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February 15, 2005

Game Recap vs Belleville (13-Feb)

67s lose 2-1 to the Bulls. See OHL game summary here. Belleville has a game summary here.

IN THE NEWS
From the Ottawa Sun Barre Campbell writes, 67's can't hit Bulls' eye. On the poor PP:

They're in the middle of a fight for a playoff spot in the OHL's Eastern Conference, yet the 67's can't score with a man advantage, which was the case yesterday during a 2-1 loss to the Belleville Bulls at the Civic Centre.

Four times the 67's had a power play, and came up empty.

The team has not scored in five games with a man advantage and has gone 0-for-26 during that span. The last time a 67's player got a power-play goal was on Jan. 30 during a 6-4 win in Brampton.

Actually, it was 0/5 chances on the PP. Which makes a total of 0/27. And from SLAM! Sports, Bulls edge 67's.

PRE-GAME NOTES
The game was broadcast on the TEAM 1200/Dave Schreiber and AJ Jakubec. (No television coverage lately d/t curling championships.) Interesting tidbits:

* This is the last meeting with the Bulls for the regular season. [Wow, the season goes fast.]

* 3 points separate the 67s and the Bulls.

* The Bulls won last night, 3-2 over Brampton (who beat Ottawa soundly last week 5-1).

* Battochio will get the start again, after a good showing on Friday night.

Notes from the pre-game interview with Asst. coaches Bert O’Brien and Vince Malette:

Bert on the loss in Peterborough: We played pretty well in Peterborough. It could have gone either way except that their goalie played well.

Bert on having Battochio back in the net: We can’t knock Anthony’s [Guadagnolo] performance, but it’s good to have Danny back. The goalies are the bright spots on our defence. But the other guys played well in front of them both nights. We made some defensive changes – Colbert with Joslin, and Staubitz with Reid. The defence has been playing better than they were previously.

Bert on the play of Kaspar during the game vs Mississauga: He’s played a lot better. He had a stretch there where he looked lost on the ice, but he’s showed he can dominate. We need all three lines playing better for us. It takes the stress off of our defence.

Vince on the VanderVeeken/Petruzalek/Kaspar line: We made the changes and VanderVeeken fits in well. He’s a big, strong kid who goes hard to the net and makes room for both of the Czechs.

Bert on the Bulls’ last game [vs Brampton]: I watched Belleville play last night and they played a great game. Brampton is a good team, and Belleville beat them and played well. We need to get the lead on them [Belleville] to get them out of their defensive formations.

LINE UPS
Forwards: VanderVeeken, Petruzalek, Kaspar; Lawrance, Bonello, Mancari (started); Bickell, Talbot, Hulit; Ouellette, McGinn.

Defence pairings: Colbert, Joslin; Staubitz, Reid; Van Herpt, Beard; Jarram.

Starting in goal: Battochio. Guadagnolo on the bench.

Scratches: Akeson (inj-Achilles, wrist), Lahey (inj-concussion; a poster on 67s BB says that he will most likely be out for the remainder of the season), Alphonso (inj-concussion), and Spezza (healthy).

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
First period. The Bulls got under the skin of the 67s right off the bat. They were picking and poking, lifting 67s’ sticks when they tried to shoot, playing extremely physical – not hitting per se, but draping over the 67s, wrapping arms around them – generally being very annoying. It worked perfectly. The 67s became increasingly frustrated – complaining to the ref, hitting their sticks against the boards as they changed lines, swearing, kicking the boards (with their skates) when they were sitting on their bench. The more frustrated they became, the worse they played. It was during the first period that Killer put out the rookie line with Jarram on the left wing – Jarram/Ouellette/McGinn. He looked odd out there playing forward, and at times he seemed out of position, but overall he did a good job. The more ice time he gets the better. And it’s not like the top three lines were doing anything. The Bulls scored first, Killing (his first OHL goal). SOG at the end of the period were 15-13 for Ottawa, but the Bulls were up 1-0.

Second period. The picking/poking/trapping style of play continued, with the 67s getting more frustrated and ineffective. Bonello did draw one penalty, but the 67s were not able to score. The PP continued to be a problem. They were having trouble handling the puck, making passes, getting out of their zone, etc. At one point Bonello had a semi-break-away, but was hauled down at the last minute. He jumped up and started randomly throwing punches from behind. He ended up with a 10 minute game misconduct. During that same melee Staubitz got called for Spearing, giving the Bulls a 4 minute advantage. They scored during that time off a hard shot by Sutton from the circle. The 67s were not able to get any plays set up, the PP was non-existent. SOG at the end of the second were 23-19 for Ottawa. The Bulls went ahead 2-0.

