Ottawa 67s Fan Blog

67's edge Rangers 4-3

2012-01-23T05:25:00.001-05:00

Shane Prince scored the game winner against his former team as the Ottawa 67’s defeated the visiting Kitchener Rangers 4-3 in regulation Friday night. That marked Prince’s team leading 5th game winning goal of the season.

With the help of some undisciplined play from the Rangers, the 67’s flew out of the gates in the first period firing 14 shots on goaltender John Gibson. However, it was the Rangers that drew first blood. Rieder picked up the puck behind the net and passed it to Ryan Murphy who was right in the slot and wired it past Petr Mrazek.

The 67’s tied it up on the two man advantage after some great puck movement. Tyler Toffoli scored his 36th of the season after knocking it in off his own rebound. A turnover from Stephen Midensky led to a 2-on-1 attack. Tyler Graovac jammed in big rebound off a shot by Steven Janes. A big relief off of Graovac has it was his first in 15 games.

Off a great feed through traffic from Tyler Toffoli, Sean Monahan shot the puck into the top corner of the net to give the 67’s a two-goal lead. The Kitchener Rangers would respond on the powerplay. NHL top ranked 2012 prospect Radek Faksa notched his 20th of the season after he grabbed a rebound off of Marc Zanetti’s skate and shot it in to the net top glove-hand side.

The Kitchener Rangers continued to press and it paid off midway through the third period. A great heads up play, Tobias Rieder made a crisp pass to Andrew Crescenzi in the high slot who fired it past Mrazek to tie the game at 3 on the powerplay.

After some great saves on both ends of the ice, Shane Prince came up clutch and jammed in a rebound on the side of the net from Cody Ceci’s point shot to close out the scoring.

The 67’s finish the weekend with a 3-0-0 sweep and outscored their opponents 21-10.

UP NEXT:

The Ottawa 67’s will host the Yakupov-less Sarnia Sting Friday night at 7:00pm. The time change is to accommodate the broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet. Meanwhile, the Kitchener Rangers will continue on the road for one more game when they travel to London Wednesday night to take on the Knights at 7:00pm.

Click here for the game sheet.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's (for the second game in a row): Taylor Fielding

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

This game had just about everything: speed, turnovers (forced and otherwise), hits (lots of them), hard work, luck, determination, changes in momentum. In other words - it was entertaining and the outcome was not a given until the final buzzer sounded. Kitchener was full marks for a third weekend game.
I just may be noticing it now, but Tyler Toffoli is getting more physical than I recall in the past.
Who am I to argue with the Team1200 guys but I thought that Tyler Graovac or perhaps Michael Cajkovsky might have been considerations for Hardest Working 67's. Tyler is playing very strongly this year and Big Mike was a beast at times.
Lots of Ranger fans traveled for the game. Perhaps they took in all the games in this Eastern Conference swing. Hope they took the opportunity to skate the canal.

Some pictures from the game:

Tyler Graovac's goal off a Steven Janes rebound Who will celebrate goals with such joy next year? One of a few pile ups in the goalies' creases Sean Monahan threading the needle for the goal There were a few hits in the game Click here to see more pictures from the game.

67’s spank Gens 8-3

2012-01-21T08:17:00.000-05:00

OTTAWA – After steamrolling over the Peterborough Petes 9-4 just the night before, the 67’s didn’t seem to want to let up. Steven Janes had a pair of goals and an assist enroute to the Ottawa 67’s to an 8-3 victory over the Oshawa Generals Friday night.

However, it wasn’t like that all game. The early first period, the Gens were all over the 67’s with Petr Mrazek standing tall in net. It wasn’t until after two fights broke out that we would see the first goal scored in the game. With the Generals killing a penalty in the final minute, Boone Jenner breaks away with Nicklas Jensen and sets him up to beat Mrazek shorthanded sending the 67’s away with a one goal deficit after the first.

The 67’s regrouped during the first intermission and came out of the gate flying, scoring two quick goals within 44 seconds. With a powerplay extended over into the second, Marc Zanetti fired a shot from the point that made its way through the traffic and past Nepean native Daniel Altshuller. Next, John McFarland sneaks in and shoots it top shelf and in.

The Gens would respond. Off a great feed from Lucas Lessio, Nicklas Jensen tips it the puck past Mrazek to tie the game up at 2. Cody Ceci regained the 67’s lead after sending a bullet shot from the point into the back of the net. Less than 40 seconds later, Steven Janes would give the 67’s the go ahead goal after catching a big rebound. The 67’s wouldn’t stop there. Jake Cardwell scored Ottawa’s 3rd powerplay goal of the period increasing their lead to 3 goals chasing Altshuller from nets after the second.

Kevin Bailie would replace Altshuller at the beginning of the 3rd period. Just over a minute in, Tyler Toffoli notches his 35th goal of the season after the bouncing puck hit Julian Melchiori and in the net. Sebastian Uvira cut the 67’s lead in half after taping a puck trickling past Mrazek. The Gens fired 12 more shots his way, but couldn’t solve Mrazek. Dalton Smith and Steven Janes would round out the scoring to add to the 12 different 67’s players that touched the scoresheet.

NEXT UP:
The Ottawa 67’s will host the Kitchener Rangers in a Sunday afternoon matchup at 2pm. The Oshawa Generals host the Kingston Frontenacs Saturday night at 7:05pm. The Fronts just came off a 9-1 romping of the Kitchener Rangers Friday night.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Taylor Fielding

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens

17 goals (48 points) in 2 games....that's a lot of scoring. And it's coming from all over the lineup. 3 lines scored in each of the two games, the D contributed 4 goals and 10 assists over the two days and specialty teams delivered 1 SH and 6 PP goals. Sure these were against teams down in the standings, but these are teams that always play Ottawa hard.
It was a hard fought affair with the officials calling 23 infractions resulting in 14 power plays (8 PPs for Ottawa and 6 for Oshawa)
For those who think that Ottawa might have run up the score, recall last Friday when the 67's got a lead, backed off and were beaten in their own barn by Peterborough. One of the inscriptions inside the 2011 Stanley Cup rings of the Boston Bruins is "Full 60+ to History". It takes hard work for the entire game to be successful.
I tend to follow the play when taking pictures (especially when shooting from between the benches) so most of my pictures are of the players with the puck. It seems that I have way more pictures of Dalton Smith this year than in previous year. It seems that he's much more in the thick of things this year (also helps that he's on the top line now and getting more ice time).

Some Pictures from the game:
Tyler Graovac working his way through traffic
Celebrating John McFarlands's goal Gustavsen and Jenner get some air after a hit Dalton Smith on a break-away. He didn't score.
Click here to see more pictures from the game

At The Midway Point: Top Five Games of 2011-2012, thus far

2012-01-19T19:51:00.000-05:00

by Alex Quevillon
The opening stages of the Ottawa 67's season had it's ups and downs. Many fans expected Ottawa to dominate this season, and there was a little bit of doubt as they blew a few leads, took a few tough losses and fell out of the CHL's rankings and seemingly out of the top tier in the OHL. But by the time 2012 had rolled around, this team has fought back, finding themselves tops in the Eastern Conference for the better part of the campaign's first half. They've also given us some really exciting contests along the way. Here's part one of two, featuring the top games thus far.

Honourable Mention:

Czech Republic vs. USA, December 30th - Mrazek Dazzles

The only reason this game is in the honourable mention section, and not on the top-five list (it would be high on that list, too) is because it technically didn't involve the Ottawa 67's. But for Junior Hockey fans that didn't acknowledge the 67's before, this game put us on their map.

Petr Mrazek, representing his home Czech Republic in the Under-20 World Junior Hockey Championships, made 53 saves, celebrated every Czech goal in a more emphatic way than the last, and almost had a goal of his own, firing the puck right by the United States empty net.

Fans across the country watched on in amazement of this newfound character. 67's fans sat in front of the TV beaming with pride, seeing the character we've grown to thoroughly enjoy watching for the past two and a half years put on a world class show. Remember, the game was on TSN, they have a field day when it comes to name dropping Junior teams. The 67's must have been mentioned a couple dozen times during Czech Republic's entire tournament.

Ottawa vs. Québec, September 5th - Pre-season Fight Fest

This one could have been up high on the list had it been a regular season game, and had it been against an opponent that wasn't from another league. Still, Ottawa fans were given quite the interesting Labour Day contest.

Despite having lost to our neighboring Gatineau Olympiques in last year's QMJHL playoffs, Québec was labelled to be a serious contender in The Q. The selling point of this game, and a real reason for optimism, Russian Remparts forward Mikhail Grigorenko, did not disappoint, scoring two goals.

This game was also a bit of an experiment for the Canadian Hockey League, too. Ottawa's yearly matchups vs. Hull/Gatineau had been banned, supposedly for the amount of on-ice violence. If that really is the CHL's reasoning, then don't expect there to be any future games between Quebec's Capital and Canada's Capital; this one got nasty.

Québec's star players, Captain Mikael Tam and forward Frédérick Roy, son of head coach and NHL legend Patrick Roy, did anything to take Ottawa's players out of the game - everything short of dropping the gloves. After all, in OHL-sanctioned pre-season games, one fight is an automatic game misconduct.

