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February 18, 2006

Dog-gone! Ottawa: 8 – 3 Over Mississauga

Being an IT professional, I really value the idea of reuse (plus I need the gift of time) so with full credit going to the inspired work of #1 67’s fan for the 67’s fan discussion board, here’s the set up for tonight: http://www.ottawa67s.com/67s/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=2482 I could not possibly do a better job.

Didn’t pick up the scratches – was busy being social.

First Period: For the third straight game that I can remember, Killer did not start with his veterans. McGinn, Couture and Alphonso started with Ryan and Reid on defense. Message here?? Tonight’s ref was Carman Cox and he sure liked the sound of his whistle but, to be fair, the IceDogs had the 3rd highest PIMS coming into tonight’s game (1324 compared to Ottawa’s 1063 which is the least in the league if you believe the stats on the OHL site. That’s a difference of over 4 hours for the same number of games played but really only averages out to over 4 minutes/game.) It took Mississauga less than two minutes to get into trouble when Captain Cody was called for hooking. Killer rolled three lines during the PP but, despite a good effort, none of them could bring it home. In the first 4 and a half minutes of play, Ottawa managed to get 5 SOG to none for Missy. Ottawa got another chance real soon when Michael Swift was tagged for a cross checking offense. On this PP I think that the Dogs actually had more SOGs than Ottawa. This was not looking too promising.

Finally, just before halfway through the period, Chris Hulit put us on the board when Liscomb shoveled it to him in front of the net. Brody Beard got an assist on it – I think he actually picked up a rebound to keep the puck in play and allow the nice set up by Brent.

I didn’t see what started the whole thing but at about 14 minutes into the game Shea Kewin and Brent Oliphant mixed it up along the boards behind the play. There were more attempts at damage than actual damage – too close to call for me. When Cox sorted it all out, Shea got 2 minutes for fighting and Oliphant got 2 minutes for being the instigator, 4 minutes for fighting and another 10 minutes for misconduct (at least that’s how it’s played out on the score sheet on the OHP web site). Again, we were unable to convert the man advantage.

A couple of minutes later (16:23 for those who prefer precision), Ottawa went up by two when Arron Alphonso dug the puck from the boards on the right side behind Lobsinger and got it to Jamie McGinn in front who scored his 20th goal of the season! Logan Couture got an assist on the goal.

Mississauga was not packing it in. They got the first PP goal 20 seconds into what might have been a stupid penalty by Grimaldi. I didn’t see all the action so perhaps Joe was trying to make a statement about some perceived or real disrespect for Bat Man. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. The play was around the Ottawa net and was essentially over when Joe felt it necessary to push an IceDog around. I’ll let others fill in the blanks for me. In any event, the ensuing PP goal by Oskar Osala put the Dogs back into the game. Joshua Day and Michael Swift assisted.

At the end of the first period, Ottawa led 2 – 1 with shots on goal 14 – 12 for the good guys. (That would be Ottawa for anyone who might be confused – I am unapologetically biased).

Second Period: This is where the game turned. While I could not prove this statistically (I really do have a life other than junior hockey) it is my impression that the second period is not generally the best time of day for our guys. But tonight, that was not the case. Some might argue the ref was the 6th man for Ottawa but I’m not so sure. Sometimes teams, including coaches, do stupid things. OK – Follow this closely – there will be a test:

