couture and Bailey (back in the line up). Valiquette and Cowie were scratches. Courchaine was in net for Ottawa and Neuvirth for Oshawa.

Both teams came out with some jump but Oshawa had the upper hand for a good chunk of the first period including getting the first goal of the game before the game was 2 minutes old. Michael Del Zotto assisted by Kevin Baker and Brett Parnham. Oshawa continued to have more control and after seven minutes of play Oshawa had 6 shots on Courchaine while Ottawa had only 3 on Neuvirth. On the up-side, during the same time Oshawa had a powerplay where the 67s held them to no shots on Adam.

Oshawa came out hitting and Tye McGinn was on the receiving end of a few of them. After about the third one, by Delory that time, I thought he was going to end up as a smear on the boards he’d been run into so often. But he got up and back into the play and tried to lay in a few of his own.

It took a while for Ottawa to start getting their wheels going and by the by the end of the period they managed to get more shots on Neuvirth: 14 for Oshawa and 11 for Ottawa.

The second and third periods were much better efforts by Ottawa. They controlled the puck and started getting more shots through. And while Oshawa continued to hit, Ottawa kept coming up with the puck more often than not. There was one cycling sequence in my corner during the third period that was outstanding. The Oshawa fans around me were getting so frustrated with Oshawa’s complete inability to get the puck. Latta was unrelenting and eventually emerged to get to the front of the crease and a shot on goal. It wasn’t a hard one but it was a shot that Neuvirth had to stop.

But for all their effort in the second period, it was Oshawa that came up with the goal just over the half-way mark. This time it was Dale Mitchell assisted by Brett Parnham and Ryan McGinnis.

It took a couple of power plays in the third period for Ottawa to get on the scoreboard. The first one, an unassisted goal by Captain McGinn came just 40 seconds into the period as Ottawa played out the last 50 seconds of a powerplay earned at the end of the second period (James Delory called for tripping). That made it a one-goal game and Ottawa put the pressure on.

But it didn’t take Oshawa long to get that one back with members of Oshawa’s top line finally cashing in. Brett MacLean beat Adam Courchaine with assists from John Tavares and James DeLory.

Undaunted our intrepid underdogs kept working and were rewarded again on the powerplay when Matthieu Methot scored with assists from Michael Latta and Thomas Kiriakou. There were bodies in my way so I didn’t actually see the goal. But I had a clear shot of the celebration.

For the last half of the period, Ottawa kept up the pressure and the Oshawa fans around me were very tense. In the last minute of play, Ottawa gained control of the puck in the Oshawa end and pulled Courchaine for the extra attacker. Oshawa sprung the puck a couple of times and hoped for the empty-netter to seal the deal. On one, an Ottawa player (I didn’t see who) made a sprawling play and knocked the puck off the stick of the Oshawa player in the Ottawa zone. One the second one it was Demers I believe who intercepted the scoring attempt. It was high excitement right to the very end due to the very hard work of the 67s.

Oshawa takes game 1 with a final score of 3 – 2 and shots on goal 25 – 35 in Ottawa’s favour.

Random Thoughts

• Didn’t see enough of the game from my vantage point and looking through my camera lens so I’m not sure how to comment on the officiating other than there were two really obvious high sticks that were missed (a big one on Latta early in the second and one on Jamie McGinn in the third). Seeing as there was one official in or nearly in my way most of the time, if I saw them he should have seen them. There was another bizarre call in the second period. It was at the other end of the ice from me so I didn’t see the whole thing other than an Oshawa player went hard into the boards and Radim Ostrcil was close. Not sure if Radim clipped him and caused the spill or what. After the whistle had blown and calm should have set in, Cory Cowick pretty much jumped Ostrcil. Not a “c’mer-I’m gonna-thump-you-for-hurting-my-guy” kinda jump, just a stupid attempt at getting Radim’s attention. In the arena it was announced that Radim was called for unsportsman-like conduct (?) and Cowick was called for holding. The game sheet shows Radim getting nabbed for tripping.
  
• While Ottawa didn’t hit as hard and as often as Oshawa, they dished out some good hits some of which drew admiring comments from the folks around me (apparently hitting is very highly regarded in this rink based on the comments I heard). Even Logan threw in a few (!).
  
• At the beginning of the second period I noticed that all the players on the bench leaned forward over the boards for the faceoff. As soon as the puck dropped, they sat back on the bench. Have no idea what that was about. Didn't notice it (nor did I look for it) at the beginning of the third period.
  
  
  
• The GMC is a nice arena, a good size for this city. Attendance was over 5000 which looked to be pretty much capacity and the fans were lively. The plexiglass however is awful for photography.
  
• Everyone was really friendly. Lots of smiles, casual conversation, polite. It seems like a great rink.
  
• Saw someone wearing a Chris Hulit jersey.
  
• There were a few Ottawa 67s fans in the rink and they made their presence known too cheering on the 67s.
  
