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December 16, 2006

Major Win Over Toronto: Ottawa 8 – Toronto 4

This was the 1st of 4 scheduled matches between these two teams both at the bottoms of their respective divisions. Toronto had 28 points coming into tonight’s game to Ottawa’s 26 but Ottawa has played 4 fewer games.

Before tonight’s game, we were asked to mark a moment of silence for the loss of Bob Gainey’s daughter Laura earlier this week. We sit across the ice from the visitor’s bench and I noticed that the St. Mike’s players were the first in the arena to get to their feet. Nice touch gentlemen.

Toronto's scratches for tonight: Kriss Grundmanis, Tyler Allen, Kaspars Daugavins, Kyler Neuber, Jason Cassidy and Jeff Barletta. Nepean native, Chris Carrozi started in net.

Ottawa scratches: Jesse Biduke, Jakub Vojta and Lukas Flueler. Brady Morrison started in net again.

Lines for tonight:
Lahey, Couture, McGinn
Alphonso, Linsday, Liscomb, until Liscomb was injured in the second period. Cimadamore moved up.
Cowie, Kiriakou, Kewin
Nesbitt, Ribeiro, Cimadamore until he was moved up, Lindsay did double duty after that.

Defensive pairings: Cuma – Joslin, Ryan – Gallea, Beard - Grimaldi

Ottawa scored 13 seconds into the game and never really looked back. We barely settled into our seats when McGinn backhanded the puck to Matt Lahey who went upstairs on Carozzi to score on the first shot of the game. Ottawa went up by two just before the period was half over when Jamie McGinn made a nice pass to Logan Couture who was right in front of the Toronto goalie. He didn’t stand a chance and Logan notched his 9th goal of the year. The closest Toronto came (since beginning the game even at ZERO!) was when Anthony Tapper got a weak goal on the short side of Morrison at 11:40 in the period. Right after that, Ottawa went on the powerplay but it was Toronto that had the better scoring chances – two breakaways – but they could not close on the short handed opportunities. Ottawa’s 2 powerplays in the period did not yield any goals. At the end of the first period, Ottawa was up by 1 and shots on goal were 14 – 7 in Ottawa’s favour.

The second period was a goalfest. Ottawa went on the powerplay early in the period with McGurk off for interference but the Barberpoles couldn’t put anything much together. I think they only managed one shot on goal for the two minutes advantage. But Ottawa did do pretty well at even strength. It started with Tyler Cuma drawing a penalty shot on a breakaway. He picked up the puck at centre ice, skated in on Carozza, deked right, drew the puck back and beat Carozza on the stick side for his second goal of the season (and his first penalty shot goal in the OHL!). Didja know he used to play forward? Ottawa had some serious puck luck on their side tonight a couple of times. One came shortly after Cuma’s goal. There was a scramble in front of Morrison and he lost sight of the puck. I’m not sure how it happened, but the puck ended up under him rather than in the net. Whew! A goal then would have put Toronto right back in this game. Instead, less than a minute later, Jamie McGinn scored his 18th of the year when he connected with Logan’s pass to the slot. Jordon Gallea got the other assist. That rounded out the goal scoring for the top line as each of the Crazy Eights had scored.

Later, in the defensive zone, Brett Liscomb blocked a shot with his leg or foot and was injured. He eventually left the bench at about the halfway mark and did not return for the rest of the game. The 67s then went up by 4 when the Crazy Eights struck again. This time it a powerplay goal from Matt Lahey with a one-timer from the circle. Assists went to Couture and McGinn. This is when Liscomb left the bench and Carozzi was pulled having let in 5 goals on 25 shots. Wayne Savage took over between the pipes.

While the Crazies were doing a whole lotta scoring, the team still needed some solid goalkeeping. At just over the halfway mark, Toronto had a great 2-on-1 scoring chance that Brady shut down! Then it was Ottawa’s turn for a 2-on-1 which they managed to convert. McGinn and Couture broke into the Toronto zone, McGinn centred the puck to Logan who hesitated just enough for Savage to go down and Logan just roofed it over him. Lahey got the other assist on that one. At this point this line had accumulated 12 points among the three of them. Not shabby at all.

At this point the score was 6 – 1 for Ottawa but Toronto still had some game in them. They got a couple of quick powerplay goals from Justin Donati and Matt Piva to pull within 3. But with 18 seconds left in the period, Shea Kewin restored the 4 goal lead when he planted himself practically in the blue paint and got the pass from Cowie. Tyler Cuma got the other assist.