Finally, however, things boiled over. After a Taylor Fielding goal in the third period, Fielding, Ryan Shipley, Sean Monahan, Brett Gustavsen and Ryan Van Stralen took exception to a late hit, leading to a full-scaled 5-on-5 linebrawl. Dalton Smith and Michal Cajkovsky proceeded to drop the gloves in the next few minutes, quickly taking their respective opponents to the ice. The two teams combined for 162 penalty minutes.

Despite the Remparts having played an entire pre-season before this game, and the 67's having no games and one practice, Ottawa got 3rd-period goals from Fielding, Smith and Monahan. Roy had a goal disallowed in the final minute, and Ottawa hung on for the 3-2 win. The game may not have counted for anything, but it was clear, this wasn't the same team as last year. The 67's made it clear that nobody would come into Landsdown and push them around.

5) October 23rd vs. Kitchener - Road Gut Check

Generally, if an OHL team gives up an early 2-0 lead on the road, on a Sunday afternoon, they tend to lay back, try to stop the bleeding and let the clock run out. To make matters worse, Captain Marc-Anthony Zanetti suffered a broken foot blocking a shot in Niagara three nights before. But Ottawa didn't back off.

Taking advantage of an undisciplined Rangers squad, the 67's fired back with four consecutive second-period goals, three of them on the powerplay. Jake Cardwell moved up into Zanetti's spot, playing with Cody Ceci, as both of the blueliners registered goals on the man advantage. A Steven Janes empty netter was the nail in the coffin, as Ottawa coasted the final two minutes to a 6-3 road win.

This win gave Ottawa a 2-1 record on the road weekend, and they went on to win the following Thursday night in Peterborough, setting up the following:

4) October 28th, vs. Mississauga - Established Eastern Powerhouse

This was the game where the 67's had to prove that they could hang with the top-tier teams in the Eastern Conference, and they did just that. Mississauga had only lost three games on the year heading into this contest and the red-hot JP Anderson looked unbeatable.

The game dragged on. Mississauga was playing the trap to perfection and without Tyler Graovac in the lineup, the 67's were relying on several wingers to play at center. Ottawa's only line with a centerman, Sean Monahan with Shane Prince and Tyler Toffoli, combined for three goals, Toffoli's second of the game tying it at 3 with less than 10 minutes to go.

Aside from Ottawa's top line, Petr Mrazek ended up being a huge difference maker. Russian rookie Sergey Kuptsov was awarded a penalty shot midway through the second period. Mrazek, who had been run over by Kuptsov earlier in the frame, stopped the forward's attempt, gave him a love tap on the way by and celebrated with one of his fist pumps, a celebration that would become hated and then celebrated across the country a couple months later.

Mrazek also stopped all three attempts in the game-deciding shootout, and Monahan fired a wrister past Anderson to give Ottawa the win. Say what you want about the shootout, I'm not a fan of it to be honest, but to get two points out of a game with hardly any respectable pace for the first 65 minutes put Ottawa in the conference's top spot. Ottawa was featured in the CHL's top-10 rankings the next week. This game helped establish the Barberpoles as a big named team in the East.

3) Rememberance Day (November 11th), vs. Saginaw - Remember McFarland?

One of many high scoring events early in the season was almost completely taken over by an opposing player. Who would've known that said player would become a very familiar face in the near future. Dressed in their commemorative Rememberance Day jersies, the 67's fired 62 shots at the Saginaw net and scored three goals through the first two periods.

But their efforts were matched by the efforts of the Spirit's top forward. By the halfway point of the third period, John McFarland had racked up four goals and an assist, giving his team a late 5-3 lead. A pair of late goals by Tyler Toffoli and Michal Cajkovsky, his first as a 67, sent the game to overtime.

The game went to a shootout, which went seven shooters long. As was the case through most of the game, McFarland was the only shooter to score for Saginaw. Brett Gustavsen tied the shootout, however, allowing Dalton Smith to score the game winner. Obviously Ottawa liked what they saw in the game's sharp shooter and first star. On January 6th, the 67's packaged David Perklin and a fourth round pick to Saginaw for McFarland.

2) September 23rd vs. Belleville - Home Opener

A very highly touted game as it marked the beginning of a season with very high expectations. The game was slightly marred, however, by Dalton Smith's vicious high hit on Belleville goaltender Malcolm Subban. Smith was tossed from the game and given a 10-game suspension, the second season in a row that he had picked up a suspension on opening night.

Ottawa fans were treated to a rough-and-tumble game that had the same number of scraps as it did goals. Okay, when the score is 2-1, that isn't so outstanding. But it certainly set the pace for Ottawa's season. Cody Ceci started off his draft year with the winning goal. Petr Mrazek shut the door with 25 stops to preserve the win.

Ottawa went 2-for-2 on the weekend, beating Kingston 6-2 on the Sunday. The unbeaten streak didn't last longer than a week, but the 2-0 start, and in particular holding on to win the opening game, had to have helped the 67's get where they are now.

1) December 2nd, vs. Windsor - National Spotlight

This matchup was featured on National Television, which is probably a good thing seeing as it featured a little bit of everything. Windsor scored just 15 seconds into the game and right of the bat, it looked as though the middle-of-the-road Western team would run away with their 2nd win of the season vs. Ottawa. Shane Prince quickly answered, though, tying the game at 1-1 and igniting Ottawa's teddy bear toss. The game was delayed for upwards of 20 minutes as the stuffed animals were cleaned off the ice and it felt like a whole new game.

Windsor fired back, taking a 3-1 lead. Between goals, a pair of scraps looked as though they would set the tone for a physical night in the Nation's Capital.

The first fight had to be expected. Ty Bilcke had been (and continued on) fighting his way through the OHL, the rookie leading in penalty minutes for the majority of the season. He had hardly lost, and had already beat Michal Cajkovsky in the first meeting. Bilcke landed a few big punches at the start of this fight, trading heavy punches with Smith. Smith switched to his left hand and started pounding on the 17-year old. Bilcke, a rare loser in tilts, was badly bloodied and left the ice. Sportsnet analysts labelled it as the fight of the year in the OHL. Ryan Van Stralen fought Nick Czinder shortly thereafter, but it was clear that the Smith-Bilcke fight was the main event.

Oh, there was some actual hockey, too. Van Stralen got Ottawa to within a goal and Nicholas Foglia tied it, setting up a dramatic and controversial overtime that was watched across the country.

Smith, looking no worse for wear after his first-period heavyweight tilt, jammed the puck into Windsor's net while goaltender John Cullen, who was out of his net from a Shane Prince deke, lost his mask and protested the non-call to on-ice officials in absolute outrage. After a lengthy review, it was confirmed that the goal did in fact count.

Cullen continued his tirade, going after Cajkovsky and Jake Cardwell in their celebration. The short tantrum didn't have an affect on the 67's. They had won one of the most exciting games of the year, and everyone in Canada had the chance to see it.

And with that, the top five (well, seven, sort of) games of 2011. Continue reading the Ottawa 67's Fan Blog as we cover the 67's second half! Furthermore, check back in during the last week of March, I'll be back with a top-10 list, including some of these. Here's hoping that the second half is as exciting as the first!

Toffoli nets 300th point as 67’s stomp 6-1 over the Bulls

2012-01-16T05:51:00.002-05:00

After a disappointing effort Friday night, the 67’s stormed out of the gates and bounced back quickly. Petr Mrazek stopped 37 of 38 shots while Jake Cardwell led the way in scoring with 2 goals and an assist.

The Ottawa 67’s struck first. Shane Prince made a nice feed to Cardwell who was sitting on the doorstep and tapped it past Charlie Graham in the Bulls net. This opened the flood gates. Less than 4 minutes later Tyler Toffoli would score his league leading 34th goal of the season and his 300th OHL career point. Just over a minute later, Shane Prince would give the 67’s a 3-goal lead. Off an outstanding individual effort, he went forehand to backhand putting the puck in the back of the net after catching Graham in bad positioning.

Head coach George Burnett quickly called a timeout to gather his troops. The Bulls tightened up defensively and did not allow any more goals in the 1st period.

After some great saves by Graham, the 67’s would crack him again. Dalton Smith tipped his 12th goal of the season off a Cody Ceci point shot. Deja-vu for the Bulls when Cardwell would score his second of the game 51 seconds later off a great play by Tyler Graovac.

The Bulls finally responded when Joseph Cramarossa would get a hold of a big rebound from Brendan Gaunce’s original shot breaking Mrazek’s shutout bid. But that didn’t silence the 67’s, newly acquired Mike Cazzola went top shelf to regain the 67’s 5-goal lead and round out the scoring.

The 67’s and Bulls went scoreless in the 3rd period, but it wasn’t for a lack of shooting. Each team saw some big saves on both sides of the ice with the shots ending 40-38 in favour of the 67’s.

Click here for the game sheet.

