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September 28, 2009

News From Camps

Logan Couture was sent to the Worcester Sharks last week. Here's the news from the San Jose Sharks. McGinn, Staubitz and Joslin are still hanging in there right to the end (16 forwards and 10 defensemen still on the roster although according to the Worcester site, 3 more plaeyers were released yesterday). Couture and former 67s Wil Colbert both scored in the baby sharks pre-season win over the Hartford Wolfpack.

Former Ottawa 67s goalie Danny Battochio looks like he made the Peoria Rivermen (AHL). When I briefly chatted with him earlier, he had signed with the Rapid City Rush of the Central Hockey League but had a tryout with the Rivermen. Here's the latest news from the Rivermen...check the roster to see Danny as one of the two goalies left.

September 27, 2009

Opening Weekend One to Forget

The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds is the hottest team in the league right now having won all 4 starts so far including a come-from-behind overtime victory over the 67s last Friday in Sault Ste. Marie. PPG's against were the 67s downfall last week and Perugini was peppered with 53 shots.

Ottawa 67'sHead to Head going into the gameSault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
1-1-1-0 3 pointsRecord4-0-0-0 8 points
5th EasternConference - Rank1st Western
10 GF16 
11 GA10 
1-1-1-0P104-0-0-0
(2/13) 15.4PP%(8/28) 28.6
(6/17) 64.7PK%(4/24) 83.3


Top Guns
Ottawa 67'sSault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
Nesbitt (3-2-5)Cooper (3-2-5)
Smith (4-0-4)Cousins (3-2-5)
Martindale (1-2-3)Beukeboom (0-5-5)
Birkhoff (0-2-2)Quesnele (1-3-4)
Sointu (0-2-2)Archibald (0-4-4)


Forward Combos:
Lindsay, Martindale, Nesbitt
Smith, Toffoli, Sointu (starters)
Graovac, Merrett, Carnevale
Hanes, Anderson, Shinkelshoek

D-pairs
Birkhoff, Cuma
Demers, Gibbons
Zanetti, Ceci

Goal: Mrazek

Scratches: Hartwick, Janes, Nigro (mono), Cowick (shoulder)

The 67s opened the game on the right skate, scoring the first goal just 44 seconds into the game when Ryan Martindale scored his second of the season beating big Robin Lehner 5-hole. Cody Lindsay got the lone assist. It was looking pretty good to start with.

Then, Tyler Cuma was called for tripping and during the PK, Gibbons was called on a cross-check giving the Greyhounds 1:13 of a 5-on-3 who were converting over 28% of their PP chances coming into the game. With 11 seconds left on Cuma's penalty, the Greyhounds made good on their chances when James Livingston evened up the score. Not sure if he deflected it in. Brock Beukeboom and Michael Quesnele got the assists.

The 67s had their own 5-on-3 opportunity for 1:34 late in the period but were able to only muster 2 SOGs.

The second period was pretty bad, again, with the Greyhounds getting goals from Carson Dubchak and Brock Beukeboom. Ottawa had moments of promise but nothing sustained. And, except for another late game charge, the third period didn't look much different.

With just over 4 minutes left in the game, Matias Sointu scored his first OHL goal on an innocent looking shot to the net from the slot. Thomas Nesbitt and Cody Lindsay assisted. The team picked up the pace for the rest of the game but it wasn't enough, again.

At the end of 60 (ahem 67s - notice the length of the game), the SSM Greyhounds swept their weekend trip and remained the only undefeated team in the league so far winning this game 3 - 2. Here's the game sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200


Hardest Working 67 as selected by the Team1200: Dalton Smith


Random Thoughts:
  • I imagine the mainstream media will have lots to say about how this team is doing so far. Don Campbell from the Ottawa Citizen was pretty blunt in his assessment of Friday's game. Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun also thought there was a lot of room for improvement. With the Senators out of town bonding and prospect Robin Lehner in town, I'm sure both newspapers had coverage today. We'll see what tomorrow's papers bring. Not likely to be happy news.
  • Update: I guess Don Brennan went with the "if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all" approach. His article in today's Sun had more to do with Lehner than the 67s. Chris Yzerman's article was pretty much the same (link not available at the time I wrote this).
  • Speaking of coverage, both the Sens and Wild had management in the rink today. Brent Flahr, formerly with the Ottawa Senators as Director of Hockey Operations and now assistant GM of the Minnesota Wild was at the rink as was Pierre Dorion of the Ottawa Senators. Both were checking out their prospects, Cuma and Lehner respectively.
  • There were other scouts in the house today. If Dalton Smith keeps playing the way he has so far, he might just challenge Tyler Toffoli for the top 20 in next year's NHL entry draft. To steal a line from Pierre McGuire, Smith was a monster today. Even if Team1200 hadn't named him the hardest working 67s, I was going to. He was everywhere and worked and worked and worked....
  • There are folks who are a lot smarter than me trying to figure out what ails this team but one thing might be that there are guys who are just trying to do too much by themselves. It doesn't look like a team just yet.