The second period ended with the score 7 – 3 for Ottawa and shots on goal 29 – 18 for Ottawa.

Toronto certainly hadn’t given up and had a couple of scoring chances that Brady turned away. With over 6 minutes gone in the period, Joe Grimaldi caught Dustin Ekelman with his head down and hit him hard right in front of the Toronto bench. Ekelman was pretty hurt and remained on the ice for a while. Meanwhile, Toronto’s Troy Murray took exception at the hit and proceeded to take Joe on. It really wasn’t much of a set-to from what I could tell but I think one would give the call to Troy. Troy also got the call: 2 for instigating, 5 for fighting and a 10 misconduct just for good measure. Joe got 5 for fighting. Ekelman probably got the worst of the whole ordeal. He left the ice and did not put any weight on his left leg.

With 7 minutes to play Justin Donati scored unassisted for his second of the night on the powerplay. Ottawa came back 3 minutes later just to seal the deal with Julien Cimadamore getting his second OHL goal when he received a great pass from Alphonso and beat Savage cleanly. Beard got an assist on that one. Toronto suffered their second major injury when Matt Piva stumbled over Sean Ryan who was sprawled on the ice attempting to clear the puck. Both players were going for the loose puck but the Toronto bench thought that Sean should get called for something. Instead, the bench got called for all their calling. Toronto was still pretty dangerous short handed and Justin Donati just missed getting a hat trick in a losing cause.

The game finally ended with the score 8 – 4 for Ottawa with shots on goal 39 – 27 for Ottawa.

Stars for the game:

1. Jamie McGinn (goal and 4 assists)
2. Logan Couture (2 goals and 2 assists)
3. Tyler Cuma (goal on a penalty shot and an assist)

Hardest working 67: Matt Lahey (2 goals and an assist)

My Thoughts: Another game with an 8 – 4 score. The Crazy Eights line is really clicking and the team overall seems to be playing better. Nice to see a couple of goals from the other lines.

They still have some things to fix ‘cause allowing 4 goals against only works when you can score more – way more. The team needs to work on their PK and their PP remains a tad anemic. They were 1/7 on the powerplay whereas Toronto was 3/7.

This makes it three wins in a row and these two teams meet again in the Scotia Bank Place. Ottawa seems to struggle in that arena but with their momentum they should do well in the rematch.

This will be my last post of this year. I will be traveling out west to spend Christmas with the family. Happy Hanukah (it starts to day), celebrate winter solstice next week (for the druids among us), Merry Christmas and happy Kwanza. That should pretty much cover it for the next couple of weeks. Above all, have a happy and healthy whatever you find to celebrate.

See you next year!

December 10, 2006

Riding Herd on the Bulls! Ottawa 8 – Belleville 4

Tonight was the 5th match up of these two teams with Belleville having won all four previous matches: 3 games by one goal and the last one by 2 goals (the last goal being an empty netter). Belleville was first in the division coming into tonight’s game with 34 points. Ottawa was last with 24 points and two games in hand.

Belleville’s scratches for tonight: Paul Cianfrini, Marc Cantin, and Erik Caladi. Kevin Lalande started in net.

Ottawa scratches: Jesse Biduke, Jakub Vojta and Jake Fischer. Brady Morrison started in net again.

Lines for tonight:
Lahey, Couture, McGinn
Alphonso, Liscomb, Linsday
Cowie, Kiriakou, Kewin
Nesbitt, Ribeiro, Cimadamore

I tried to pay more attention to defensive pairings and from my notes, pretty much everyone was matched with everyone else at any given point in the game. Joslin, Grimaldi and Cuma seemed to get a lot of ice time (until Cuma was injured early in the third).

The game started quicker than Friday’s game with both team getting shots on net early. Both goalies made some good saves. By half way through the period the shots were 9 – 7 for Ottawa. Then Belleville took its first penalty of the game when Andrew Gibbons was called for interference off a faceoff at the Belleville blue line. Derek Joslin scored his second goal of the season and his first goal of the night when his shot from the point got past Moose Creek native Kevin Lalande. Matt Lahey and Joe Grimaldi got the assists and the teddy bears rained onto the ice (it was the teddy bear toss today). A minute and a half later, Alphonso had a great scoring chance as he muscled through the Bulls and got a backhand shot on the goalie – Lalande stopped it. Then with Tyler Donati off for unsportsmanlike conduct, Scott Cowie had a great chance breaking in on the Belleville goal but the shot was deflected by the defender. Finally, with 2:06 left in the period, Aaron Alphonso took a nice pass in the slot from the boards and snapped it past Lalande for the goal! Logan Couture and Jamie McGinn got the assists. The period ended with Ottawa continuing to play hard, make the hits and keep Belleville to the outside. Shots at the end of 20 were 14 – 12 in Ottawa’s favour.