NEXT UP:
The Ottawa 67’s travel to Peterborough to face the Petes on Thursday night at 7:05pm & return to Ottawa on Friday night hosting the Oshawa Generals at 7:30pm.
The Belleville Bulls host the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors on Wednesday night at 7:05pm.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Tyler Graovac

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens

At the 8:48 mark of the first period on Friday, the 67's took a two-goal lead and...well we know the outcome. At the 8:59 mark of this game, the 67's took a two goal lead and...kept playing hard for a solid win. Much different game and well played.
Shane Prince took a stick up the nose from Brady Austin which was not called. So he simply kept playing....and scored a goal.
The Prince-Cazzola-McFarland line is already scary good - 6 of the 15 points earned by the 67's in this game.
Gotta love Cardwell's celebration as the game's first star. It's OK to be happy to be selected as a star in a win on home ice.
It was Giftopolous' turn to sit out as Taylor Fielding was in the line up (and hitting pretty much anyone who stood around too long).

Some Pictures from the game:
George Burnett's milestone of 500 games was noted before the start of the game. Tyler Toffoli celebrates his league leading 34th goal and his 300th point of his OHL career. Mike Cazzola scores a goal in his first win of the season; Click here for more pictures from the game.

Consistent Team Effort Gives Petes' a 5 - 3 Win Over Ottawa

2012-01-14T10:37:00.001-05:00

The first home game for WJH All-Star Goalie Petr Mrazek and newest 67's John McFarland and Mike Cazzola started well enough, with Cazzola getting his first goal just 12 seconds into the game (assisted by McFarland and Prince). The 67's were fast, sharp and up 2-goals in the first 10 minutes of the game on Shane Prince's 20th goal of the season (assisted by Ceci and Zanetti).
And then they stopped playing. Peterborough shook off the bus legs, picked up their game and took full advantage and control for the next 30 minutes of the game. Pick the detail: face-offs, boards, pressure, speed, the Pete's dominated. Before the first period was over, Ottawa native Joey West had his team on the board just 6 seconds into their second PP of the game.

The Petes forced turn-overs, created numerous odd-man rushes and breakaways not all of which were stopped by Petr Mrazek. With Alane Quine in the box for tripping up Dalton Smith, Luke Hietkamp tied it when he intercepted Cardwell's pass, skated in alone and beat Mrazek over his glove. The Petes went into the second intermission with a 1-goal lead on Andrew Yogan's 21st goal of the season.

The 67's started the 3rd period with the same energy as the first but the Pete's matched them stride for stride and goal for goal. Shane Prince tied the game on the 67's 6th powerplay of the game (assists to Cazzola and Zanetti) but before the announcement was finished, Alan Quine had the Petes back in the lead. Pete's goalie, Andrew d'Agostini tried a mini-Mrazek goal-pump to celebrate the goal. He was pretty low-key about it but it was noticed. Andrew Yogan was credited with the EN as John McFarland took him down on his break away.

The 67's did have some scoring chances but d'Agostini was up to the challenge and his team mates cleaned up in front of him. In in the final analysis, the Pete's simply outplayed the 67's and fully deserved the win.

Here's the game sheet.

The 67's play the Belleville Bulls (yes - three times in 8 days) at the J. Benson Cartage Centre tomorrow at 2:30.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Mike Cazzola

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens

The Prince, Cazzola, McFarland line had a lot of ice time from what I could see. They are still working out the timing among them but if they are kept together, they could be dangerous.
It's been a long time since Ottawa has had a healthy scratch (Taylor Fielding).
Pretty good turnout considering the weather - it was pretty greasy out there. Good on all the fans who attended the game.
It was Joey West's 300th OHL game. Nice to get the win and first star in front of family and friends.
Daniel Broussard is 4 games into his 8-game suspension.
The Barberpole jersey sure is nice.

Some pictures from the game:

Newest 67's John McFarland making his home debut and in a Barberpole jersey too

Dalton Smith getting piled on after getting tripped.

Steven Janes returned to the ice after time off to heal his broken jaw

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Mrazek Ready For "Last Chance To Win in Junior"

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Under-20 World Junior Championships are over, the OHL trade deadline has passed, and the 67’s only have to worry about their play to finish the season. The team was added as the 10th ranked team by the CHL this week. The defense is as deep as it’s been in many years. Ottawa has made deals to improve their already dangerous offense. But their goaltending may be their strongest point heading into the final stages of the season.

During the aforementioned World Juniors, goaltender Petr Mrazek became a bit of a sensation for his performance while representing the Czech Republic. I had a chance to quickly speak with Petr and ask him about his experiences on the world stage and how he’s looking forward to the rest of the Ontario Hockey League season.

Although Ottawa has one of the larger facilities in the OHL, the junior tournament in Calgary and Edmonton was something else for Ottawa’s star goalie. “It was unbelievable, 15,000 fans on our side against the US, and then Finland and Russia.”

Mrazek’s fame came mostly from his performance against the United States. His wild celebrations and near-miss on an empty net attempt, to go along with 53 stops, made him an instant hit. He says that there was no hesitation on his attempt at a goal. “I knew I would shoot the puck when I started behind my net, because I saw a lot of their guys on the side. I tried last year in Ottawa and missed, and this year’s was closer so maybe if I get another chance it’ll be in.”

Winger Shane Prince happened to be walking by during the interview, jokingly adding “yeah, Petr’s gonna score a game winner for us in the playoffs!”

As for the celebrations, those weren’t so pre-meditated. “Before the game I didn’t think, I can do something like this. I’m almost always a quiet guy so I don’t know why I did it”, he said with a chuckle. When asked if he would ever have a similar liveliness if Ottawa found themselves in a big game, he simply responded “I don’t know, we’ll see what happens in the playoffs. It happened in the situation (at the juniors).”

His game against the United States was amazing, but Mrazek may have topped it, although in a slightly more relaxed way, in the quarterfinals against the Russians. Unfortunately, his 43-save performance was marred by a controversial overtime goal. Many felt that the Russians should have been given a high-sticking penalty right before the overtime winner. Petr, however wishes that they had won the game before it even got to that point.

“It was a little tough, but we had a great chance to score on a 4-on-3 powerplay.”

The 2010 draft choice of the Detroit Red Wings still won goaltender of the tournament to go along with a 5th place finish in the tournament. Now that he’s back, it’s all about doing everything to win a championship with Ottawa.

“I think every moment I enjoyed there with the guys on the ice off the ice. We had fun, we had a great team so every minute of the tournament, I enjoyed it. This is last chance to win something here in junior so I will try my best.”

Dating back to December 10th’s game in Sudbury, Mrazek has been on a hot streak, allowing just two goals in his last three starts and collecting a shutout in his first game back against the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. ”That was a pretty nice shutout, my first game in Ottawa after World Championships but now it’s over and now I have to start thinking for the next games.”

Despite being a star in Alberta, Ottawa’s netminder never lost sight of the team he plays for in junior. Petr wore a 67’s logo on the back of his Czech Republic mask and followed the team whenever he could. “I watched one game against Kingston when they lost 5-2 but I just checked out on the website how the guys played because a couple of games weren’t available.”

Finally, he touched on the recent trades that his team has made. “Absolutely, that’s two top players (John McFarland and Mike Cazzola), so I think they can really help us.”

In the three games (vs. Canada, Finland and Russia) that the Czech Republic lost, the team only scored one goal. When they did score in bunches, Petr Mrazek did his part to ensure the win. If he keeps up his performance, mixed in with Ottawa’s high-powered offense, the 67’s could find themselves challenging for an OHL Championship.

Ottawa Adds Cazzola, Dubois Out, Toffoli Player Of The Week

2012-01-10T20:20:00.000-05:00

The Ottawa 67’s have made the final adjustments to their roster as the trade deadline has passed and overaged Center Mike Cazzola is on his way to the Nation’s Capital. Ottawa also gets a 12th round pick this summer and gives up a package of draft selections; 5th rounder in 2013 2nd rounder in 2014 and a 7th rounder in 2015. Cazzola, a center who’s name was linked in rumours with the 67’s all season (note the section at the bottom of this article about Erie), has racked up nine points in twelve on the Erie Otters who have spent the season in 20th place.

This move comes at the expense of overaged forward Ben Dubois. Ottawa released him shortly after the trade which is no doubt a very hard pill to swallow. Without Dubois, Ottawa is losing a hard-working, penalty-killing forward that won the Memorial Cup as a rookie with Windsor. Ultimately, the Belle River native lost out to the number game. Forwards such as Remy Giftopoulos, Nicholas Foglia and natural defenceman-turned-forward Taylor Fielding don’t take an overaged spot and can play on Ottawa’s bottom two lines.

With Cazzola, the 67’s add more scoring depth to an already offensive attack. For the first time this season, Ottawa is now four lines deep at center with Sean Monahan, Tyler Graovac, Foglia and Cazzola. The recently acquired John McFarland is also a capable center, giving Ottawa a solid four lines even if the injury bug hits them up the middle again.

Cazolla is expected to make his debut Friday night when the 67’s take on the Peterborough Petes at home. We want to wish Ben Dubois all the best in his future endeavours, and we welcome Mike Cazzola as Ottawa hopefully makes a run for a championship.

Finally, congratulations go out to Tyler Toffoli who was awared OHL Player of the Week for his five goals and five assists in three games this past weekend. Another feather in the cap of Ottawa’s top scorer. Toffoli only sits one point back of Tanner Pearson for the OHL lead.