Next weekend doesn't get any easier...hosting the Memorial Cup Champion Windsor Spitfires and then hitting the road to play the Eastern Conference leading Barrie Colts on Saturday and then a Sunday afternoon stop in Oshawa on the way home.

More Pictures:
Sometimes you save them...


...and sometimes you don't.



September 26, 2009

New Season - Same Result

When these two teams last met, the stakes were a lot higher. It was game 7 of the playoffs. The IceDogs went on to win it 13 seconds into overtime.

Now it's a new season, a new coach, new uniforms and a reconfigured arena. The 67s were looking for a fresh start and a better result....but it was not to happen.

Forward Combos:
Lindsay, Martindale, Toffoli (starters)
Sointu, Smith, Nesbitt
Zanetti, Merrett, Carevale
Graovac, Anderson, Janes

D-pairs
Birkhoff, Cuma (starters)
Demers, Gibbons
Hartwick, Ceci

Goal: Mrazek

Scratches: Schinkelshoek, Nigro (mono), Cowick (injured), Hanes

There was a nice ceremony for the home opener including raising new banners to the rafters. This is a great touch - it's great to go into arenas and see teams honouring past players who made big contributions to the team.



The 67s started the game quite well, controlling the play and possessing the puck most of the period - especially for their first PP. But it was Niagara that scored the first goal, interestingly enough only 13 seconds into Niagara's powerplay. It was Alex Friesen who deflected it past Mrazek. Assists went to Insam and Agozzino. I was between the benches and you could just feel the deflation of the 67s - giving up the first goal (on Niagara's 5th shot of the game) after controlling the play for so long so it wasn't surprising when Niagara scored again on their very next shot. Andrew Shaw took a nice feed from Andrews and went top shelf glove side from the top of the blue plaint. Tracitto got the other assist. The two goals were less than a minute apart in the last four minutes of the period.

Dalton Smith got Ottawa on the board early in the second period to get the 67s back into the game but goals from Dylan Woods and Chris DeSousa put Niagara back up by two at the end of two. Niagara had stepped up their game in the second - getting 19 SOGs to Ottawa's 6.

An unassisted goal from Thomas Nesbitt at the halfway mark of the third period and Dalton Smith's second goal 5 minutes later made it a game. The 67s put on the pressure and had a few scoring chances but could not get past Niagara goalie Mark Visentin. With Mrazek pulled for the extra attacker, Chris DeSousa got the EN with 27 seconds to salt the game way.

The IceDogs skate of with a 5 - 3 win. Final SOGs were 32-25 for Niagara.
Here's the game sheet.


Three Stars as selected by the Team1200



Hardest Working 67 as selected by the Team1200: Thomas Nesbitt


Random Thoughts:
  • Tyler Cuma and Julien Demers will be co-captains this year. Tyler will be home captain and Julien road captain for the first half of the season and will swap for the last half. Wearing the A's this year are Nesbitt and Cowick. Demers wore the second A for this game.
  • Wonder if the team had some jitters - first home game of the season - especially for the new guys and playing the team that bounced them last season. Seems they may have lost their focus a few times and stopped skating at times. Plus there were some plain old mistakes that the coaching staff will work on correcting.
  • Nesbitt and Smith have jumped out of the gate early as the team's top scorers with 3 and 4 goals respectively in 3 games so far.
  • The arena formerly known as the Civic Centre is now the Urbandale Construction Arena.
  • Chris Perugini was hit at the end of the game in Sault Ste Marie and will be kept out of the game for precautionary purposes this weekend, although he will dress and take the warmup.
  • Petr Mrazek apparently is still waiting for his own equipment to get here from the Czech Republic so he's making do with whatever the 67s can pull together for him (but it's his own mask). I'm pretty sure they have FedEx or the equivalent in Europe - how hard can it be to get the gear here (unless it's held up a the border for some reason that I cannot imagine).
  • Ottawa currently ranks 19th in the league for penalty killing: in three games they have allowed 6 PPGs on 17 shots. Last year they were pretty much at the top of the league all year.