Belleville started the second period putting pressure on Ottawa but it only lasted about a minute. Before we were two minutes into the period, Alphonso made a great play, skating hard and fast into the Belleville zone, around the net and centering the puck to Liscomb in the slot. SCOOOOORE!!!! That made it 3 – 0 for Ottawa on only 15 shots. Lalande was pulled and Mike Murphy was brought in.

Belleville was not down for the count. Taking advantage of sloppy defensive play in front of Brady less than 3 minutes later, Shawn Matthias beat Morrison with assists from Geoff Killing and Aaron Snow to bring Belleville within two. About two and a half minutes after that, Derek Joslin restored the 3 goal lead while Ottawa had the two man advantage with a wrist shot from the slot. McGinn and Couture got the assists. Then it was Belleville’s turn to score on the powerplay while Ottawa was in penalty trouble. First Cody Lindsay was called at 7:41 for hooking. Then 31 seconds later, Brodie Beard was called for hooking. That gave Belleville the two man advantage for about 1:29. Five seconds after the start of that penalty, Joslin got two for shooting the puck over the glass. This gave Belleville the 2 man advantage for a whole lotta time. Ottawa managed to keep Belleville off the board for Lindsay’s penalty. The bad news is that Andrew Gibbons scored on the powerplay (assists to Donati and Subban), the good news is that the goal came after Lindsay’s penalty expired so the goal actually retired Brody’s penalty. Ottawa did a really good job of keeping Belleville off the score sheet while killing Joslin’s penalty. Belleville was now within two of tying this game up. But that wouldn’t last long. With Belleville’s Jeff Leavitt off for slashing, Logan Couture tipped in Joslin’s one-timer from the blue line. Grimaldi got the assist. Ottawa got a 4-goal lead when Cody Lindsay got the rebound past Murphy with about 5 minutes left in the period. Assists were given to Alphonso and I-just-can’t-say-his-name-enough Derek Joslin! The period saw 6 goals scored 3 on the powerplay and 3 at even strength. The score was 6 – 2 for Ottawa with shots on goal 26 – 24 for Ottawa.

The Bulls came out bullish, pressured Ottawa early in the third period and were rewarded with an early goal. A rebound bounced off an Ottawa defender right onto Lalonde’s stick who had the whole net to hit – which he did. This made the game 6 – 3. Tyler Cuma took a big hit behind his net. He tried to skate off but he didn’t make it to the bench. We couldn’t see what happened but he did leave the bench for the dressing room later in the period on his own strength before the period was over. 33 seconds after the first goal, Belleville planned to make a game of it with their 4th goal of the afternoon. It was Shawn Matthias with assists from Aaron Snow and Geoff Killing. Belleville kept up the efforts for the period but Ottawa came up with the goals. At 8:34, Brett Liscomb snapped a fast wrist shot from the face off circle for Ottawa’s 4th powerplay goal of the evening. Lindsay and Grimaldi got the assists. Then, with 8 minutes left to play, Shea Kewin notched his 6th goal of the season on a great heads-up play by Cowie. Scott skated into the Belleville zone, pulled up sharp at the circle and let ‘er fly to the net. Kewin was there for the rebound and got it past Murphy. Kiriakou got the assist. That would be all the scoring for the night. The Bulls were mighty frustrated and one of the Belleville players thought it would be a good idea to take this out on rookie Cimadamore. There was a rather large group hug going on and Tyler Donati came out with the 4 minute award. This was with 2:55 left in the game and Ottawa cruised to the win.

Final score: 8 – 4 Ottawa with shots on goal even at 38.

Again, it was a starry night in Ottawa:

1. Derek Joslin (2 goals – 2 assists)
2. Arron Alphonso (goal and 2 assists)
3. Logan Couture (goal and 2 assists)

Hardest working 67: Brett Liscombe (2 goals)

My Thoughts: Yee-ha! That was a sweet win over the division leaders. 4 powerplay goals on 8 opportunities, Belleville held to 1 powerplay goal on 4 opportunities. 6 points from the defensive ranks (4 for Joslin and 2 assists for Grimaldi). Some really good saves from Brady. Goals from the secondary and solid play from the entire bench. It was a good effort to watch and if they can keep this up, they can battle their way back into playoff contention. There are only 4 points separating 6th and 10th spot. What a difference from last weekend!!