Smith leads 67’s to 7-2 win over Bulls

2012-01-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Dalton Smith scored his first career hat trick to lead the Ottawa 67’s to a 7-2 romping over the Belleville Bulls Friday night.

With Petr Mrazek returning late Friday night and Malcolm Subban recovering from a groin injury, both teams were without their number one goaltender. Michael Nishi stole the show making 38 saves on the night while John Chartrand had a rougher night letting in 7 goals on 31 shots.

Shane Prince opened the scoring after picking the pocket of sophomore Dylan Corson along the halfboards and wristing it in the high slot past Chartrand. Under 1 minute later on the penalty kill, Tyler Toffoli made a great move to get past the Bulls’ defender and his shot just squeaked past the goaltender which seemed to rattle Chartrand.

Feeding off the tense goaltender, the 67’s would score two quick goals in the final minute of the first period after a series of unfortunate events for the Bulls. Smith picked up his first goal of the night after grabbing the rebound off Cody Ceci’s point shot. Moments later, Prince scored his second of the game off a turnover in the offensive zone.

The Bulls seemed to regroup in the second period and outshot the 67’s 17-10 for the 20 minutes. With Tyler Graovac off in the box for interference, Austen Brassard rifled a shot over the shoulder of Nishi blocker side to break the shutout bid and extend his goal scoring streak to 6 games and his point streak to 9 games.

In the third period, Alex Carnevale made a nifty move to deke the defender and goaltender to cut the 67’s lead in half. It looked as if the Bulls were making another comeback, but they could not generate any more offense.

Just over one minute later, the 67’s responded. Toffoli, Monahan and Smith combined in a beautiful tic-tac-toe play as Smith tipped the puck top corner and in the net to regain a 3 goal lead. The high flying 67’s offense was too much for the Bulls to handle as Smith and Ceci add one more each to round out the scoring.

Click here for the game sheet.

NEXT UP:
The 67’s will travel to Belleville for the second of the home-and-home series tonight at 7:05pm.

NOTES: Ottawa was 1 for 2 on the powerplay while Belleville went 1 for 3 … Tyler Toffoli jumps into first place overall in OHL goal scorers with 31 goals while Monahan moves into a tie in 5th with 23 goals … Austen Brassard extends his goal scoring streak to 6 games and his point streak to 9 games .… Adam Payerl’s point streak ends at 5 games after he was held scoreless … Joseph Cramarossa had an assist in his Bulls debut after being acquired from Mississauga … Ottawa acquired forward John McFarland from Saginaw in exchange for rookie forward David Perklin & a 4th round pick … Petr Mrazek flew into Ottawa late Friday night … Petr Mrazek and McFarland are expected to be in the lineup tonight.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Sean Monahan

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

Dalton Smith had a solid night - any it didn't involve punching anyone! He obviously scored - and scored often....but he was also hitting hard, battling through attempts knock him off the puck, standing his ground in front of the net and pressing hard in the offensive zone to regain possession. Great all around game for him.
Tyler Toffoli was really distributing the puck - earning 4 assists in the process, and he was doing his share of pocket-picking as well. A good 5-point night for him.
The Bulls had a goal in the last first period waived off as Payerl was called for goal tender interference.
The 67's really backed off in the second period which allowed the Bulls to take over the play. But as soon as the Bulls scored their second goal, you could see the 67's step it up to regain control.
Over-ager Daniel Broussard has been suspended for 8 games for using a banned substance. The OHL announcement states that it was in a supplement he was using. I chatted with Neil Hoch, the team athletic trainer about this last year when this happened to other OHL players. Teams speak with their players about this every year and provide assistance to ensure that players know what they are consuming. This was very avoidable.

Pictures from the game:
Some of the dads were in town as part of "Men's Night" at the game. Jacob Blair has been backing up Michael Nishi while Petr Mrazek has been at the World Juniors Rookie Mike Vlajkov
Click here to see more pictures from the game.

67's Acquire McFarland from Saginaw for Perklin, 4th

2012-01-06T18:00:00.000-05:00

Any 67’s fans remember this game? Well, get ready to see some more of the “McFarland Show”. The 67’s came to an agreement with the Saginaw Spirit at the tail end of a trade-filled Thursday to send rookie David Perklin and a fourth round draft choice in 2014 in exchange for John McFarland. The deal was officially announced Friday morning.

It’s still unknown whether McFarland will line up as a center or right winger, but all along Ottawa was expected to be in the market for a top-line center to play alongside Shane Prince and Tyler Toffoli. There couldn’t have been a better option than Saginaw’s second top scorer and Toffoli’s linemate with the Toronto Junior Canadiens in 2008.

This trade should give Perklin an ample opportunity to get more playing time. Since being taken in the first round of the 2011 draft by the 67’s, Perklin hardly found himself getting top-six forward minutes and very little, if any, special teams time. With every game that passed, Perklin seemed to improve, finishing more checks and getting into scoring areas, but unfortunately, he was still unable to register a point in his 31 games in Ottawa.

In four seasons in the OHL, McFarland split time with the Sudbury Wolves and Spirit where he amassed 86 goals, 95 assists and 170 penalty minutes in 207 games played. In 22 career playoff games, he added 16 points. Although Saginaw is only one point of the playoffs in the West, they are clearly in sell mode, having also dealt Captain Ryan O’Connor back to the Barrie Colts earlier in the week.

McFarland is expected to join the Barberpoles for tomorrow night’s game in Belleville. We want to wish David Perklin the best of luck as he heads south of the border and welcome John McFarland as the newest member of your Ottawa 67’s.

Petr Mrazek Helps Lead Czech Republic over United States in Alberta

2012-01-01T15:37:00.001-05:00

When the IIHF’s World Men’s Under-20 championship is played during the holiday season, all eyes in this country focus on the young men in red and white; Team Canada. But every now and then, a performance is so outstanding or so unique, that it’s impossible to ignore. On December 30th, 2011, that performance came from Czech Republican and Ottawa 67’s goaltender Petr Mrazek.

When it appeared that the favoured American squad had the Czechs on the ropes, Mrazek stood his ground. After one period of play, he had stopped 18 shots in comparison to USA’s Jack Campbell, who had made five. The score was 1-1. By the second period, that total was up to 32 saves for the Vitkovice native. This time, it was a 2-2 tie.

To fully describe the situation in the final minutes of the third period would be nearly impossible. If you have 20-40 minutes to spare, I suggest checking out the third period, or at least the final 10 minutes, on TSN’s Video On Demand. Whether you like the Czechs or not, I believe it’s impossible for 67’s fans to watch the end of this game without forming a huge smile.

Mrazek may or may not have caused Josh Archibald to go too wide on a penalty shot – either way he was credited with a save. He responded with an emphatic fist pump, the same celebration that was booed by Canadian fans just two nights before after he stopped Canadian Senators prospect Mark Stone on a penalty shot. This time, it sent the pro-Czech Edmonton fans into a frenzy.

The Czechs survived a pair of wild goal-mouth scrambles before blowing the game open with two goals less than a minute and a half apart. On the goal that gave them a 4-2 lead, Tomas Filippi’s second of the contest, the goaltender joined the celebration by diving over the pile of Czech players. Mrazek was going insane and the fans joined in on his enthusiasm.

To top off the night, the energetic netminder fired the puck down the ice and missed the net by mere inches in the final two minutes. Still, Mrazek received a standing ovation for his efforts and, as the final buzzer sounded to give his side a 5-2 win (Petr Holik added an empty netter), lead a celebration that somehow surpassed his previous antics.

There’s still a somewhat unfortunate side to this. Firstly, as Petr was named the player of the game in a 5-0 loss to Team Canada, he was no longer eligible to win player of the game again in the preliminary round despite his 52-save performance. Holik received the honours instead.

It’s also unfortunate that while Mrazek has had his share of memorable games in an Ottawa uniform, he’s never been able to showcase it the way he did on that afternoon. Due to political reasons and a transferring fee with his hometown team, the 19-year old who sits second in the Ontario Hockey League in wins with 16 had to wait until this season to play on a world stage. Better late than never, though, I suppose.

Furthermore, Ottawa isn’t generally a team that garners the attention of the light-casual junior hockey fan. For Canadian supporters who don’t watch CHL hockey with regularity, they’re attracted to highly touted NHL draft picks (Jonathan Huburdeau with Saint John last year, Taylor Hall with Windsor, John Tavares with Oshawa/London) or outstanding performances on national television (Erie Otters goaltender Jaroslav Janus for Slovakia in 2009, Portland Winterhawks forward Nino Niederreiter for Switzerland in 2010).

The argument could be made that Logan Couture was a high-level prospect despite never being invited to Canada's junior camp, but Ottawa was never a team with a large bandwagon following. As for national exposure, the 67’s haven’t sent a representative to the Canadian Under-20 team since Brendan Bell went to Halifax/Cape Breton for the 2003 tournament. Even when they were represented in past years, it was usually for non-medaling European countries (Adam Sedlak for Czech Republic last season). This season, the pattern continued, as Tyler Toffoli and Cody Ceci were cut from Team Canada and Shane Prince was cut from Team USA.