More Pictures:
Lined up for a new season


Sointu steals the puck.



Mrazek with a point-blank save.



Lindsay breaking up a possible break-away.






The anthem singers - Shockwave. They did a GREAT job! They can come back anytime.

September 21, 2009

Tyler Cuma Update

Tyler Cuma played his first NHL game of the season when the Minnesota Wild welcomed the Chicago Blackhawks. Former 67s Bryan Bickell was playing for Chicago.

Cuma got into a fight with Belleville Bull (and Ottawa native) Shawn Lalonde. Guess they will have some interesting chats if they both return to junior. Which may not be a given for Tyler.

Looks like Cuma may be making a case to be the 7th defenseman according to Star Tribune blogger Michael Russo. Check out his blog here.

Here's the Minnesota Wild's take on the game.

Meanwhile, the 67s return from their road trip with a 1-1 record. I only caught a bit of the game on Friday. They had just given up two PPGs but were still leading 3-1. From the game sheet it looks like it was open season on Perugini. They lost 4-5 in OT. But they had a better result in Sudbury on Saturday where they won 3-1. Nesbitt wore the C and Nigro and Gibbons wore A's. Here's that game sheet.

Home opener against Niagara on Friday. Hope to see you there!

September 17, 2009

This 'n That

Just a few news items to bring to your attention in case you missed them in your own internet surfing:

The OHL site is running a series of divisional previews. Here's the preview of the Eastern Division.

Nesbitt's thoughts for the team and the season as reported in yesterday's Ottawa Citizen.


Meanwhile, across the country at camp, Couture, Joslin and McGinn getting some club press in San Jose. All three survived the first round of cuts.

The Wild's site doesn't say too much really.

Matias Sointu was returned by Tampa Bay Tuesday.

The team hits the road this weekend to open the season in Sault Ste Marie and Sudbury.

September 13, 2009

Kissing their sisters

That's how ties are described by some.

A small crowd was on hand on a fine late summer afternoon to watch the last game of the pre-season. The 67s and Belleville Bulls tied it at 3. There wasn't even a shootout like there was in Gatineau.

By my reckoning they finish the preseason with a record of 2 wins, 3 losses and a tie.

Forward Combos:
Lindsay-Toffoli-Merrett
Smith-Martindale-Nesbitt
Janes-Anderson-Carnevale
Graovac

D-pairs
Hartwick-Gibbons
Birkhoff-Ceci
Hanes

Goal
Perugini

Scratches: Zanetti, Schinkelshoek (suspension from Friday's fight), Nigro, Sointu (on the roster for main camp for Tampa), Demers, Cowick, Cuma (main camp Wild)

Both teams played with short benches - Ottawa played with 10 forwards and 5 defenders; Belleville had 12 forwards and 5 defenders. Belleville was looking for redemption from their 5-0 shut out earlier in the week.

It was all Ottawa in the fist period with the 67s getting 2 goals on 5 shots. The first came just under 7 minutes into the game while Braeden Goddard was in the penalty box for hooking. Cody Lindsay at the top of the crease took the feed from Andrew Merrett and had it past Grubauer before he knew it. Brian Birkhoff got the other assist.

Before the goal announcement was finished, Thomas Nesbitt put the 67s up by two on a play that started with a sliding block by Derek Hartwick to break up a three on one play by Belleville. Hartwick then fed the puck to Nesbitt. Nesbitt wired it from the face-off dot past Grubauer on the far side. Tyler Graovac got the second assist.

After 20 minutes, the score was 2 - 0 Ottawa with SOGs 12 - 3 for Ottawa. Belleville just didn't get organized.

But that was not the case in the next two periods.

Belleville picked it up and scored the only two goals in the second period. The first one came 7 minutes in when the puck was deflected by Ceci over Perugini. Scott Howe was credited with the unassisted goal.

The Bulls then tied it up with just 5.9 seconds left in the game when Andy Bathgate buried a deflection into an open net. Jan Kaminsky and Stephen Silas had the assists.

After two periods, it was tied at two with SOGs 26-13 for Ottawa.

Rookie Tyson Teichman replaced Phillip Grubauer in net in the third period.

Tyler Toffoli gave Ottawa the lead with a sick goal just 56 seconds into the final frame. He came around the net, put the puck between the feet of the defender, turned around and shot it over the shoulder of Teichman. Cody Lindsay got the assist.