• A couple of Kiriakou-jersey wearing folks were sitting behind me. On the way out I asked one if she knew Thomas. Just a little – she’s his mother. I let her know that he’s the favorite of a number of fans I know.
  
• Oshawa is definitely beatable. If Ottawa keeps up with the play we saw last night, they are going to win some games. Looking forward to the game here on Tuesday.
  

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News Around Major Junior Hockey

OHL Announces Coaches Poll Winners
Created: Mar 19, 2008

The Ontario Hockey League today announced the results for the 2007-08 Coaches Poll.The OHL Coaches Poll provides team coaches with the opportunity to recognize players in several skill categories within their own conference. The top three players in each category from the Eastern and Western Conferences are recognized. Coaches vote for each category within their conference and are not permitted to vote for players on their team. Players receive five points for a first place vote, three points for a second place vote and one point for a third place vote.

Read the rest of the OHL News here and to see how Julien Demers, Logan Couture and Thomas Kiriakou rated in the voting.


Blues sign former 67’s captain
The St. Louis Blues added a young forward, when they signed former Ottawa 67’s centre and captain Julian Talbot to a contract yesterday. Terms were not disclosed. A native of Wahnapitae, Ont., Talbot has appeared in 65 games with Peoria of the American Hockey League this season, recording 20 goals and 21 assists. The 22-year-old currently ranks fourth among league rookies with 41 points. After four seasons with Ottawa of the Ontario Hockey League, Talbot made his professional debut last campaign, registering 20 goals and 33 assists in 66 games with Alaska of the ECHL and adding one tally and three points with Providence of the AHL.

(as reported in the Ottawa Citizen today)


Hartsburg won't coach Canada's junior hockey team a third straight year
Canadian Press
Mar 19, 2008, 3:27 PM EDT
The Canadian team chasing a fifth straight gold medal at the next world junior hockey championship in Ottawa will have an entirely new coaching staff.
After two years as head coach and another as an assistant, Craig Hartsburg has reluctantly decided not to coach Canada again in 2009.

rest of the article at NHL.com

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Courchaine named Boston Pizza Player of the Week

The Ontario Hockey League today announced that Ottawa 67’s goaltender Adam Courchaine is the Boston Pizza OHL Player of the Week after posting a 2-1-0-0 record along with a 1.33 goals against average and .961 save percentage in three games last week.

Read here for the full announcement from the OHL.

Congratulations Adam, you worked hard for this recognition.

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Wolves Sent Packing: Ottawa 5 - Sudbury 1

This is it – the last game of the regular season and the last game of the year for Sudbury. Both teams came into today’s wind-up having lost their last game. Sudbury was trounced 9-2 by the never-say-die Kingston Frontenac in Kingston on Friday while Ottawa was being shut out for the second straight time in their own barn by Peterborough.

A win today will put the 67s into 6th and a first round match-up with the struggling Oshawa Generals. If both Ottawa and Peterborough lose, the 67s remain in 7th and the 67s will meet the Brampton Battalion. If Ottawa loses and the Petes win, Ottawa drops to 8th and will meet up with the Belleville Bulls in the first round. There should be some motivation here.

Game Day Set-Up

Ottawa 67s		Sudbury Wolves
28-34-2-3	Record	17-45-2-3
61	Points	39
East – 7th	Conference – Rank	East – 10th
196	GF	174
236	GA	287
3-70-0	P10	3-6-0-1
16h - 66 - 0.168	PP – Rank, GF and %	15th - 63 - 0.169
11th - 65 - 0.815	PK – Rank, GA and %	17th – 88 - 0.763

Top Guns - Ottawa

Player	Position	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-
Logan Couture	C	49	20	36	56	+9
Jamie McGinn	LW	50	27	28	55	+10
Thomas Kiriakou	C	64	15	26	41	-11

Additional Ottawa Player Notes: Scratches for the game were Radim Ostrcil (back spasms) and Jason Bailey (sports hernia). Scott Cowie moved back to defense. This was Jamie’s first game back. Adam Courchaine was in goal.

Top Guns - Sudbury

Player	Position	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-
Patrik Lusnak	LW	57	20	39	59	-11
Jared Staal	RW	59	21	28	49	-11
Gerome Giudice	C	63	15	29	44	-33

Additional Wolves Player Notes: Missing the game were rookie D-Chris Van Laren, F-Kyle Tarini and rookie D-Jesse Hebscher. Andrew Loverock got the call.

Game Summary
Ottawa came out with more jump than we’ve seen in a while and they totally dominated the Sudbury Wolves right from the get-go with some good early scoring chances. And the attitude started early with Michael Latta and Daniel Maggio dropped the gloves right off the face-off just 4 minutes into the game. According to the roster information, Daniel Maggio has at least 3 inches on Latta but Latta got the better of the tilt with a shot that sent Maggio to the ice.