Perhaps that’s what makes this event so much more special. Ottawa isn’t used to being in the junior hockey limelight, especially since Brian Kilrea stepped down as coach. Yet the analysts on TSN, known for repeatedly mentioning junior teams no matter what level of hockey they’re showcasing, made sure that fans across the country knew where Mrazek played in the regular season. Every time he had an elaborate celebration, the “67” on the back of his mask was shown to everyone who had tuned in.

In Mrazek’s absence, Michael Nishi has put up some good numbers of his own, allowing one goal in Ottawa’s last two games vs. Kingston and Peterborough. When Mrazek and Shayne Campbell (injury) return, Ottawa is going to have tremendous depth in between the pipes.

Despite losing to Canada and Finland, the Czech’s finish third in Group B and will face the Russians in tomorrow night’s quarterfinals at 9PM. Do Petr Mrazek and the Czech Republic have another upset, maybe two, maybe three, left in them? As long as they aren’t playing against Team Canada, I’m sure Ottawa fans will be rooting for the Czechs the rest of the way.

67’s shut out Petes in 2-0

2011-12-31T08:41:00.000-05:00

Prince scored his second goal in 2 games after being cut from Team USA.

Peterborough Petes goaltender Mike Morrison made 42 saves tonight, but it wasn’t enough to knock off the high flying Ottawa 67’s. Notwithstanding some great saves, the Petes lost 2-0 against their division rivals.

Despite having three regulars returned from World Junior camps in Alberta, including Cody Ceci, Shane Prince and OHL leading goal scorer Tyler Toffoli, the 67’s were unable to set an offensive tone early in the game.

It would seem as if the 67’s were holding their sticks too tight and tallied hitting 5 posts and 1 at the side of the net throughout the game. Morrison gave up limited rebounds and kept his team in the game including a solid performance in the second period where his team was outshot 20-8.

On the other side of the ice, Michael Nishi stood on his head when he needed to but that wasn’t very often. One of the Petes best chances of the night came at the midway point when JC Campagna caught a piece of the puck, beat Nishi, but trickled to the goal post and out.

It wasn’t until the 12:49 mark in the 3rd period when Shane Prince broke Morrison’s shutout bid after circling the net and firing the puck off a quick wrist shot. Dalton Smith would seal the deal with an empty netter with under a minute left in the game.

With 10 regulars out of the line-up, the Petes did an exceptional job at limiting the 67’s to two goals. Notable players missing in action were Austin Watson (Team USA – U20), Slater Koekkoek (shoulder injury), Matt Puempel (suspension) and rookies Nick Ritchie & Stephen Nosad (Team Ontario – U17).

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Jake Cardwell

Click here to see the game sheet.

NOTES
Petr Mrazek stopped 52 shots in Czech Republic’s 5-2 win over Team USA at the World Juniors U20 tournament in Edmonton … Nick Ritchie and Stephen Nosad combined for 4 assists in Team Ontario’s 7-2 victory over Sweden at the U17 tournament in Windsor … Sean Monahan & Andrew Yogan’s 3 game point streaks end as both were hold pointless.

NEXT GAME
Up next for the Petes is a game Sunday afternoon match up against the Sudbury Wolves at 2:05pm. The 67’s travel down the 401 to Kingston to take on the Frontenacs at the K-Rock Centre at 2:00pm

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens

Tyler Graovac returned to the line up again after taking more time to recover from mono.
David Perklin looked a little rattled after a hit along the boards late in the third period. Not sure he returned to the ice.
This game sure looked slow after watching the World Juniors.
Speaking of the World Juniors, the media room was in a bit of a buzz on the news that the Czech Republic had beaten the USA and that Petr Mrazek made 52 (!!) saves.

Pictures from the Game:

Micheal Nishi gloving the puck in one of his saves

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Giftopolous leads 67’s to 4-1 win over Frontenacs

2011-12-28T23:15:00.001-05:00

OTTAWA – Igor Bobkov made 36 saves but it wasn’t enough as the Ottawa 67’s defeated the Kingston Frontenacs by a score of 4-1 in OHL action tonight.

With Cody Ceci, Tyler Toffoli and Shane Prince returning from their respective World Junior camps, the Ottawa 67’s were able to ice a full line up. However, still missing from the World Juniors was all-star goaltender Petr Mrazek & Michal Cajkovsky.

Remy Giftopolous opened the scoring after a Jake Cardwell point shot trickled to the side of Bobkov. Giftopolous grabbed the rebound and tapped in for the first lead of the game. The 67’s continued to put on pressure and Bobkov continued to make save after save until Shane Prince got a hold of an errant puck and made a beautiful feed to Sean Monahan who was waiting in the slot.

Cody Alcock responded for the Kingston Frontenacs off a shot Michael Nishi would like to have back. The Fronts centre shot the puck from the blueline, Nishi got a piece of it but went over his shoulder stick side. It was 2-1 67’s after one period.

Off a great individual effort early in the second period, Giftopolous scored his second of the game after picking up the puck off the half boards and skating it all the way into the offensive zone with a nice wraparound goal to end the play.

The Fronts couldn’t seem to get things going offensively and despite the 23 shots on net, they were unable to solve Nishi for a second time.

On the other end of the ice, Bobkov made a couple great saves off scoring chances including one big one off of Giftopolous’ hat trick attempt.

With less than 4 minutes left in the game David Mazurek got caught with two handed slash on the Ottawa forward which led to a 67’s powerplay. Shane Prince rounded out the scoring after he wired a shot from the high slot and past Bobkov.

NEXT UP
The Ottawa 67’s are back in action Friday night at the J Benson Cartage Centre when they host the Peterborough Petes at 7:30pm. The Kingston Frontenacs are back at home Friday night hosting the high flying Oshawa Generals at 7:30pm.

WJC U-20 Update: Prince Gets Cut

2011-12-26T10:44:00.001-05:00

The Ottawa 67’s are going to have their top line intact for their next matchup, but it’s surely a small consolation for wingers Tyler Toffoli, cut from Canada’s World Under-20 squad last week, and Shane Prince, who was cut by the United States National Junior Squad last week.

As was the case with Toffoli and Cody Ceci being cut by Canada, the release of Prince by the USA has to be a hard pill to swallow. Prince could have been a key player on an American team looking to get back into the gold medal game this season, but instead found himself on the outside looking in.

While the United States typically lean towards NCAA players, this year would have given Prince as good a chance as any as a record seven CHLers were selected to represent Canada’s southern rivals. On the left wing, Prince lost out to Brandon Saad of the Saginaw Spirit. Saad started the season with the Chicago Blackhawks before being sent back to the junior ranks, so his making the team is not much of a surprise.

Last season, after being totally snubbed by team Canada and not even receiving an invite to camp, Toffoli responded by lighting up the Kingston Frontenacs with five goals in a 9-0 win. Fans around the OHL compared it to the situation in 2009 when Logan Couture, also with the 67’s, was snubbed and went on a torrid pace after the holidays. While Toffoli and Prince were actually invited to their respective camps this season, it’s entirely possible that missing out on the World Juniors could light a fire under them.

It’s not as though the tandem needs a fire under them. Toffoli is third in the league with 54 points while Prince, despite missing a considerable amount of time with a shoulder injury, is tied for 27th in league scoring with 36 points. If they can keep this rate, especially while other team’s stars are playing on the world stage, the 67’s will most certainly find themselves competing for the top spot in the OHL. Right now, Ottawa leads the Eastern Conference, still trailing London and Plymouth in the West by six and two points respectively.

Toffoli and Prince’s line mate for most of the season, Sean Monahan, is a World Junior hopeful for next season. The Brampton native is ninth in league scoring as a 17-year old and is regarded as a potential top pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Canada typically recruits 19-year olds, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Monahan get at least an invite. Ceci, unless he makes it to the NHL right out of the draft, is likely to make the Canadian squad next season after being one of the last cuts this season, also as a 17-year old.

Defenceman Michal Cajkovsky (Slovakia) and goaltender Petr Mrazek (Czech Republic) will play in the tournament this year in Alberta. The three North American players are expected in the lineup when the 67’s return to action against the Kingston Frontenacs on December 28th. Here’s hoping that Ceci, Prince and Toffoli can continue their tremendous play from now until the end of the season.

Depleted 67's Lose in OT; Brampton 2, Ottawa 1

2011-12-17T06:46:00.000-05:00

On a night where the 67’s played against the very defensively minded Brampton Battalion, only dressed 16 skaters and had a defenceman line up as their starting right winger, offensive hockey wasn’t to be expected on Friday night. Ottawa still managed 39 shots on the Battalion, 38 of which were turned aside by Brampton’s Keegan Wilson in a 2-1 overtime win for the Troops.

With less than a minute remaining in the extra frame, Battalion forward Michael Santini took the puck off the stick of Sean Monahan, sending himself in on a breakaway where he beat Petr Mrazek. Mrazek made 26 saves in the loss, which puts Brampton atop the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Ottawa.

Brandon Robinson had the other goal for Brampton who improved to 19-10-1-3, beating the 67’s in all three meetings this season. The Battalion won 3-2 in a shootout at home in November, and also beat Ottawa 4-1 at the J. Benson Cartage Center in October, a game marred and interrupted by fog on the ice.

