CONFERENCE FINALS Game 3 – Ottawa at Peterborough (25-Apr) – Ottawa Hangs On To Win 4-3, Now Leads Series 3-0!

67s win 4-3 over the Petes. See OHL game summary here. See the 67s’ playoff page here.

IN THE NEWS
From SLAM! Sports, 67's edge Petes. From the Ottawa Citizen, 67's do it the hard way [Sub req].

From the Ottawa Sun Barre Campbell writes, Petes petering out. From Killer (who, I’m sure, was not very happy with the way the game ended):

"We had the game pretty much under control, but then we started to take a stream of trips to the penalty box and gave them a life," said 67's coach Brian Kilrea. "If it wasn't for some great saves, we'd still be out there playing right now."

And from Bickell, a decided fan-nonfavourite:

Petes fans not only had to suck up another loss last night. They also had to watch 67's winger Bryan Bickell, who took shots at the city of Peterborough before the series, score the first two goals of the game.

"The fans here don't like me very much," said Bickell. "But when the fans are yelling at me, it pumps me up in a way. It gets me going."

From the Peterborough Examiner Mike Davies writes, Petes late rally falls just short. From Staal, one of the few Petes working last night:

“We didn’t play our best at the beginning of the game,” Staal said. “We know that. We just tried to pick it up and get the momentum again. Hopefully we can take it one game at a time and try to take the series.”

And from Coach Todd:

“We can’t belittle the fact they played well and have taken advantage of their opportunities,” Todd said. “We made critical mistakes at the end of periods pinching and getting trapped on odd-man rushes. It’s a little bit of over anxiousness and perhaps inexperience. In order to be successful, you have to eliminate those errors. We have to learn from the mistakes we’ve made.”

After reading about all the crap going on in the London/Kitchener series, especially between Coaches DeBoer and Hunter, it makes me appreciate Killer and Coach Todd all the more.

From Peterborough This Week Mike Lacey writes, Petes in a huge playoff series hole.

And I had to re-post this bit from the 67s’ BB. Talk about some loyal fans! About 20 people met the team at the airport after the game last night. From poster Go 67’s 2005:

Thanks to all that came out last night. Brad Bonello was welcomed by the screams of two young girls and a big poster. He stopped to read and sign it as well as pose for pictures with them - they were in heaven!.
Somebody was seen giving a puck to Danny - what a nice gesture. [Sic]

More as it’s published . . .

PRE-GAME NEWS
The game was broadcast on radio (TEAM 1200/Dave Schreiber and AJ Jakubec) and television (Rogers Television 22/Lee Versage and Scott MacArthur; Cogeco/Bob Akins and Terry Doyle). Some notes:

*Coach Todd has mixed up the line matches. He’s putting Reddox/Ryder/Kaleta against Akeson/Petruzalek/Kaspar.

LINE UP
*Forwards: McGinn, Talbot, Hulit; Bickell, Bonello, Mancari; Akeson, Petruzalek, Kaspar; VanderVeeken, Ouellette, Alphonso.
*Defensive pairings: Colbert, Joslin; Staubitz, Van Herpt; Lawrance, Beard.
*Starting in goal: Battochio, Guadagnolo on the bench.
*Scratches: Reid (inj-ankle), Lahey (inj-conc), Spezza, Kiriakou, and Jarram (all healthy).

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS.
Wow. I didn’t think that the 67s were going to hang on to the win. They did a 180 after Petruzalek’s 4 minute penalty, allowing the Petes to roar back with 3 unanswered goals in the second half of the third period. While they weren’t able to get the SO for Battochio, they come away with the win, and more importantly: a very impressive series lead. Wow.

First Period. The Petes came out stronger than they have previously – got a few shots on net. But after an extended break to fix a broken pane of glass, Ottawa got their act together.

For the 3rd straight game Ottawa got on the scorer’s sheet first with a penalty. (Van Herpt for high sticking.) Hulit got a great SH chance when he stole the puck off a Peterborough player who was attempting to bring the puck out from behind his net. The Petes were having some trouble with the PP, and iced the puck a couple of times eliciting a few groans from the crowd.