Well done gentlemen. Onwards and upwards!!!

Go 67s Go!

December 08, 2006

Ottawa Wins This Battle: 5 – 0!

Tonight was the first of four scheduled meetings between these two clubs. Ottawa came in off a 4 game losing streak. Brampton came in on a two game winning streak, playing 6-4-0-0 in their last 10 to Ottawa’s 3-6-0-1.

Windsor scratches: Stryncl, Dale and Seymour.

Ottawa scratches: Gallea, Fisher and initially Kewin but due to Lahey’s last minute illness, Kewin was in. Brady Morrison started in net

Lines for tonight (after some initial shuffling about):
Alphonso, Couture, McGinn
Kewin, Liscomb, Linsday
Cowie, Kiriakou, Nesbitt
Biduke,Ribeiro, Cimadamore

Lost track of the defensive pairings. For some reason I haven’t been paying attention lately. Short attention span I guess.

Well tonight Ottawa started with a jump and kept it going all game. The 67s had Brampton pretty much pinned in their own zone for most of the first half of the period. Brampton didn’t even register their first shot on goal until almost 11 minutes into the period. Ottawa got on the board at the 10:34 mark on a quick play off the face off. Couture got the puck to Grimaldi at the point who one timed it to the net. McGinn tipped it in off the cross bar to score. About a minute later, Vojta was in deep in the Brampton corner, fought for and got the puck and tried to stuff it on the short side on the wrap-around. Kewin was there for the rebound and scored on Killeen. Liscomb was credited with the assist. Then it was Brampton’s turn to create a bit of pressure but Brady made the saves and the team cleared the puck out of danger. With just over two minutes left in the period, Cody Lindsay caught the Brampton overager Matt Auffrey with his head down and dumped him just inside the Ottawa blue line. It was a solid hit from a kid who is shorter by 6 inches, lighter by close to 40 pounds and 4 years younger. Auffrey felt it. Brampton received its first penalty of the game with 2:04 left to play. Ottawa thought it had scored its third goal (and first in a while on the PP) but the play had been whistled for another Brampton penalty. On the ensuing 5-on-3 it sure looked like a goal but apparently the shot hit the post. Finally, Logan Couture scored on a relatively soft shot that beat Killeen. Grimaldi and McGinn got the assists. And that’s how the period ended: Ottawa up 3 – 0 with shots on goal 14 – 12 in Ottawa’s favour.

Ottawa started the period with 25 seconds left in the second Brampton penalty but was unable to do anything dangerous in the short time. That was quickly followed by another chance on the PP but it was a bad bad PP. They couldn’t get anything going and actually allowed Brampton a short-handed scoring chance. Then it was Brampton’s turn with the man advantage but Ottawa did a good job of keeping them off the board. By the time the period was half over, Brampton had managed 8 shots on goal to Ottawa’s 1. Brady did what he had to do. With Shea Kewin doing time for tripping, Logan Couture picked up on a Brampton turnover, skated in on Killeen and popped it past him on the backhand for a beauty short handed goal! Specialty teammate McGinn got the assist. But wait – there’s more excitement before this one’s over. With 2:46 left in the period, Grimaldi was called for tripping in his defensive zone. He was pretty agitated about something and on his way to the penalty box, he tried to chat with the ref who was chatting with the timekeeper. A linesman kept Grimaldi moving to the sin-bin. There was much discussing going on and I thought that Joe might be getting some extra time for his attempt at unauthorized banter with a zebra. But wait... the puck….it was sitting at center ice waiting for some attention. What could that be about? A penalty shot? What for? Finally, it was revealed. Did you know that it was illegal to throw a stick at a player and the punishment is a penalty shot? Neither did I!! The stick was on the ice and apparently Joe had managed to move it (I think he kicked it) in the direction of a Brampton player who had the puck. So kids, don’t do this. Cody Hodgson was given the penalty shot as he was the player with the puck when it happened. He skated in on Brady. Brady moved out of the net to meet him. It was tension at the Ok corral. Brady backed up with the advance of Cody. Cody got in deep and tried to go to Brady’s left but the keeper kept the net! A save! And the home team fans go wild!! Ottawa went on the finish the penalty kill. With just 19 seconds left in the frame, Brampton once again got the call for something bad but Ottawa did not score before the buzzer.

