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September 23, 2012

Peterborough strikes quickly, handing 67's second consecutive loss

The Ottawa 67's find themselves in a tough position early in the season, dropping their second game 4-3 to the Peterborough Petes (1-1-0) on Saturday night.  Ottawa falls to 0-2-0 with two games left on their homestand.



It took the visitors just five and a half minutes and four shots on goal to open up a three-goal advantage, and while the 67's did fight back and make an interesting game of it, Petes' rookie goaltender Michael Giugovaz had a memorable first career OHL start to hold on for the win.

Chris Byrne was adamant that the quick three-goal outburst from the Petes was what set the tone for the entire game.  "Special teams weren't our problem today, offence wasn't our problem today.  The three goals against in the first was the story of the game."

Zach Lorentz scored his first goal as a Pete just a minute into the game.  Clark Seymour padded it with his first goal of the season at 4:07 and Francis Menard had the third tally.

Byrne called a timeout after the third goal and his team instantly responded.  Taylor Fielding got Ottawa on the board, taking a tape-to-tape pass from a falling Dante Salituro and finishing off a 3-on-2 passing play started by Andrew Abou-Assaly.

After a dominant game with the man-advantage in game one, co-Captains Cody Ceci and Sean Monahan were at it again on Saturday.  On a 5-on-3 powerplay, Ceci took a pass from Monahan and fired it through Giugovaz to bring the home side within one less than a minute before the opening period was done.

As was the case in the first period, it didn't take long for Peterborough to get on the board.  Nick Ritchie beat Keegan Wilson with a perfectly placed shot from a bad angle to re-gain Peterborough's two-goal edge. 

Ryan Van Stralen brought Ottawa back within one just 19 seconds into the third frame on a seemingly broken play in Peterborough's end.  Monahan appeared to tie the game with just over nine minutes left on a bizarre dump-in that went off the glass and in behind Giugovaz, but the officials ruled that the puck stayed out. 

Ottawa was unable to complete the comeback as Giogovaz finished the night with 39 saves and first-star honours.  After allowing three goals on the first four shots, Wilson responded well by stopping 23 shots.

Click here for the game sheet.  

The 67's have six days off before their next game, as they take on the Niagara Ice Dogs and Erie Otters next Friday and Saturday (afternoon) respectively.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200:


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Hardest Working 67's as Selected by the Team1200: Taylor Fielding  

Assorted Notes:
  • In an interesting bit of line juggling, Sean Monahan took a number of consecutive shifts with rookie Connor Brown in the second and third period.  "I think it became a case of who was skating, who was working," stated Chris Byrne.  "That's who was going to get ice time today and that was the reason for the different lines."
  • If you count Taylor Fielding, the 67's had nine natural defencemen in the lineup tonight.  Nevin Guy, like Fielding, seems to have found himself as a mainstay up front.  Expect to see Taylor Davis get into a game soon if Ottawa continues to rotate seven defencemen with an eighth joining Fielding as a forward.
  • After combining to get Ottawa's first goal of the game, pre-season linemates Andrew Abou-Assaly and Dante Salituro consistently found themselves on a line with Fielding.  Byrne expressed that he had no issue keeping them together as a forward unit.  "There's lots of different elements to that line that are pretty good and we're pleased with their effort today.  The young guys played well and we're going to have to continue to have them playing well."
  • Matthieu Desautels could find himself moving up the depth chart on the back end.  The solid skating blueliner was used in both special teams situations and the 67's coaching staff made it a point to try and have him on the ice when Abou-Assaly, Salituro and Fielding were on.
Thoughts from Behind the Lens:
  • Pretty good crowds for the first two games.  Many 67's jerseys plus I met quite a few new fans.  And of course lots of kids who help create a great atmosphere.
  • It took a while for the 67's to get their skates under them but boy, if there was a stat for unforced errors, it would have been off the charts last night.  At times you'd have thought the puck was a live grenade the way it was being tossed about.
  • The new rule for fighting seems to be governing behavior on the ice...skirmishes and some shoving that might have led to at least one fight in previous years but no one seemed anxious to drop the gloves.
  • Taylor Fielding was my pick as the hardest working 67's about mid-way through the game.  He was tireless out there and seemed to be having a great time.  You can see his disappointment in the outcome in the picture as hardest working 67's.  
  • Not the start to the season anyone had hoped for but sometimes it's good to learn the hard lessons early.  Lots of room for everyone to step and show what they are made of.  
  • The glass at SBP has several small holes in the glass for photographers to shoot through.  And I mean small.  They are small for a reason.  A Pete's player was being rubbed out along the glass in front of me and as his helmet scraped across the hole it left his "Petes" decal on the edge as a souvenir for me.  A bigger hole in the glass might have had a different outcome.
Some Pictures from the Game:              
Click here for more pictures: 

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