Less than 24 hours after their win against the Sarnia Sting,
the Ottawa 67’s defeated the struggling Guelph Storm by the same 4-1 score on
Saturday afternoon. The win is their 4th straight and 8th
in 11 games. Good enough to leap frog them over Barrie and Kingston for first
in the Eastern Conference.
Guelph came into this game with an abysmal 2-20-1-0 record with
their last win coming on October 16th. The worst start for an OHL
team since the 2000-01 Don Cherry-coached Mississauga Ice Dogs. Despite scoring
early, the 67’s came out of the gate a little flat and struggled to get much
going.
“You got to come in to every game with the same mindset,”
said Travis Barron. “We know these guys aren't the best team, but that could be
a bad thing for us because we can come in laid back and that's when teams lose
to teams like that.”
Barron scored the first goal of the game after newly
acquired netminder, Michael Giugovaz failed to cover the puck in the crease.
Barron jumped on the loose puck for an early 1-0 lead. Just over a minute later,
Luke Burghardt scored the equalizer beating Leo Lazarev from the slot.
That would be the only goal that got past Lazarev.
“He's in the zone. I don't know how you don't keep running
with a guy like that,” said 67’s head coach Jeff Brown. “Again, it's not that
we don't have trust and (Herbst) it's just that (Lazarev) is just seeing it
right now.”
Lazarev has only allowed 6 goals in his last 4 starts, a big
reason why he started for the 8th time in 10 games. Brown suggested
that he will start 2 of the next 3 games again next weekend.
The Storm nearly came close to scoring a couple times after
hitting two posts in the first 10 minutes of the second period. Instead, overagers
Evan de Haan and Nevin Guy each scored in to give the 67’s a 3-1 lead.
“You've got to give them credit, they work hard. They were
right in the game, most of the game. If it wasn't for a few posts and Leo
again, (it could be a different score),” said Brown.
The Storm nearly came within one in the third period, but it
was called off due to a delayed offside.
“It's huge. We've had a couple this year,” said Brown. “I
don't necessarily agree with the rule because video replay is not equal in all
20 (arenas). Depends on where you are and who's running the thing … but it's
worked out twice for us now.”
Jeremiah Addison rounded out the scoring with his 11th
goal of the season to seal the victory midway through the third period.
Dante Salituro missed the majority of the third period. There
appeared to be no injury to Saliutro and when asked about why, Jeff Brown
responded with a rare, “no comment.”
The 67’s will have plenty of time to figure it out as they are
idle tomorrow and aren’t in action until on Friday in Kitchener.
Game summary here.
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