The lead was short-lived as Dylan Goddard tied it up a couple of minutes later when he Brett Mackie picked up the rebound and fed it to Goddard. Steven Strong had the second assist.

Belleville picked up their game and Ottawa didn't match it. It ended it a tie at 3 with the final SOGs 34 - 26.

Three Stars as selected by someone who's name I never hear clearly at the end of the game

Random Thoughts:
  • Not sure if the 67s ran out of a bit of steam towards the end with a short bench. They didn't play with the same intensity and skill as the first period.
  • The 67s have had a number of PPs in the last couple of games but have not converted them into a lot of goals. They had a full 2-minute 5-on-3 today that was underwhelming. They managed only three shots on goal. It seemed very slow.
  • Tippof is a bit crabby - took shots at playes after the whistle a few times.


More Pictures:
Chris Perugini


Thomas Nesbitt


Ryan Hanes steps out of the penalty box and gets in the way of Michael Curtis


Belleville's second goal


Toffoli before his goal


See you in a couple of weeks at the home opener!!

September 11, 2009

Kingston Kept in Czech

There's no love lost between these two teams and this game was no different.

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.

Three Stars as selected by some name I didn't catch (again)


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:
Dalton Smith



Petr Mrazek (you should click on the picture to see his face clearly)



Dalton Smith



Cody Lindsay's goal



Dylan Anderson double teamed


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.


September 10, 2009

Nigro Gets Some Press

Check out the game recap here (scroll down). The Blues (Nigro) win in the shootout over the Wild (Cuma (and Kiriakou ?)). The Blues site has an update too.

Meanwhile, the 67s won 5 - 0 over Belleville in Belleville last night. Cody Lindsay got a hat trick. The team hosts Kingston on Friday and Belleville on Sunday.

Update: Thomas Kiriakou was in the lineup (ended up +1). Cuma was out with flu-like symptoms. Here's the game sheet and here's the Wild writeup.

September 09, 2009

The New Jerseys are Here

As you may or may not have known, the new Reebok jerseys were unveiled today. You can see them here

I have heard from one fan who is very unhappy with the home jersey. He thinks that, while change is good, sometimes tradition should be respected and for him that means leaving the barberpoles alone.

He may have a point. In their 2009 OHL rankings, The Hockey News ranked the 67s jersey as number one noting that the "Traditional striping is a classic". This was posted two days before today's unveiling. If you head over to the voting page, the 67s jersey is running second (to London at the time of this posting).

As I scroll through the new jerseys, I wonder if the league placed certain design restrictions on the teams. None of the jerseys show the amount of striping that the (now) old 67s jersey had. Perhaps the team didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Follow the discussions across the league at The Noof. It seems there were (are) many fans of the old barberpole.

Me? I like the jerseys. These are jerseys I can cheer for.

I wonder if they are wearing their new jerseys tonight. Old or new jerseys, I hope they have a good game.

Update: The team didn't have a choice in the matter. See this article from today's Ottawa Citizen.

September 08, 2009

Some Updates from NHL Rookie Camps

Here are some updates from rookie camps:

This site has good coverage of the Traverse City Tournament. Cuma is getting some good press. It looks like Kiriakou may not have seen any ice time yet. The Wild have their own updates too. An article from NHL.com about Tyler.

The Traverse City updates also cover the St. Louis Blues. Nigro has been in the lineup for both games.

From Boston, news of Courchaine's win in the mini-tournament in Kitchener. If you replay the live blog, you will see that Zanetti was a scratch. Maybe he'll be in the lineup against Ottawa tomorrow.

Nothing notable to report regarding 67s players from the Phoenix or Senators camps.

Enjoy!

September 06, 2009

That Was Better

I made it across the river for the second game of the home-and-home series with the Gatineau Olympiques. Ottawa lost 2 - 1 in a shootout (no overtime) but it was a much better product on the ice. Not terrific (yet) but better.

Lineups weren't available to me prior to the game; from what I could tell, there weren't any changes.

Forward Combos
Lindsay-Martindale-Merrett
Smith-Toffoli-Nesbitt
Sointu-Anderson-Carnevale
Janes-Graovac-Schinkelshoek

D-pairs
Hartwick-Gibbons
Birkhoff-Ceci
?-Hanes

Goal
Petr Mrazek (Josh Cooper was the backup)

Scratches: Cuma (Wild camp), Demers (Sharks camp), Nigro (Blues camp), Zanetti (Bruins camp), Perugini (Coyotes camp), Cowick (injured)

The passing got better (although there were still way too many passes to nowhere in particular) and everyone was working harder.

