The 67s earned their second win of the pre-season against a divisional rival with their 4-1 win over the Frontenacs.
Forward Combos:
Smith-Martindale-Nesbitt
Lindsay-Toffoli-Schinkelshoek
Graovac-Merrett-Carnevale
Janes-Anderson-
D-pairs:
Harwick-Gibbons
Birkhoff-Ceci
Zanetti-Hanes
Goal: Mrazek
Scratches: Nigro (just returned from Blues camp), Sointu (Tampa camp), Demers (injured - knee), Cowick (injured - shoulder), Cuma (Wild camp), Perugini (just returned from Coyotes camp).
The Fronts were also missing an impressive list of players: Doherty, Moon, Lovatsis, Werek and Lashoff. But they had their veteran goalie, Mavric Parks in net.
Aside from the odd lapse and resting from time to time, Ottawa dominated pretty much all of the game. This was largely due to Kingston's penchant for attracting the attention of the referees who were inclined to call the game rather tightly. There's no game sheet and my notes are pretty messy but it would be safe to say that the Fronts spent the lion's share of time defending against the PP. And they did a pretty good job. The 67s only got one PPG out of the many many chances they had. It came with 20 seconds left in Ottawa's first PP of the game. Ryan Martindale with assists going to Dalton Smith and Ryan Hanes.
Despite having many more chances and outshooting the Frontenacs 19-4, they were unable to do more damage in the first period.
Kingston tied it up early in the second period on the powerplay. I didn't get the player names for Kingston but it was a rebound that was picked up and shot past Mrazek.
The 67s seemed a tad flat for the first half of the second period but managed to get it back together for a pair of goals. First it was Andrew Merrett getting what would be the GWG. Assists went to Jon Carnevale and Tyler Graovac.
This was followed by the the prettiest goal of the night when Dalton Smith broke across the Kingston blue line and fed the puck to Thomas Nesbitt who beat veteran Mavrick Parks topshelf. Cody Ceci got the other assist.
The game was pretty much salted away in the third period with a goal from Cody Lindsay assisted by Tyler Toffloi and Andrew Merret.
Things got testy between the teams a few times. Pieter Schinkelshoek took umbrage when Codi Ceci was drilled face-first into the boards (I didn't get the number of the Kingston player). The ensuing fight resulted in both Pieter and his opponent getting the gate for the rest of the game. Not much later, there was another set-to that resulted in Andrew Cloutier and Kaine Geldart being ejected and another Kingston player sitting in the box. Then, as the game was winding down (all these shenanigans took place in the third period), Thomas Nesbitt was ejected.
Good thing the game was almost over - it may have ended up with the two goalies glaring at each other across the ice.
The final score was 4 - 1 Ottawa with shots 48 - 22 for Ottawa.
Random Thoughts:
- Demers, Nigro, Zanette and Perugini are back from their respective camps. Demers is injured, Nigro wasn't dressed and Perugini may not have just returned to Ottawa earlier in the day.
- You can see the improvements over the first couple of games against Gatineau. The team just needed more time. The passing was crisper, the positioning was better, they played really well in front of Mrazek.
- Speaking of our newest goalie, he sure likes to play the puck. Always makes me nervous. Despite not seeing a lot of traffic, he played really well (enough to qualify as first star). He made some dandy saves.
- Zanetti left the ice late in the third period. I didn't hear an announcement. Hope he's not injured.
- Cody Ceci is good now; he's only going to get better - much better.
More Pictures:
Update: Just found this clip on youtube. It clarifies a few items: Smith hit the cross-bar and Nesbitt buried the rebound on that sweet goal. And it was Froats that Schinkelshoek took on. Video courtesy of Frontenacs TV.
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