7:08: Vojta assessed his second penalty of the game for clipping. The Dogs take the advantage.
8:42: Nathan Martine gets nabbed for interference. Play is 4 on 4
9:08: Ottawa penalty is over. Play is 5 on 4.
9:53: ish. Elgin Reid lays a check on a Dog along the boards (didn’t get the number). Missy Coach Greg Gilbert thinks that Elgin did a bad thing (no consensus among the season ticket holders around me). Gilbert thinks it necessary to voice his opinion loudly and at length. Cox really does not appreciate this armchair-refereeing from the bench and assesses Missy 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct (otherwise known as the “thanks but I don’t want your help” penalty). Gilbert is now really sure that he is on the side of angels and continues to offer advice to Cox. Dho! So Cox reinforces his earlier “thanks but I don’t want your help” perspective and adds a delay of game penalty on top of it. The penalty box is now seriously crowded. I was expecting the Fire Marshall to declare an over occupancy violation at any moment.
10:42 Nathan’s penalty is over without any damage. According to my read of the score sheet, the delay of penalty kicks in. Play continues at 5 on 4 for Ottawa.
11:11 Grimaldi fires one from the blue line and, according the Team 1200 boys, the shot rang off both posts and lands nicely on Logan Couture’s stick and he makes no mistake of sending it to the back of the net. This retires the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Ottawa is still with the man advantage as the delay of game penalty is still in play.
11:50: Nathan Martine gets called for a 4-minute high sticking infraction (on Alphonso??)
12:33: Julian Talbot finally scores a goal from in front of the crease (having been robbed earlier a few times!) from a nice feed from Brent Liscomb. Chris Hulit earned an assist on the goal. This retires the delay of game penalty.
14:30: Chris makes a nice centering pass to Brent Liscomb who is parked in front of the net and makes it count. Talbot gets an assist. This retires Martine’s penalty. Are we back to even play? I lost track (actually we are back to even play. I think. Who has the libretto to go with this opera?)
15:35: Sean Ryan gets called for holding. We are on the PK.
16:41: In what turns out to be the play of the game, Logan gets the puck on a turn-over in the Ottawa zone, carries it down to the Missy zone and, while holding off the defender with one hand and falling down, passes the puck to Jamie McGinn who is in the perfect spot to get is past a helpless Lucas Lobsinger for one of the nicest short-handed goals I’ve seen in a very long time.
17:35: Sean is out of jail.
18:48: Pat Lahey is called for hooking. Ottawa on the PK.
19:15: Danny is called on a delay of game when he freezes the puck on the post. Players all over the place but for some reason Cox considers Danny’s action unreasonable. I have a theory – recall the Elgin hit earlier and the coach’s opinion. Perhaps it can make an impact. Hmmm. Ottawa now down 2 men.
19:22: Jordan Owens gets credit for the second Mississauga goal of the night. Danny didn’t stand a chance. Jadran Beljo and Vladimire Svacina earn the assists. This retires Pat’s penalty.
20:00: this fiasco is finally over!

End of 40 minutes: 6 – 2 Ottawa. Shots on Goal: 34 – 20 for Ottawa

Snap Quiz! At 12:10 in the period, how many players did each team have on the ice? (answer – your guess is as good as mine – you pass)

Third Period: I stopped taking notes in this period. So I’m going from the game sheet and my memory. So much for the theory about refs putting their whistles away in the third period. I am not going to list all the infractions – there are 18 in total listed on the game sheet. Here’s what matters: five minutes into the period, on a PP, Jakob Vojta got his second goal of the season when he fired one past Lobsinger from the blue line. The Dogs replied with a full-strength goal at 11:10 when the puck went off Beard (?) and got past Danny. 25 seconds later Jamie got his first OHL hat trick with help from his good buddies Couture and Alphonso.

Final score: 8 – 3 with shots on goal 41 – 33 – both numbers in Ottawa’s favour.

Thoughts: Hmmm – what to say. Ottawa finally beat Mississauga. If the Mississauga coach hadn’t mouthed off so much in the second period, I think this would have been a much different game. The Dogs had some really good play and their goaltender did a good job of keeping it from being much worse. It’s good to get the 2 points but I would not say this was one of Ottawa’s best efforts. It certainly will not be enough to keep the Rangers at bay on Sunday.

And now about the Ottawa fans, I’ve been bringing a hat-trick hat to pretty much every game this year just waiting to throw it on the ice. I was beginning to despair that I wouldn’t get a chance. Yay for Jamie getting his first OHL hat trick! I finally got to throw my hat on the ice! Although I didn’t see it, it appears that only one other fan kept the faith. Harrumph! More hats folks. I got mine back and gave it to a big McGinn fan to get it signed.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star: Jamie McGinn (3 goals)
Second Star: Logan Couture (goal and 3 assists)
Third Star: Brent Liscomb (goal and 2 assists)

Hardest Working 67: Julian Talbot

Cheers!

2 comments:

Sid said...

Oh Man! What a game to miss... And to miss the hat trick! We've been carting that darn hat all season and sure enough, the game we miss ... (I'm glad you were able to through yours -- I was wondering if you did!)

I caught Couture's goal on the local news -- that was really something.

Sounds like a very spirited game!

Let's hope the boys play w/ the same zeal on Sunday vs the Rangers.

Great recap Blitzen!!!

Sid said...

Um... that would throw (not through). :)