There were far fewer penalties called but I think the refs were letting a lot go too. It was still chippy enough but I think both coaches told their teams to tone it down a bit. It didn't stop them from the late'ish hits and the behind the play shenanigans.

Christian Ouellet of the Olympiques scored the 'Piques regulation goal, on the 4th shot of the game just 5 minutes in. Jean Gabriel Pageau got the lone assist.

Ottawa evened it up with just 40.1 seconds left in regulation. Mrazek was pulled for the extra attacker. It was a goal mouth scramble from what I could see from centre ice and when the ice chips settled, Dalton Smith was credited with the goal with assists going to Travis Gibbons and Cody Ceci.

In between was some decent pre-season hockey. Both teams were perfect on the penalty kills and which means both teams were shut out on the powerplays. I believe this was Petr Mrazek's first game. He had some good saves, gave out some really juicy rebounds and got downright lucky a few times. He also got caught playing the puck in the no-goalie zone which earned him his first penalty minutes.

In the shootout, it was Christian Ouellet, Alexandre Quesnel and Joshua Domingues shooting for Gatineau (Ouellet scoring) and Cody Lindsay, Ryan Martindale and Tyler Toffoli shooting for Ottawa (no goals - Toffoli rung his off the iron).

Final shots on goal: 24 - 22 for Ottawa (but the person doing the counting was either distracted or very cheap).

No Three Stars were named. If forced to pick a hardest working 67s, it would be a toss up between Ryan Martindale and Travis Gibbons.

Random Thoughts:
  • It looks like this version of the 67s intend to be a bit tougher to play against. A few players tried too hard for the hit now and again though. It's still pre-season; they'll get their timing sorted out.
  • Birkhoff got stung a couple of times; one had him hobbling around while the play continued. He finally got ahold of the puck to ice it so he could get to the bench.
  • One of the linsemen was pretty fast between the whistle and puck drop. Martindale was caught out of faceoff position more than once.
  • Ottawa will be missing yet another player on Friday's game against Kingston. Matias Sointu will have just wrapped up rookie camp with the Lighting (poor kid - what a mess of a franchise that has turned out to be). Not sure if any of the other camps will be wrapped up by then. We will only get players back who are not moving on to their main camps.
  • The number changes are indeed temporary until the new sweaters are unveiled this week.

Pictures:
Petr Mrazek



Petr Mrazek



Andrew Merrett



Derek Hartwick



Ryan Martindale



Dylan Anderson



The Olympiques' reasons to be proud.

Keeping up with the boys at camp...

Time to take a peek at current and former Ottawa 67s at camp. I'll try to aggregate information from the various team sites from time to time. Some teams are better than others about the amount and quality of information they provide to their fans.

First up: Tyler Cuma figures prominently in the marketing material for the Minnesota Wild and their upcoming camp. Here's the link to their main page. If you follow the links to their roster, you will notice that Thomas Kiriakou has been invited to camp.

Next, the San Jose Sharks: They don't say much about specific players so far. Logan and Julien are noted on the rookie roster (check out the roster under the "Team" heading). Jamie McGinn, Brad Staubitz, Derek Joslin and Will Colbert go straight to the main camp.

Anthony Nigro is at the St. Louis Blues camp and will be playing against Cuma et al at the Traverse City Tournament.

The Ottawa Senators added Jason Bailey to their system and Kyle Wharton is getting a professional tryout.

Chris Perugini is one of two goalies going into the Phoenix rookie camp that starts today.

I can't seem to find the rookie roster for Boston to see if Adam was going to camp. I see that Radim Ostrci is still listed as "in the system" while Adam is listed on the main roster. Update: Mark Anthony Zanetti has been invited to the Boston rookie camp. Boston, Ottawa, Toronto and Pittsburgh are in a mini-tourney this week in Kitchener. Still no roster available but Courchaine is scheduled to start against Ottawa tomorrow.

Former 67s Mark Bell and Lukas Kaspar will be going to the Fylers' main camp starting on September 12.

That's the list I have compiled so far. I'm sure some were missed - drop me a line to add your finds.

Good luck to all the players - have a great camp!!

September 05, 2009

Um, Well....Hmmmm

Not sure what to make about that game.

The Gatineau Olympiques made their first trip across the river in 7 years. This was before I was a major junior fan but by all reports it was quite the rivalry. Given the looks, chirps and scrums, it seems that neither team missed a beat.

First, the line-ups.