Ottawa opened the scoring on a bizarre first-period goal. Cam Wind of the Battalion, trying to lean on Tyler Toffoli, lost his balance and fell into the net, putting the puck past his own goaltender Wilson in the process. Toffoli, playing in his first game since being cut by Canada’s Under-20 National Junior team, was not credited with the goal, but rather Dalton Smith, who had sent the puck down the ice to start the play, got credit for his sixth of the year.

Both Toffoli and Cody Ceci were returning from Alberta where they barely missed out on the National Junior Squad. Ottawa was without Shane Prince (USA) and Michal Cajkovsky (Slovakia) missed the game as they’re attending their respective countries’ camps. Mrazek is expected to be an integral part of the Czech Republic U-20 squad.

The 67’s have another long gap between home games, as December 28th is the next time Ottawa plays at home. They are in Barrie tomorrow and Oshawa on Sunday before a ten-day stoppage.

The Game Sheet can be found here

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200 (2nd star Mrazek didn't take a turn)

Hardest Working 67's: David Perklin

Game Pictures:

Remy Giftopolous battling through some Battalion players

David Perklin

Dalton Smith with one of many scoring chances by the 67's

Click here for more pictures.

WJC U-20 Update: Toffoli and Ceci Get Cut

2011-12-14T21:15:00.000-05:00

For the ninth year in a row, there will be no members of the Ottawa 67’s donning the Hockey Canada jersey during the holiday season. Unfortunately, Canada’s World Men’s Under-20 squad cut Ottawa defenceman Cody Ceci and right winger Tyler Toffoli on Wednesday morning.

There was some hope heading into today that the two had a legitimate shot. Both players survived the first round of cuts on Tuesday morning. Ceci impressed in the intra-squad games while Toffoli scored twice in Tuesday night’s exhibition game against the CIS All-Stars. It wasn’t enough, however, for head coach Don Hay and his staff. With these cuts being made, Brendan Bell is still the last 67 to represent Canada at the Juniors in 2003.

Five NHL first-round picks (Nathan Beaulieu, Brandon Gormley, Dougie Hamilton, Jamie Oleksiak and Mark Pysyk) will patrol the Canadian blueline. Scott Harrington of the London Knights, a second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, rounds out the top three pairings. Ceci may have been given a lot of consideration for the seventh spot on defence, but was beat out by another 2012-draft eligible defenceman, Ryan Murray.

The fact that a 17-year old Ceci beat out first round picks Duncan Siemens and Stuart Percy just to get to camp is beyond impressive and a pleasant surprise for Ottawa fans. Although he’s slated to be a first rounder himself in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, and even though he’s big and talented enough to get a shot in the NHL next year, if Ceci returns to the 67’s, look for him to be a near-lock for Canada’s team in 2013.

Missing the team may have been slightly harder on 19-year old Toffoli, who leads the OHL in goals with 27. During the Subway Super Series, the Ottawa sniper played on a line with Tanner Pearson and Mark Scheifele of the Barrie Colts. The two Colts both made Team Canada and are expected to make up two-thirds of the top line, but it appears Canada didn’t want to keep the line together from a couple of weeks ago.

With wingers Brett Connolly of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Devonte Smith-Pelly of the Anaheim Ducks being loaned to Team Canada by their respective NHL teams, the odds were already against Toffoli. Niagara’s Freddie Hamilton, who had a hat-trick in the OHL vs. Russia game in Ottawa, also made the team as a right winger.

As disappointing as it is that no 67’s will be playing for the U-20’s host country, this year’s tournament shouldn’t be without it’s representation from Ottawa. Petr Mrazek (Czech Republic), Shane Prince (United States) and Michal Cajkovsky (Slovakia) are all expected to take part.

67's Weekend Wrapup - December 5th

2011-12-05T21:15:00.000-05:00

This week, the Ottawa 67’s found themselves not only left out of the CHL top-10 rankings, but also without a spot in the ranking’s “honourable mention”. Ottawa (17-7-3-1) did win two of three games this weekend, but couldn’t pull ahead of the Belleville Bulls to regain first in the East Division and Eastern Conference. Both teams are tied with 38 points, but Belleville leads the tiebreaker with 19 wins and also has a game in hand.

December 2nd vs. Windsor: 4-3 Ottawa (OT)
Decemer 3rd @ Peterborough: 7-6 Ottawa (SO)
December 4th @ Mississauga: 5-2 Mississauga

The biggest story of the weekend for the Barberpoles was left winger Dalton Smith. Smith proved this weekend that not only does he deserve to be considered in the upper echelon of Ontario Hockey League heavyweight fighters, but also that he seems to kick his game into a new gear after a good scrap.

On Friday night, the Ottawa enforcer took on Windsor Spitfires rookie and OHL penalty minute leader Ty Bilcke on National Television. The spirited fight caused Bilcke to go the dressing room, blood dripping from his nose, while Smith looked no worse for wear. Bilckie did return to the game, but Smith clearly had a bigger impact, scoring a controversial goal in overtime to give Ottawa a 4-3 win.

The next night in Peterborough, Smith fought Derek Mathers, second in the league in penalty minutes only behind Bilcke. Again, there was no decisive winner, but Smith held his own and landed some solid punches. In the third period, Smith scored a nice shorthanded goal to give the 67’s a 5-4 lead. He also went on to score the shootout winner.

Up to this weekend, it has to have been a frustrating season for Smith, a second-round pick of the Columus Blue Jackets. He was suspended ten games for running Belleville goaltender Malcolm Subban, and upon his return, the natural winger was moved into the center position for a few games. Furthermore, very few opponents wanted to drop the gloves with Smith. After how he fared this weekend, it’s easy to see why there aren’t too many willing combatants.

Rookie Ryan Van Stralen also pitched in with a goal on Friday night after dropping the gloves with Windsor’s Nick Czinder.

Ottawa’s top line continued to impress. Sean Monahan had a hat-trick and a shootout marker on Saturday night, and added another three assists on the weekend. Shane Prince had three goals and two assists, his first goal sending down a barrage of teddy bears for the annual Teddy Bear Toss. Shockingly, Tyler Toffoli didn’t register a goal this week, but he still leads the league in goals by a considerable amount with 26. What’s more impressive is that all of Ottawa’s lines are scoring as well. Nicholas Foglia, Cody Ceci and Ben Dubois were also goal scorers for the 67’s.

The most worrisome part of the weekend was the fact that teams seemed to be able to score on Ottawa in bunches. Windsor lead 3-1 after one period on Friday night with Alexander Khokhlachev scoring just 15 seconds into the game. Peterborough was able to erase a 3-1 deficit in the first period and also scored twice in the final two minutes to send the game to overtime. Today, Mississauga took a 3-0 lead in the first 15 minutes.

But by the same token, Ottawa’s resiliency was something to take note of. They were able to come back and win on Friday, were able to win after losing a late two-goal lead on Saturday, and even though they lost in Mississauga, played to the final buzzer and outshot the home side 37-21 on the afternoon. The Majors lead 5-1 after two periods, but Ottawa had a strong effort in the third, registering 15 shots to Mississauga’s four. Ceci also scored his 6th of the season early in the frame, but it was too late to mount a comeback.

Petr Mrazek stood between the pipes for the entirety of the first two games and came in to relieve Michael Nishi in the second period on Sunday. Mrazek looked to be shaken up after taking a slapshot to the mask in the third period in Peterborough, but he remained in the game and held on to help Ottawa win in the shootout.

Ottawa will be without their starting goalie this upcoming weekend as he heads to Czech Republic’s World Under-20 camp. Toffoli and Ceci will both head to Team Canada’s camp, while Michal Cajkovsky is heading to Slovakia’s camp and Prince is has been named to Team USA.

Ottawa heads to northwest Ontario this upcoming weekend, playing in Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury on December 9th and 10th. They return home on the 16th to take on the Brampton Battalion.

67's Battle Back for a Controversial OT Win over Windsor

2011-12-03T07:33:00.001-05:00

By Kathryn Jean

It wasn’t all fun and games right away for the home team. With only 15 seconds into the game, Alexander Khokhlachev scored on Petr Mrazek after the 67’s were unable to clear the zone.

The 67’s would tie it up less than three minutes later when Shane Prince slid the puck through the legs of John Cullen on the right side. This sparked thousands of teddy bears being launched from the stands to signify the home team’s first goal. All those teddy bears will be donated to local kids.

The Spitfires continued to press until Brandon Devlin shot the puck past Mrazek and it landed in the back of the net just over a minute later.

After the three quick goals, things started to get heated. Dalton Smith and Ty Bilcke squared off in a lengthy battle with Smith coming out victorious. A couple minutes later, after taking exception to a hit Ryan Van Stralen and Nick Czinder dropped the gloves with Czinder falling over from not being balanced.

With a screened Mrazek, Brady Vail fired a shot from the slot which jumped over Mrazek stick high on the blocker side and in. Play continued at both sides of the ice. Ryan Van Stralen notched his third of the season with a wrist shot from the faceoff dot – the puck flew top shelf past Cullen with 3 minutes to go in the second.