After 40 minutes the score was 4 – 0 for Ottawa with shots on goal: 24 apiece.

Again Ottawa started the period on the powerplay with 1:41 remaining from the last Brampton infraction. It was not pretty. For a moment there Brampton actually came to life and they pressed Ottawa in their own zone. No damage done by either team. Then, much away from the play, Kewin and Chabot went at it not far from the Brampton bench. Have no idea what set it off. It was more of a dance than a real tilt. Call it a draw. Both players got 5 for fighting and Kewin earned two extra minutes for roughing. Biduke joined him in the joint for the two minutes. A mere 23 seconds into the penalty, Ottawa scored its second short handed goal. Jakub Vojta fired one in from the point that beat Killeen. It beat Jakub too. For a while there I don’t think he realized that he had scored. Couture and McGinn got the assists. From here to the end of the period, Ottawa had a couple of great scoring chances but Killeen made equally great saves. For his part, Brady had to make a couple of good saves to preserve the shut-out. That would be his second shut-out of the season. Well done Brady!

The final numbers: 5 – 0 Ottawa with shots on goal even at 33.

All stars shining brightly in Ottawa:

1. Logan Couture (2 goals – 2 assists)
2. Jamie McGinn (goal and 3 assists)
3. Brady Morrison (all saves – 33 of ‘em)

Hardest working 67: Jakub Vojta - a goal and an assist.

My Thoughts: Pretty good effort by the team tonight. It was really good to see them still trying hard even when they had the big lead (unlike another Ottawa team that will remain nameless here). It was Vojta’s last game with the 67s before he heads home to the Czech Republic to try out for the national junior team. The rookies continue to be fun to watch. All four lines saw some decent ice time. You can see that Logan is building back up to what we were used to seeing. While it is a huge disappointment that he didn’t get the call for the Canadian junior team, the time off will undoubtedly help him get back up to full form. Kewin certainly took advantage of his unexpected opportunity to play tonight. After initially being a healthy scratch, he had to dress at the last moment to replace an ailing Lahey. He scored a goal and made many other good plays to contribute to tonight’s win.

See you Sunday! Don’t forget your teddybears!

December 03, 2006

Brutal Finish to a Brutal Weekend: Windsor 4 – Ottawa 1

Sorry for no report on Friday’s game. Had a really busy week at work and just didn’t have any juice left by the time I got home after 6:00 on Friday. Was sleeping before the game was over.

Windsor scratches: MacArthur, Todd, Kurtz and Nolan.

Ottawa scratches: Gallea, Ribeiro and Fisher. Brady Morrison started in net

Lines for tonight:
Lahey, Couture, McGinn
Liscomb, Kiriakou, Alphonso with Linsday moving up in the third period
Biduke, Cowie, Kewin
Cimadamore, Nesbitt, Lindsay with Kiriakou moving down in the third

Defensive pairings changed quite a bit during the game from what I could tell but I could be wrong, I just stopped noting it along the way.

Quickly to the game summary. Ya know, sometimes it’s hard to know what to write about and tonight is one of those times for me. The first penalty of the game was called on Matt Lahey when he hit the Windsor player just as he turned to protect the puck. Morrison made a really good save on the first Windsor PP when he deflected a shot from Bailey right from the slot. While still short handed, new comer Scott Cowie made a great effort bring the puck into the Windsor zone to create a scoring chance and draw a penalty. Ottawa couldn’t convert when they had the advantage on this or their next PP despite a number of great chances. And that would be the pattern for the afternoon. They hit pretty much everything but the net most of the time and when they did aim it right, the goalie was there to stop it. Just before halfway through the first period, Ottawa got into penalty trouble when Kiriakou was called for hooking and less than 15 seconds later, Liscomb was called for high sticking. On the ensuing 5-on-3, Windsor scored on both halves. Keaton Turkiewicz notched the first goal which was followed 36 seconds later with a goal by Adam Henrique.

Just after the halfway mark of the period, Brett Liscomb laid out a Windsor player in his own zone with a perfectly legit and great hip check. The Windsor team didn’t like it and Cory McGillis took the time to make that clear to Brett. Cory is listed at 6”1’ and 214 pounds. Brett is listed at a generous 5”9’ and 186 pounds. There should be the Gulliver rule: when one opponent is much bigger than the other guy, the other guy should be able to bring in back-up without a penalty. Anyway, Cory earned himself a 4 minute timeout for his efforts and I don’t think Brett was the least bit phased by the display. Windsor did a really good job during the 4 minute PK and again, Ottawa could not inflict any scoring damage with the advantage. Ottawa also got a 54 second 5-on-3 advantage and the result was the same.