Third period. About 10 minutes in, Bonello had a great chance for a shot on goal, but as he followed through on his swing his stick broke. As he was leaving the ice, he checked a Belleville player and was given a 2 minute penalty. After that he was benched for the remainder of the game. Talbot centred Lawrance and Mancari, and then Mancari moved to play with Talbot and Hulit. The latter three had the most energy, worked the hardest, and had the most chances. At one point, the ref called Hulit for slashing (I didn’t see the play) and he tried to argue his case. Bickell came over to argue/swear at the ref, and he was tossed from the game. He doesn’t wear an A or a C, so he’s not supposed to approach the ref. I guess the ref was frustrated too. Killer took a fit. He was standing on the bench yelling – YELLING – at the ref. (I’m thinking McQuigge doesn’t have that “nice understanding” with Killer.) Mancari was the only goal scorer for Ottawa, with assists by Talbot and Hulit. Battochio was pulled in the last couple of minutes, and Belleville had a couple of chances to get an EN goal, but each time the puck veered off just before reaching the net. Ottawa left if a little too late, and could not tie it up, and Belleville won the game 2-1. SOG for the game were 36-23 for Ottawa. Ottawa went 0/5 on the PP, while the Bulls scored 1/5 on the PP. The PP needs some serious work.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE 67s
The hardest working players on the ice were Talbot, Hulit, and Mancari. The rookie line (Jarram/Ouellette/McGinn) also played hard for their shifts.

Talbot and Hulit worked extremely hard on the PK, as well as Mancari and Bonello on the first PP. They were really giving 100%.

Bickell had some really great moments – second effort in keeping the puck in the opposition’s end, using his body to block shots, forechecking hard, etc. But he wasn’t consistent – which is Killer’s beef with the vets.

Battochio made some incredible saves. He was sprawling around on the ice during some of the scrambles, and I was really concerned he was going to re-injure himself, or be injured by another player falling on his shoulder.

Bonello became increasingly more frustrated over the course of the game. The Bulls got to him from the beginning of the game, and he let his frustration take over completely. He was totally ineffective on the ice.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE BULLS
Brophey had a strong game. He was dominant physically – getting to the net, puck handling, passing, etc. He had 1A.

Tobia had a good game. He faced a number of good chances by the 67s in the last few minutes of the game to hold on for the win. Made 35/36 saves.

Rancourt is one of the Bulls that I really like watching. He had 1A. Others I noticed . . . Belesky was also dominant; seemed everywhere on the ice, Killing had a great game, got his first OHL goal; and Davey was very chippy, got to a number of 67s players – got them off their game. Good games by Sutton (PP goal) and Maksym too.

SCORING
OTTAWA
3, Mancari, (25) (Hulit, Talbot), 14:07

BELLEVILLE
1, Killing, (1) , 14:41
2, Sutton, (7) (Brophey, Rancourt), 12:13 (PP)

THREE STARS
OHL three stars were: (1) Tobia (BEL), (2) Battochio, and (3) Sutton (BEL).

TEAM 1200 three stars were: (1) Killing – BEL (possibly his best game of the season; his third OHL point, his first OHL goal; great defensive play), (2) Battochio (made some pretty good saves; solid in the net; 19 saves), and (3) Sutton – BEL (steady on the blue line; solid effort today).

REFFING
McQuigge. Not a very consistent effort for McQuigge. He was calling everything at the beginning of the game – a lot of off-setting penalties. Then he started calling some, letting some go. It was the inconsistent calls that started to wear on me. He eventually put his whistle away and let some very obvious stuff go.

ATTENDANCE
9862. Another sell-out for the 67s. Unfortunately they only played for about 20 minutes of the game.

Based on StatsGuy’s attendance record, Ottawa is back in the lead for Average League Attendance.
  1. Ottawa – 9081 (capacity – 9862)
  2. London – 9034 (capacity – 9090)
  3. Kitchener – 5905 (capacity – 6890)
  4. Erie – 4379 (capacity – 5600)
  5. Sudbury – 4179 (capacity – 6000)
  6. Saginaw – 4061 (capacity – 5497)
  7. Guelph – 3936 (capacity – 4815)
  8. Barrie – 3825 (capacity – 4195)
  9. Mississauga – 3692 (capacity – 6000)
  10. Sarnia – 3513 (capacity – 5000)
  11. Plymouth – 3185 (capacity – 3800)
  12. Peterborough – 3021 (capacity – 4329)
  13. Sault Ste. Marie – 3011 (capacity – 3950)
  14. Oshawa – 2849 (capacity – 4205)
  15. Belleville – 2810 (capacity – 3257)
  16. Owen Sound – 2704 (capacity – 3983)
  17. Windsor – 2610 (capacity – 4307)
  18. Brampton – 2330 (capacity – 5000)
  19. Kingston – 2101 (capacity – 3379)
  20. Toronto – 1379 (capacity – 1617)
There was some discussion on NOOF about attendance stats and the accuracy of recording attendance numbers for those teams who played in non-home arenas (e.g., Ottawa and Toronto – played in the Corel Centre; Oshawa – played in a different rink at the beginning of the season d/t renovations/removal of mold spores.) StatsGuy included these numbers as if they were in the home arena.

NEXT UP
* Away Thursday night (2.17.2005) at Oshawa.
* At home Friday night (2.18.2005) vs Peterborough.
* At home Sunday afternoon (2.20.2005) vs Owen Sound.

Looking at StatsGuy’s model for predicting games, he has Ottawa beating Oshawa by three goals; Ottawa tying Peterborough, and possibly winning in OT; and Ottawa losing badly to Owen Sound, by at least two goals.

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