The two teams continued to press with Windsor controlling portions of the play and the 67’s being lucky that the posts made a couple of saves. Midway through the third, the 67’s caught a break when Nicholas Foglia grabbed a loose rebound from Steven Janes shot and tapped it past Cullen to tie the game at 3.

The Spitfires had a great chance to get the go ahead goal after a questionable tripping call on Shane Prince had the home team fans up in arms. The 67’s only allowed one shot on net and impressively created a couple of shorthanded chances themselves. They were able to hang on to force overtime.

The 67’s may have gotten some luck back the other way. During the huge scramble in front of the net Dalton Smith grabbed the puck scored the eventual overtime winner with the goaltender down without his helmet. The back referee called it a goal right away but for extra measures, it went to a lengthy review. In the end, it was a good goal and the 67’s started of their weekend on a high note.

Click here to see the game sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Ryan Van Stralen

Next Game:
The Ottawa 67’s face the Peterborough Petes tomorrow night at 7:05pm at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. The Windsor Spitfires continue their road trip taking on the Belleville Bulls tomorrow night at 7:05pm at the Yardmen Arena.

News & Notes: Sean Monahan picked up an assist to keep his 3 game scoring streak alive … Brett Gustavsen and Tyler Graovac are still nursing a cold … Shayne Campbell has been cleared to work out after recovering from surgery … Ryan MacLean was added to the 67’s lineup and looks to be travelling with the team this weekend … John Cullen was visibly upset and tried to approach the referees after the final call. He tweeted, “I didn't know I was playing in the 1940's tonight where goalies don't wear helmets. Games on the line & the ref decides to sit on his whistle”. What Cullen forgot to mention was that the rest of rule states “…play shall only be stopped if there is no immediate or impending scoring opportunity.” It’s a tough loss.

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

Got to give the 67's credit for playing (albeit inconsistently) for the entire game. Another come from behind victory. This one they really had to grind out.
The 67's were emotionally flat in the first period. Even Dalton Smith's decisive tilt with Ty Bilcke didn't spark much emotion. It took them a while to get their game-day mojo going.
After the Smith-Bilcke tilt there was some confusion with gear. As he was sorting himself out, Dalton was short an elbow pad. Neither bench had it and finally Windsor's Czinder (who was in the Windsor sin-bin) found an extra elbow pad and tossed it across (over the timekeepers) to Dalton. I wonder why more gear doesn't end up in the wrong spot after some of these tilts. Helmets and gloves are pretty obvious I guess but other gear isn't (clear mouth guards for example).
In the second period, they started getting their game going and were doing everything but scoring.
Man the Windsor bench bosses are vocal - especially Assistant Coach D.J. Smith. You could see some of his kids continually looking at the bench for instructions.
The World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton and Calgary is coming and countries are starting to work on their rosters. Tyler Toffoli and Cody Ceci have been invited to the Canadian selection camp which starts on December 10th. It looks like Michal Cajkovsky will be playing for Slovakia. Shane Prince looks like a lock on Team USA which will be announced on Monday. And finally, the Czech Republic has come to its senses and ended the extortion his former team was attempting with Petr Mrazek. He has been cleared to play for his country. Good luck to everyone.
Some folks didn't toss their teddy bears at the appointed time but instead tossed them during (and at the end of) the game. A few more teddy's going to kids charities.
Click here to see SportsNet's video recap of the game.

Pictures from the game:

Some of the many teddy bears that were tossed on the ice for the first Ottawa goal of the game. Dalton Smith's tilt with Ty Bilcke. No contest - Smith gets the call Ryan McLean was called up to replace missing bodies. I suspect he will stay until the end of the World Junior's. Rookie David Perklin battling in the Windsor zone. Nick Foglia with the tying goal. The controversial end to the game. Click here to see more pictures.

Previewing Ottawa's Teddy Bear Toss

2011-12-01T20:53:00.000-05:00

As most Ottawa 67's fans know by now, the ice surface at the J Benson Cartage center will be littered with stuffed animals at some point tomorrow night. The 67’s take on the visiting Windsor Spitfires at 7:00 on Friday; as opposed to the usual 7:30 start. While hockey fans across the country can watch the game on national television (Sportsnet), fans in the building can help a great cause with a fun promotion. The Teddy Bear Toss.

Those in attendance are encouraged to bring stuffed animals and, following Ottawa’s first goal of the night, throw them over the glass. It causes a short delay in the game, but all of the animals are picked up and dropped off for the Salvation Army. From there, SA’s toy department distributes the contributions to assorted hospitals and shelters across the city, giving them to the less fortunate in time for the holiday season.

For the casual hockey fan, or non-hockey fan, this concept may seem bizarre. But it’s not the first or last time this promo will take place. In fact, it’s becoming more and more prominent at the Junior level of hockey. The Erie Otters got in on the tradition well in advance of the holidays, hosting their Teddy Bear Toss in November. Kitchener, London and Windsor will be hosting theirs in the next couple of weeks.

This event has taken off in the OHL. It’s also spread to the American Hockey league. If it weren’t for most NHL rinks being two-to-four levels high, this would probably become a tradition even at hockey’s highest league.

Although Wikipedia claims that this custom began in Ontario, its true origins come from the WHL. As such, these games have a much larger turnout – in fans and in teddy bears. Teams in that league have traded turns at holding the record for most bears collected. The Calgary Hitmen are believed to be the current leader, after they collected nearly 27, 000 teddy bears for charity in December of 2007.

Will Ottawa be in the running for a CHL record this Friday night? Well, it’s unlikely, simply because of how huge the toss is in Western hockey. But the 67’s have added another promotion for Friday’s game that should draw some more casual fans - $1 hot dogs and $1 pop. Last season, Travis Gibbons scored against Belleville to start the festivities. With Gibbons no longer a 67, who will step up and send the toys raining down for Ottawa?

Moving On Without Martindale

2011-11-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

By Alex Quevillon
While the Ottawa 67’s may find themselves atop the Eastern Conference standings, they face a considerable problem at the center position. It isn’t a lack of talent that’s troubling the Barberpoles, it’s the fact that they don’t have enough natural centers. And it’s a problem that could have been easily solved by a familiar face.

Two weekends ago, Ottawa did not have a single player in the lineup that was listed as a center to start the season. Tyler Graovac has missed a considerable amount of this early season with flu-like symptoms and hasn’t returned from his second such ailment since November 18th. Sean Monahan recently returned from a concussion after missing a couple of weeks. Nicholas Foglia has played the center position this year despite being listed as a right winger at the beginning of the year.

Over the past two months, Ottawa has used an excess of natural wingers and played them as centers. Remy Giftoupolous spent a lot of time last weekend centering Shane Prince and Tyler Toffoli. Brett Gustavsen and Ben Dubois seem to have found a spot down the middle. Even Dalton Smith played a couple of games centering Steven Janes and Ryan Van Stralen.

The 67's roster still includes one more center. Ryan Martindale.

Now, looking back, fans of the 67’s had large expectations for their team this campaign. A first-round sweep at the hands of the Sudbury Wolves was hard to swallow, but supporters could find solace in the hope that 2012 would be Ottawa’s year.

Martindale himself even believed this, telling CTV News on the first day of training camp that he was happy with this year’s group and excited for what was, and still is, predicted to be a long playoff run. The key is that Martindale always used the word “we” when talking about the 67’s. It was a hint that he had planned to spend the year in Ottawa.

Now, it’s nearly the halfway mark of the season and any hope that Martindale will return seems to have completely dwindled away. Even if he was sent back, the 67’s would have to trade away one of their three overagers to comply with OHL restrictions. Of their overagers, none of them would likely be trade-bait. Dubois has been very impressive as of late, Daniel Broussard was acquired less than a month ago and Marc-Anthony Zanetti, named captain at the start of the season, is irreplaceable on this year’s squad.

Martindale was drafted 61st overall in 2010 by the Edmonton Oilers. He spent almost all of last season playing between Prince and Toffoli, forming what was arguably the most dangerous unit in the Ontario Hockey League. Toffoli was drafted just before Martindale by Los Angeles in 2010 while Prince was a 2011 second-rounder to the Ottawa Senators, but neither of the two was eligible to play in the AHL and as such, were almost guaranteed to return.

But Martindale was AHL-eligible. He signed a contract with the Oilers, believing that he would get ice time with Edmonton’s AHL farm team, the Oklahoma Barons. You would be hard pressed to find any 67’s fan that wasn’t proud of him for getting such a great opportunity. It’s always great to see 67’s doing well at the professional level, and the native of Brooklin, Ontario would surely be playing in front of NHL scouts every night in Oklahoma City, maybe even getting a couple of NHL games in this season, right?

Wrong. The day after being signed by Edmonton and assigned to the AHL, Martindale was not in the Barons lineup. Eventually, he wound up with the Stockton Thunder of the East Coast Hockey League. At least he would still be playing professionally and in the Oilers’ system. The problem there is that on some nights, he is not playing at all. After registering four points in 12 games with the Thunder, Martindale started becoming a healthy scratch. Even on October 29th, when Stockton dressed only 15 skaters against the Idaho Steelheads, Martindale was left out of the lineup.