After the first 20 it was Windsor up by 2, both on the PP, with on 6 shots on net in all. Ottawa was zip after 11 shots on goal.

Ottawa started the second period with 43 seconds in their powerplay but couldn’t make anything out of it. Windsor scored their third goal when Brady Morrison misplayed a shot and the puck ended on the stick of Ryan Baldwin who had the whole net to aim for. He didn’t miss. Ottawa just couldn’t get anything going after that. Add bad luck to that and it pretty much sums up the period. Their luck was so bad that, one of the times they actually got one past Englange, the puck went through his legs and out the other side without going in the net! No puck luck there for the 67s!

The 67s finally got off the PP schneid late in the period when Logan Couture got his own rebound and snapped it past Englange. Linemates Lahey and McGinn got the assists.

Brett Liscomb seemed to be really trying to mix it up and get something going. At the very end of the period, with a Windsor player behind his own net just letting the dying seconds tick down, Brett was in front of Englange and making quick forays into the blue paint. Englange reacted by hitting Brett’s stick. It was hilarious to watch – almost like a kid poking a stick through the fence to get the reaction of the neighbor’s crabby dog. Now, had there been an altercation, with Englange clocking in at 6”5’, Brett would easily have qualified for the aforementioned Gulliver rule.

At the end of the second period, Windsor 3 and Ottawa 1. Shots: Ottawa 25 and Windsor 9!

Either Windsor played really well or Ottawa played really poorly. I haven’t decided. But Windsor really fore checked the crap out of Ottawa while Ottawa still stuck with the chip ‘n chase even though most of the time they couldn’t catch up in time to get much going with it. Ottawa had a really good scoring chance when Shea Kewin came around the net and tried to stuff the puck in on the short side. But Englange was right on top of it to stop it. With just over 5 minutes left to play, Ryan Baldwin put the game away with help from Craig Voakes and Cory McGillis. Just after that, Kewin and Baldwin set up to dance after Shea took a stick in the face. It wasn’t much of a tilt but Kewin did get Baldwin to the ice first.

At the final buzzer it was Windsor 4 and Ottawa 1. Shots were 32 to 21 in Ottawa’s favour.

Windsor sweeps the three stars (sure can't call the Team 1200 guys homers):

1. Goalie Andrew Englage (31 saves – and some of them pretty good ones too)
2. Ryan Baldwin (2 goals)
3. Craig Voakes (4 assists)

Hardest working 67: Rookie Cody Lindsay.

My Thoughts: No way to paint a pretty picture on this weekend. Ottawa came away with 1 point out of a possible 6 against teams that, on paper anyways, shouldn’t have beaten the team so soundly. Ottawa was outscored 18 to 8 on the weekend. And most of the Ottawa scoring came from the same line.

Power play: 1 in 13 chances. ‘nuff said.

Face offs – no numbers but it didn’t look so good.

The rookies are playing really well. Defense – not so much. I must say that I saw some really great plays by Brody Beard – a couple of really good hustles to the puck.

Brett is like Brad Bonello, pesky but with way less drama. He really works hard out there and is ready to mix it up with anyone.

The reffing today was plain old lousy. That’s not why the 67s lost but it was lousy just the same. Right at the beginning, McGinn laid a big elbow on a Windsor player right in front of the ref and there wasn’t a call. In the third period, new guy Cowie was tripped twice before anyone with a stripe called anything. Refs Holdsworth and Bolibruck should be charged for the best spectator seats in the house.

We are Sens ticket holders as well as for the 67s and it wasn’t all that long ago most were despairing over the state of the team, calling for changes in the coaching, GM, roster, and wondering if the team would even make the playoffs. But the Senators managed to start pulling it together as a team, getting great goal tending and beating teams they weren’t supposed to beat. Lots of chatting on the discussion boards on who the real fans are.

Well, the same could be said here of the 67s. It’s getting pretty late into the season for a turn around and they will have to start stringing a whole lotta wins together if they are going to make the playoffs. And the seasonal chatter has already started on whether Killer and his team still have what it takes to lead young men to hockey success. But as many said on the Sens network, a fan is a fan even when the going is tough. Especially when the going is tough. It’s disappointing to see the attendance dropping and to notice that those of us that are there are a lot quieter. Win or lose, we will be there cheering this team on.

Go 67s Go!