About 7 minutes into the first frame Ottawa finally scored a goal on its ninth shot when Tye McGinn deflected Martin Paryzek’s shot from the point. Tyler Cuma got the other assist. Ottawa continued to control the game and rack up the shots. Loverock had to work hard to keep the team in the game.

Ottawa had a great short-handed opportunity during Jamie McGinns’ interference penalty when Couture’s rebound went right to the stick of Kiriakou who rang it off the post.

With 22 seconds left in the period, Gerome Guidice was called for holding and just seconds into the PP, McGinn the elder scored his 28th goal of the year putting it top shelf when Ottawa won the face off. Julien Demers and Tyler Cuma got the assists. I think the goal was helped in part by Loverock’s obsession with whacking any opposing player remotely close to his crease. I didn’t catch the number of the player in front of Loverock but Loverock took the time to push him in the back and it looked like it took enough of his attention away from the play to allow the goal.

After a dominant 20 minutes, Ottawa was up by two and led in shots 18 – 6.

The Sudbury Wolves didn’t put up much of a struggle in terms of scoring threats so they did the next best thing which is to play rough hockey which is pretty much expected from the Wolves at any time. Among their offences was a brutal high-stick on Tyler Cuma by Matt Dias. Ottawa did really well to keep control of the play during the PP but were only able to get three shots through to Loverock that he stopped.


Approaching the half-way mark, a falling Thomas Nesbitt was able to redirect a cross ice pass from Cody Lindsay past Loverock to put Ottawa up 3 – 0. Tye McGinn got the second assist.

Frustration was mounting for the Wolves and Tyler Arps lost it at about the halfway mark when he jumped Brett Valiquette and was called for roughing. He managed to earn a 4-minute time-out for his efforts and an additional 10 minute misconduct. Ottawa didn’t manage to do much for the 4-minutes only getting 3 shots on goal for the entire advantage.

Killing the penalty gave the Wolves a brief burst and with their second powerplay of the afternoon, Eric O’Dell broke the shut-out with assists going to Dean Howard and Peter Hermenegildo. You could see this one coming as the Ottawa defense broke down and left Eric all alone in the slot. The many Sudbury fans in the arena finally had something to cheer for.

But discipline was their undoing. First it was Gerome Guidice and John Kurtz each getting minor penalties at the same time to give the 67s a two-man advantage for two minutes. Jamie McGinn scored his second of the game when he deflected the one-timer past Loverock who was once again more concerned with the player in front of him than where the puck was. Matthieu Methot and Logan Couture got the assists. Ottawa was unable to score on both ends of the advantage.

Sudbury’s frustration finally boiled over in the last 30 seconds of the period when Julien Demers was called for kneeing. Marco Maggio started the fight (instigator), he and Demers fought (both called for fighting), and Maggio got an extra 10 minutes. Both players were sent off the ice.



With only 5 seconds left in the period, Marcus Foligno, wearing the same number as his older brother Nick in the NHL, got his own 10 minute misconduct.

So after two periods, the score was 4 – 1 for Ottawa with shots 32 - 17 in Ottawa's favour.

Ottawa had the game in hand but boy did they ever give Sudbury every chance to get back in the game. If the Wolves had had ANY puck luck and/or skill, the outcome could have been entirely different. Ottawa backed off and let Sudbury start getting the shots on Courchaine and I thought that they would score at any moment. There was a brief 3 minutes of dominance at about the 5-minute mark but it didn’t last like it should have. Fortunately for Ottawa, Sudbury’s lack of discipline came back to haunt them and with another 5-on-3 advantage late in the game, Ottawa salted it away when Logan Couture finally got a goal with assists going to Jamie McGinn and Tyler Cuma.

So the 67s close out the regular season and end up in 6th place in the league. The schedule against the Oshawa Generals is:

Fri., March 21 at Oshawa 7:35
Sun., March 23 at Oshawa 6:05
Tues., March 25 at Ottawa 7:00
Thurs., March 27 at Ottawa 7:00
Fri., March 28 at Oshawa 7:35 (if necessary)
Sun., March 30 at Ottawa 2:00 (if necessary)
Tues., April 1 at Oshawa 7:05 (if necessary)

The Game's Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

1st Star	2nd Star	3rd Star
Jamie McGinn	Tyler McGinn	Adam Courchaine

Team1200 Hardest Working 67s: Tyler Cuma

Random Thoughts

• Good to see the team go out on a winning streak. They took matters in their own hands and moved up a spot in the standings to get the struggling Oshawa Generals.
  
• Nice return for Jamie McGinn.
  
• Logan Couture finally got off the schneid.
  
• Forgot to mention in the last post that Tyler Cuma is the Ottawa 67s Scholar of the Year. Congrats.
  
• Loverock does not like close company. I have a number of pictures of him pushing and shoving players who were close to his space. Not a cuddly sort of fellow. The refs were also indifferent
  
  
• Tyler Cuma is seriously irritated by this neck guard as he kept tugging at it on Friday and today.
  

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