Game Recap (at Mississauga)

67s lose 3-1 to the Ice Dogs. See OHL game summary here. Thankfully the game was broadcast on Rogers television, because The TEAM 1200 call went out for the first ten minutes of the second, and sporadically thereafter.

Line ups and whatnot:

1st McGinn, Bonello, Mancari
2nd Todd, Talbot, Hulit
3rd Bickell, McIlveen, Akeson
4th Aitcheson, Ouellette, Lahey
Alphonso out, Lahey in.
Guadagnolo gets the start. (Here we go . . . Please, please get a win for him.)

Overall impressions:

The 67s came out slow. They were out-shot 18-5 in the first period! They looked tired, and the defence looked weak. The defence still aren’t standing up to the opposition forwards. The Ice Dogs came out strong in the second, scoring two goals within the first four minutes, and getting two chances where Guadagnolo just robbed them. The 67s’ defence absolutely fell apart. They were just standing in front of the net – no attempt to take their man, no attempt to forecheck. The 67s came out a little better in the third (with the help of a number of Ice Dog penalties), Mancari scored a SH goal, and they pulled Guadagnolo in the last seconds --- but it was too little too late.

Impressions of the 67s:

Mancari got a great SH goal at the beginning of the third, where he stripped Ouzas of the goal when Ouzas went behind the net to work the puck out himself. Mancari grabbed the puck off of Ouzas’ stick, and took a shot before Ouzas had time to get back in position. Nice. That’s five goals for Mancari this w/e. Yep. Stepped up big time. After this w/e he is now tied with Talbot for second in points for the team, first being Petruzalek.

Guadagnolo made some big saves in the first period – but c’mon: 18-5 SOG in the first! 25-6 SOG in the second! Overall, 49-24 SOG. What the hell is wrong with the defence? I’m starting to believe that they have some sort of conspiracy against Guadagnolo, you know, play so badly that his stats continue to get worse, he gets traded, etc. (Yeah, I know it’s a stretch.)* Whoever says that Killer is scouting for a ‘scorer’ is absolutely nuts (or Killer is, if this is in fact what he is doing). They need defence . . . 6 defencemen would be nice. The only d-man playing in this game was Guadagnolo. [* UPDATE * Okay, his stats actually improve b/c the SOG are so high, but look at the previous two games, the 67s scored 6 goals in each game! 6! Today, they score 1. I'm going to look back over the games Gaudagnolo played in, to see how many goals the 67s scored. Currently his record is: GPI 16, MINS 845, GA 45, Avg 3.20, SV% 0.915, W 2, L 9, T 3.]

Impressions of the Ice Dogs:

Hecimovic. I’ve always liked watching him play. Carcillo didn’t take any suspension-inducing penalties! (He did get a 10-minute misconduct though.) Ouzas was in nets. He is having quite the season. He was named OHL player of the week last week for back-to-back SOs. Hey, if not for Mancari he would've got another.

OTTAWA SCORING:
3, Mancari, 02:37 (SH)

MISSISSAUGA SCORING:
2, Swift, (Hecimovic, Butera), 02:42
2, Marchese, (Carcillo), 03:58
2, Caputi, (Jeffrey, Svacina), 08:24

TEAM 1200 three stars: 1. Guadagnolo-OTT, 2. Caputi-MIS, and 3. Marchese-MIS

OHL three stars: 1. Caputi-MIS, 2. Guadagnolo-OTT, and 3. Marchese-MIS

Interesting side note: Talbot was interviewed on Rogers television (Mississauga) during the first intermission. When asked by the interviewer about the 67s comeback last night against Barrie, Talbot said that Coach O’Brien gave the team a positive speech during the second intermission, and the team came back to win the game. He said that Killer would have yelled at them, but O’Brien cheered them up. This is interesting in light of the Tsimikalis incident. I’ve wondered how many other players don’t see eye-to-eye with Killer’s style, and if this is part of the problem with what we are seeing with the team. Discontent among the troops, or some of the troops. Interesting indeed.

And a quote from StatsGuy after the second period: “Just when you say this is the worst game they’ve ever played . . . they play a worse game.”

That’s all for the 67s until after Christmas – December 28th vs Oshawa. McGinn and Lahey will head off the to Under-17s, and World Juniors will be on December 25th.