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April 02, 2010

Mississauga Wins 4 -1

The Ottawa 67's battled hard and the game was closer than the score indicates but the result is still that the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors won the first game of the series.

Forward Combos:
Cowick, Nigro, Merrett
Smith, Lindsay, Toffoli
Prince, Martindale,Carnevale
Janes, Graovac, Foglia

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

Goal: Perugini

Scratches: Hartwick, Nesbitt (injured), Anderson

The 67's came out with jump and a bang - getting physical with St. Mike's right from the puck drop.

It was fast, up and down play with occasional scoring chances, lots of missed nets, blocked shots, some great saves, cleared rebounds and not a lot of whistles. Very entertaining.

But St. Mike's got on the scoreboard first with less than two minutes left in the first period on a tic-tac-toe passing play among Cramarossa, Bureau and Wallen who beat Perugini over his glove. Ottawa came back with a good scoring chance of its own but Carrozzi was there to stop the puck.

It took Ottawa until the mid-way point of the game to beat Carrozzi just as Devant-Pelley's interference on Cowick expired. Corey Cowick beat Carrozzi five-hole from the hash-marks. Julien Demers and Travis Gibbons got the assists.

Thanks to IceLevel Photography for sharing this great photo of Corey's goal celebration!


T.J. Battani got it back a few minutes later with a pretty backhanded goal over a sprawling Perugini. The second period ended with Mississauga back up by 1 although Ottawa was outplaying and shooting Missy by a big margin for a while.

After two very strong periods, one would have thought that the 67's would come out just as strong or stronger in the third given that they were down a goal. St. Mike's stepped up their game and controlled more of the play. Early in the third, Gregg Sutch put his team up by two with a puck that deflected off his skate got past Perugini. Nothing he could do on that 3-on-2.

With Perugini pulled for the extra attacker, Ottawa worked hard for another goal but with 40 seconds left, T.J. Battani sealed their fate with a EN.

So, St. Mike's strikes first and on the road with a 4-1 win and take the 1-game early lead in this series.

The second game is tonight in Ottawa. Hope to see you there. This is good hockey - even if we are not enthusiastic with the outcome.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200


Hardest Working 67 as selected by the Team1200: Shane Prince


Here's the game sheet.

Random Thoughts:
  • It was a hard fought game by the 67's but the Cowick, Nigro, Merrett line stood out for me. Man, they were everywhere and pushing hard. None of the Missy goals on their shifts.
  • The 67's had a number of good chances but they just couldn't bury them. They got a lot shots through to Carrozzi - he earned his pay (as meager as it is). A couple of good bounces would have been nice.
  • Tyler Cuma made a great blue line save on the 2nd PP and Ceci was there to complete the save.
  • While the 67's were not able to cash in on their PP chances, they also stayed out of the penalty box and killed the few PP's that St. Mike's had.
  • I didn't hear any news on if/when Nesbitt will return to the lineup. We miss him.
  • Got to give credit where credit is due - St. Mike's is a good team and the 67's knew that they would capitalize on mistakes. Also, Carrozzi is a good goalie. He was named CHL goalie of the week for last week.
  • A good day for Eugene Melnyk - both his teams played in Ottawa and both skated away with wins.

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