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January 01, 2014

Frontenacs rally past 67's 6-5 in a shootout

It took the Kingston Frontenacs five times to come back from a deficit, but finally found a way to do it in a 6-5 shootout victory over the Ottawa 67's this afternoon. 

The Frontenacs spent the first 20 minutes still waking up during the traditional New Year's Day showdown.  Joseph Blandisi beat Matt Mahalak to open the scoring one minute into the game for a early 67's lead.  


With several players missing from the lineup, the Fronts looked to their depth charts. Stepping up for them was sophomore Sam Bennett scoring back to back goals to give his team their first lead of the game. The 2015 NHL draft eligible forward extended his point streak to an current OHL high of 20 games. 

But the 67's battled back.  Dante Salituro and Connor Brown scored 52 seconds apart to regain the 67's lead chasing Mahalak from the net late in the opening frame. 

It wasn't until the second period that the Fronts woke up. An early fight between Darcy Greenaway & John Urbanic gave the Fronts the spark they were looking for.  It only took Ryan Verbeek 16 seconds from the fight to beat Philippe Trudeau to tie the game at 3.  

The 67's regained their one goal lead after the 67's converted on a 4-minute powerplay where Brett Gustavsen scored his 11th goal of the season for another late period 67's lead. 

The Frontenacs battled back twice in the third period including a game tieing goal by Evan McEneny with only 27 seconds to go to force overtime.  A gutsy game by both clubs eventually lead to a shootout. 

It took 4 rounds and three goals until Spencer Watson became the shootout hero.  Darcy Greenaway scored the other Fronts goal while Joseph Blandisi scored the lone 67's goal. 

The loss gives the 67's their 20th of the season and fall 1-1-0-1 in the three consecutive New Year's Day games against the Frontenacs.  

Game summary here.

Notes:
- John Urbanic's fight was his fourth fighting major this season
- Ryan Kujawinski left the game in the first period with a shoulder injury
- 67's were without d-man Jonathan Duchesne who is serving his first of a two game suspension for instigating a fight in the final 5 minutes of the game vs Oshawa Sunday night
- Mack Lemmon returned to the lineup after serving a one game suspension for a slewfoot

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