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January 15, 2005

Game Recap vs Peterborough (14-Jan)

WooHoo! The 67s win 5-3 over the Petes. An important win for them, as they continue to close the points gap. See OHL game summary here.

IN THE NEWS
From SLAM! Sports, Petruzalek lifts 67's past Petes. From the Ottawa Sun, Don Brennan writes Petruzalek picks up pace vs. Petes. A few snippets:

"We knew that if we are going to challenge for first, we had to win this game," said 67's coach Brian Kilrea. "Now we still have a chance."

On Petruzalek’s nice break-away, but non-goal,

Petruzalek joked about shooting the puck in Kilpelainen's glove on purpose, just to let the drama build a little longer. He also said he's going to work on not tipping off goalies as to which way he's going with the puck.

"It's a bad habit," he said.

And on Spezza’s situation,

The 67's will finalize G Matthew Spezza's release from Lindsay (Jr. B) and start him in goal tomorrow afternoon, when Kingston is in town for a 2 p.m. start.

And from the Peterborough Examiner, Mike Davies writes Petes fail to give coach 500th win. A snippet:

Aaron Dawson said the Petes had hoped to get Todd his 500th career victory against Ottawa’s legendary coach Brian Kilrea.

“It would have been nice to get 500 against The Killer,” Dawson said, “but we’ll have to do it (tonight) against Sudbury and their coaching legacy which includes (the late) Bert Templeton.”

[. . .]

“It was just like a playoff game,” Kilrea said. “You play Peterborough and you have to play your best. They started off working extremely hard and we didn’t know what hit us at the very start. If it hadn’t been for our goalie, we could have been down two or three goals. Luckily a couple of power plays gave us the little bit of an early edge. We’ve been looking for more guys to contribute and the Petruzalek line opened up which was really good for us.”

PRE-GAME NOTES
The game was broadcast on both radio (TEAM 1200/Dave Schreiber and AJ Jakubec), as well as television (Rogers/Andy Hannan, Lee Versage, and Ed Hand). Schreibs said that Spezza will not be in the line up for the game tonight, but he will be in on Sunday.

LINE UPS
Forwards: Bickell, Petruzalek, Kaspar; VanderVeeken, Bonello, Mancari; Akeson, Talbot, Hulit; McGinn, Alphonso

Defence pairings: Colbert, Staubitz; Joslin, Reid; Lawrance, Van Herpt

Starting in net: Guadagnolo. Steven Lecelle is sitting as back up. He’s from the Ottawa West Golden Knights Junior B team. He’s attending the University of Ottawa, in his first year of the Human Kinetics program.

Out: Battochio (inj-shoulder), Ouellette (inj-mono), Beard and Jarram were both away d/t deaths in the family, Lahey, and Spezza.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
The 67s had quite a few problems at the beginning of the first period – the defence let the Petes get right to the net, and take multiple shots on goal. They had a hard time getting the puck out of their zone. Eventually the 67s scored on the PP, and this seemed to settle them down; get them into the game. They had some really good SOG, requiring the Pete’s goalie to make some great saves. In the second, once again the 67s had some defensive break-downs, allowing Petes players to stand unmolested in front of the net. It started getting more chippy, and a number of penalties ensued. Hulit was high-sticked, and had to leave the ice (he returned in the third). They continued to battle in the third, scoring goals . They come away with a win. A very important win for them – both in confidence and points.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE 67s
Petruzalek had a really good game. He was all over the ice tonight. A hard working game. Scored the first goal on the PP. He and Hendrikx (PET) traded verbal and physical hits for a lot of the night. Chippy-type stuff.

Kaspar had a really strong night. He was active on his shifts, chasing down pucks, creating chances, scoring. He was looking really good on the point during the PP – used to make me cringe, but he seems to be a lot more confident.

Guadagnolo. He had a great start to the game; looked like he was in his zone. Peterborough had the first 8 SOG, and he looked strong. Guadagnolo saved the first period – I imagine that if he had not stopped some of those early shots from the first period, it would have been a very different outcome for the 67s. He did let in a couple of squeakers later on, but overall an excellent game by Guadagnolo. Guadagnolo wore the hard hat for the post-game television interview, selected as hardest worker by his teammates. Stopped 37 on 40 SOG.

Talbot. He was on the ice a lot. Regular shift, face-offs, PPs. Although, the 67s didn’t seem to be that dominant on face offs tonight.

Bickell had a good game tonight. He was physical, created some chances, and scored a really nifty goal, top right corner.

Staubitz. Looked steady in defence. He seems to be very mechanical – doesn’t show too much emotion (which is not a bad thing). He’s very good at clearing his zone. Good on the PK. I really like him. One other thing . . . can someone please get this guy some new pants? They’re so ripped up the inseam, that you could see his leg! Nothing like coming to a new team, and given crappy leftover equipment – you now, unless he did it himself because he was too lazy to take his skates off . . . and then, it’s his own fault ;o).

IMPRESSIONS OF THE PETES
Overall, the Petes are a very physical team. They have a lot of big guys, who are skilled as well. Definitely the best team in our division.

Ryder. An energetic, hard working player. He got checked into his bench (by Kaspar), and unfortunately the door opened, catching him on his upper thigh/groin. He went down, but was back on the ice after a few shifts, looking no worse for wear.

Kilpelainen. Made some really great saves, especially during the first period, when the 67s were on the PP.

Tardif. A very physical player. Tried to crack Bonello’s head open like an egg during the first period. Nasty. He went after Bonello later on, too. Actually, he was in the box for both of the 67s’ PP goals.

Reddox. A feisty, hard working player. Flood too.

Beljo. Skilled. Had a number of scoring chances.

SCORING
OTTAWA
1, Petruzalek, (Mancari, Joslin), 07:19 (PP)
1, Talbot, (Kaspar, Colbert), 17:48 (PP)
3, Kaspar, (Petruzalek), 12:08
3, Bickell, (Petruzalek), 12:50
3, Hulit, (Talbot), 19:34 (EN)

PETERBOROUGH
2, Reddox, (Flood, Ryder), 02:20
3, Beljo, 06:30
3, Reddox, (Ryder, Flood), 13:41

THREE STARS
OHL three stars were: 1. Bickell ,2. Guadagnolo, and 3. Talbot.

TEAM 1200 three stars were: 1. Petruzalek (in fine form, especially offensive; his speed was evident; great passes; 1G, 2A), 2. Ryder (PET) (2A; had a physical game; good offensive, defensive, and on face-offs; hard working), and 3. Kaspar (1G, 1A; a physical game; looking more comfortable on the point). An honourable mention goes to Bickell.

REFFING
Smith. Apparently his equipment didn’t make it to the rink on time, so he had to borrow everything – skates, pants, sweater. Smith didn’t exactly endear himself to the fans, which was unfortunate for the linesman he borrowed the shirt from, Dagenais. It was an older sweater – one with the full name on the back – and I’m sure that Dagenais did not appreciate 9000 fans booing the ref with his name on the back. Of course, the linesmen had some crappy calls tonight as well, so if people were yelling, “You suck Dagenais” – it could have applied to either one.

ATTENDANCE
9598. We arrived later than normal (~7:15pm), and were told that there were no parking spots left. They let us in for free to see if we could find a spot . . . we did.

NEXT UP
The 67s host Kingston this Sunday (1.16.2005).

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