Battochio was in fine form tonight – making his customary awe-inspiring saves. But, MacDougald was doing his thing too down at the other end. He did a pretty good job stopping a few shots by Mancari and Bickell.

And what a way to end the period – Bickell scored with 19 seconds left. The 67s had just killed off a penalty to boot. It was a long shot from the point, it hit the cross bar, and went into the net.

SOG at the end of the period were 19 for Ottawa and 11 for Peterborough. The 67s were up 1-0.

Second Period. The Petes started playing with more urgency in the second, getting more SOG and keeping the puck in the 67s end.

Alphonso was given a 4 minute penalty, and right away the Petes thought they scored but it was waved off by Cox. Coach Todd requested Cox contact ‘headquarters,’ which he did, but it was still a no goal. This led to chants of ‘we want a ref’ by the fans. Hulit and Talbot both worked hard during the PK, and the 67s were able to get through it unscathed.

Bickell scored his second of the game on a PP, a great pass by Mancari after he corralled the rebound. This put the 67s up 2-0.

And with just under a minute left in the period, Talbot scored to make it 3-0. A nice pass by Hulit to McGinn, followed by a great pass by McGinn to Talbot.

SOG at the end of the period were 9 for Ottawa and 10 for Peterborough. The 67s were up 3-0.

Third Period. The Petes were given a good chance early in the third with a PP, but were not able to capitalize. Battochio continued making some incredible saves – sprawling on his belly.

Kaspar scored a wrap-around goal to make it 4-0 for the 67s. It was a terrible goal for the Petes, with 3 defencemen just standing around, nobody forechecking Kaspar. He was left alone to skate behind the Petes’ net to MacDougald’s left and slip it in on his right.

And then Petruzalek took a really bad penalty, truly deserved, for hitting Kaleta from behind. He was given 4 minutes.

After a Petes rush to the net and save by Battochio, a scuffle ensued resulting in more penalties. Staubitz was called for cross checking Tardiff, but Morrison was called, negating a potential 5-on-3. The 67s were starting to unravel, doing some really dumb stuff.

The Petes finally capitalized – a PP goal by Hendrikx, who shot from the point (4-1).

More roughing penalties were given to Mancari, Talbot, and Bickell for Ottawa, and Hunter and Kaleta for Peterborough. The Petes (Staal) scored quickly to make it 4-2. The Petes really turned it on at this point.

Staal scored one more, their first 5-on-5 goal of the series. He was able to get his own rebound. The score was 4-3, with approximately 5 minutes left to go, and the fans were going nuts.

The Petes pulled MacDougald with over a minute to go, and put out six attackers. The 67s held on, and finally Mancari was able to get the puck down the ice and into the Petes’ net, but it wasn’t registered as an EN.

Final SOG were 32 for Ottawa and 38 for Peterborough. The 67s were 1/6 on the PP, the Petes were 2/9. The 67s held on to win 4-3.

SCORING
OTTAWA
1, Bickell, (3) (Mancari, Bonello), 19:41
2, Bickell, (4) (Mancari, Staubitz), 15:02 (PP)
2, Talbot, (7) (McGinn, Hulit), 19:09
3, Kaspar, (5) , 07:22

PETERBOROUGH
3, Hendrikx, (6) (Ryder, Kaleta), 10:39 (PP)
3, Staal, (4) , 12:29 (PP)
3, Staal, (5) (Hunter, Flood), 14:54

THREE STARS
The OHL three stars were: (1) Bickell, (2) Staal, and (3) Battochio.

The TEAM 1200 three stars were: (1) Bickell, (2) Staal, and (3) Talbot.

REFFING
Cox.

ATTENDANCE
3879.

NEXT UP
GAME 4 – Wed Apr 27 at OTT, 7:00 p.m.

*GAME 5 – Fri Apr 29 at PET, 7:00 p.m.

*GAME 6 – Sun May 1 at OTT, 2:00 p.m.

*GAME 7 – Mon May 2 at PET, 7:00 p.m.

*if necessary