Forward Combos
Lindsay-Martindale-Merrett
Smith-Toffoli-Nesbitt
Sointu-Anderson-Carnevale
Janes-Graovac-Schinkelshoek

D-pairs
Hartwick-Gibbons
Birkhoff-Ceci
Zanetti-Hanes

Goal
Perugini

Scratches: Cuma (Wild camp), Demers (Sharks camp), Nigro (Blues camp), Cowick (injured)

The Olympiques were missing Paul Byron (Sabres camp) and Tye McGinn (ankle injury). The 'Piques have a few Ontario players who were not drafted or were waived including former IceDog Thomas Middup

The 'Piques were certainly the better team in the first period. They were more organized, sharper and had kept up most of the pressure. They started camp a week earlier so Dupont has had more time for his systems to set in with the players.

It took Ottawa almost 5 minutes before they even had a shot on net.

The 67s had two power plays but it was Gatineau that scored first...on the PK. Thomas Middup took a sweet pass from Ouellet on a two on one breakaway and beat Perugini glove side.

Gatineau went up by two on a two minute 5-on-3 powerplay that was split across the first and second periods with 1:34 to start the second period. Martindale, Birkhoff, and Gibbons were unable to clear the puck and after holding off the 'Piques for more than a minute, Alexandre Quesnel scored on one of the few rebounds that Perugini let out.

Dalton Smith's game was shortened. It started with a pretty hard, open-ice hit on Hugo Laporte that had him on the ice for a very long time. Then, later in the period, Smith and Nicolas Boyer had a dust-up (Smith gets the call, including the take-down) which resulted in both of them hitting the showers.



Ottawa finally got on the board with just over 6 minutes left in the period when Tyler Toffoli beat Clermont top corner stick side on a two-on-one with Zanetti. Thomas Nesbitthad the second assist.

The tying goal came with Gibbons testing out the new penalty box and following Ottawa killing a 33-second 5-on-3, while still short-handed when Tyler Toffoli beat the Olympiques defensemen in a foot-race to the puck and then neatly beat Clermont glove-side.

The Olympiques scored two in the third...one that was a shot from the blue line that was deflected past Perugini and the winning goal was Middup's second shortie of the night.

Ottawa got one back when Thomas Nesbitt finished off the rush with Matias Sointu and Tyler Toffoli.

Chris Byrne pulled Perugini in the last minute for the extra attacker and the 67s had good pressure and had a couple of scoring chances but the game ended 4 - 3 in Gatineau's favour, final shots were 28-36 also in Gatineau's favour.

Three Stars


Hardest Working 67 as selected by me: Chris Perugini


Random Thoughts:
  • Toffoli has changed since we last saw him. Not only is he bigger, he's now wearing number 19 and has developed some attitude. A couple of penalties, pushing and shoving, and generally dishing as much as he was getting.
  • Cody Lindsay is also sporting a new number this year - 25.
  • Travis Gibbons was wearing 5 but that's just a temporary thing.
  • Schinkelshoek certainly was a target by the referees. I lost track of the number of penalties he earned. It won't take many more for him to qualify for the engraved name-plate in the penalty box.
  • Ottawa certainly had a lot opportunities to practice their penalty kills - including several (at least 4) 5-on-3s.
  • The third period was the weirdest of the three. It was hard at times to figure out what kind of hockey were seeing. Just before Ottawa scored its third goal, it was crazy out there - can't describe it - it was just...crazy.
  • Ceci and Sointu had lots of specialty-team time.
  • Corey Cowick's shoulder injury is bad enough to warrant surgery (scheduled for next Tuesday). It's a fairly big tear with other damage caused when his shoulder was dislocated in what some might consider a late hit. He won't be back for 4-6 months.
  • The trainer from the Olympiques mentioned that drums, horns and other noisemakers are not allowed to be used behind player benches in the Q.
  • Gatineau was pretty good at moving the puck.


The game on Sunday should be interesting.

More Pictures:
Cody Ceci



Brian Birkhoff



Thomas Nesbitt interviewed by Scott McArthur



Matias Sointu

September 04, 2009

Bryan Murray Likes Ottawa 67s

For the second time this year, the Ottawa Senators have added a former Ottawa 67s to their system. The Ottawa Senators traded prospect Shawn Weller to the Anaheim Ducks for Jason Bailey. Guess he won't be going too far for rookie camp.

Guess it can't hurt working out with some of the team during the summer.

Welcome back to Ottawa Jason!

Here's the story from TSN.