As much as it’s in everyone’s interest to help him further progress at a professional player, you have to wonder whether his current situation is aiding him or if it will prove to be a detriment to his development. What would get Martindale better recognized by scouts and assorted pro ranks? Playing in the ECHL, or playing for a top OHL team? Would Martindale be better off playing in a city where he’s almost guaranteed top-line minutes? Or a city where he isn’t immune to being scratched?

With that being said, perhaps this is the best move for everyone involved. Martindale is learning how to deal with the issues, on- and off-ice, that all professional players have to face. It may not be so glorified, but he is playing at a higher level of hockey than the OHL.

Furthermore, in the past two years, a pair of top prospects returned to junior from the minor leagues and didn’t seem to help their team in the long run. Last season, Brayden Schenn joined his hometown Saskatoon Blades in January. They were swept in the second round of the WHL finals. The previous season, Alex Pietrangelo joined the Barrie Colts at the OHL trade deadline. The Colts went to the finals that year but they, too, were swept, despite being ranked #1 in the country almost all year. Perhaps a Martindale return wouldn’t be best for Ottawa.

Of course, it didn’t appear as though there was any chance of a return from last year’s star center and assistant captain. The 67’s went out and acquired Broussard from the Sarnia Sting to shore up their defence and used up their final overage spot in the process. While the 67’s have still iced a very talented team, finding themselves in the CHL’s top 10 rankings a couple of times as well, you can’t help but think how this season would be different had Martindale been in the lineup, even if he wasn’t sent back until a few games in.

Monahan, who started the season as a 16-year old, is the player benefitting most from Martindale’s departure. The second-year center has made a seamless transition to Ottawa’s top line with Prince and Toffoli. In fact, before his injury, Monahan was considered in the discussion to possibly be a top-3 draft choice in the 2013 NHL draft as he had more points-per-game than Nathan MacKinnon of the Halifax Mooseheads and Max Domi of the London Knights, both expected to be top-5 picks along with the Ottawa center (however MacKinnon is generally ranked #1 by scouting systems).

What if Martindale had made a return, though. Sure, Monahan would have been demoted to the second line, but if the 67’s ended up being an elite team with the addition of Martindale, the sophomore center Monahan would be playing more games on national television, as well as receiving more exposure to scouts. After all, the fact that a player can play on the second line in the OHL while still being a year-and-a-half away from their draft year is still extremely impressive. At worst, Monahan would be playing on the second line, probably alongside Van Stralen, who he had great chemistry with in the pre-season. Perhaps Graovac could join his wing again when all of Ottawa’s centers were healthy.

Last season, the 67’s had a good problem. Although Monahan spent a lot of time on Ottawa’s second unit, he usually had to play beside either Graovac or overaged center Cody Lindsay. They never had a depth issue, but in a three-week span towards the end of the season, Ottawa lost Captain Thomas Nesbitt, goaltender Petr Mrazek, defencemen Julian Luciani and Travis Gibbons, along with Lindsay and Prince to injury. This season, it looks as though the injury bug is hitting Ottawa earlier rather than later. However, what happens if the 67’s are swamped by another late-season slew of injuries? Suddenly, having another center would be very convenient.

As it stands right now, Ryan Martindale is playing professional hockey and the Ottawa 67’s are first place in the Eastern Conference, albeit a conference full of parity. It’s hard to complain about this current position. But at the same time, it’s hard for fans not to imagine how this season may have been different had the 20-year old playmaker returned. Would Ottawa be running away with the Eastern Conference? Could they be a top-10 ranked team in the CHL every week? Tyler Toffoli leads the league with 26 goals, could he have 30 if Martindale was back on his line? Technically, Martindale could still be sent back, but I’m not holding my breath. At this point, all we can do is wonder how different this team may have been with number 77.

67’s fall 5-3 to Generals

2011-11-26T00:53:00.000-05:00

By Kathryn Jean

Josh Graves scored at the 17:10 mark in the third period to help lead the Oshawa Generals to a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa 67’s.

The two teams came out of the gate competing at the same level, but it wasn’t until the 13:05 mark in the 1st period when something tangible happened. After blocking a shot in the Generals zone, Scott Laughton picked up the puck and skated down the other side of the ice creating a 2-on-1 break. With a perfect pass to Christian Thomas, he shot it top shelf over Petr Mrazek for the lead.
In his first game back from missing the last three weeks with a concussion, Sean Monahan grabbed a loose puck and knocked it past Daniel Altshuller to tie the game with 33 seconds gone the second period.

The Gens would respond after Nicklas Jensen scored through traffic on the short side for Oshawa’s second lead of the game. Just over one minute later and with an extra attacker on a delayed call, the 67’s would tie it up off a bullet shot from Remy Giftopolous who was standing high in the slot.

Back-and-forth play continued as both teams had some quality scoring chances for the rest of the game but the goaltenders stood on their heads.

Seven minutes into the final frame, Dalton Smith gave the 67’s their first lead of the game with thanks to some terrific work from Jake Cardwell who deked the Oshawa defender and fed Smith a beautiful lead pass. Again, the Gens would respond under a minute later. Daniel Maggio fired a shot from the point past Mrazek to regain the one goal lead.

Finally, with less than 3 minutes to go in the game, Josh Graves would score as the puck trickled under Mrazek after he stopped a blank shot from Gens newcomer Peter Hermenegildo. Boone Jenner sealed the deal by scoring on the empty net moments later. This marks the 67’s second loss to the Generals this season and moves their head-to-head record to 1-2-0-0.

NEXT GAME:
On Sunday, the 67’s will travel to the K-Rock Centre to face the Kingston Frontenacs at 2pm.
Meanwhile, the Generals will be a little down the 401 taking on the Belleville Bulls, also at 2pm.

Click here for the game sheet.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Dalton Smith

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens

This was not their best effort....by a long shot. Especially after seeing the focus and full-game effort from a very short bench playing their 3rd in three last weekend. We know they have it in them.
With only 9 points separating 1st place from 9th place in the Eastern Conference, every point is important. The teams that will come out on top will be those that play consistently and win. No room for sloppy shifts and mediocre effort. There were more than a few half-hearted efforts in this game.
Telling stat: 6 powerplays, maybe three shots on goal. In total. At least 1 went in.
Full credit to Oshawa...they skated hard, played Ottawa close and were in good positions. They deserved this win.
The league's efforts to raise concussion awareness with players is paying off. If you were wondering about the unusually high number of concussions this year, it's because players are much more comfortable reporting symptoms. This results in the player taking the "concussion" test and if he fails it (does not meet his scores from the baseline taken in the summer), he is off immediately for at least a week. Players currently out due to concussion-like symptoms are Graovac and Perklin. This is good news (in the sense that players are taking their noggin's seriously). Now if Gustavsen would only do his chin strap up properly...
I know it all sounds crabby - it wasn't all bad - there were some good individual efforts in the game. And adversity can build character. It will be interesting how this team responds as various players begin reporting to their national camps in preparation for the World Junior Hockey Championship. Hockey Canada has stated that the selection camp roster will be released on Monday. Tyler Toffoli should get an invitation for Canada. Shane Prince should get the call for Team USA and the 67's have prepared in case Mrazek gets the call for Team Czech Republic.

Pictures: Monahan returned to action The Goalies in solidarity

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

67's power past IceDogs 5-2

2011-11-20T21:56:00.001-05:00

By Kathryn Jean

Tyler Toffoli and Shane Prince combined for 9 points in a 5-2 victory over the Niagara IceDogs in front of a crowd of 6,382 on Canadian Forces Day.

The 67's started out of the gate early scoring 3 goals in the first seven minutes of the game. Tyler Toffoli got the 67's on the board after a nicely executed tic-tac-toe play. Cody Ceci picked up the puck at the half boards and passed it to Shane Prince who fed Toffoli in the slot. Less than two minutes later, Prince gave the 67's a two-goal lead wristing a powerful shot from the hashmarks. And then, just over two minutes later, Prince notched his 2nd of the game and 11th of the season after shooting the puck past Mark Visentin in close on stick side.
After allowing 3 goals on 4 shots, Visentin was quickly pulled and replaced by Christopher Festarini. This mixed up the course of the game and the IceDogs came out stronger after the first period. Festarini was solid when he needed to be, but the story was on the other side of the ice. By the end of two, the IceDogs were leading on the shot clock 28-16. Mrazek had to come up big on a couple of great scoring chances the rest of the game.

One goal got past Festarini when Prince did some great work handling the puck behind the net and snapping it to Toffoli who was right out front. That goal would mark Toffoli’s 2nd of the night.

After coming in fast, Andrew Agozzino roofed it high on Petr Mrazek to get the IceDogs on the board.

The 67’s ran into penalty trouble but were able to keep the damage low until Remy Giftopolous was in the box for hooking. Alex Friesen wired a shot from the point which hit an Ottawa 67’s player near the net and redirected past Mrazek to cut the lead in half.

The IceDogs kept pressing firing a total of 45 shots at Mrazek, but were unable to solve him again. Toffoli rounded out the scoring with his 3rd of the game and 24th of the season into an empty net.

NEXT GAMES:
The Ottawa 67’s host the Oshawa Generals on Friday, November 25th @ 7:30pm
The Niagara IceDogs host the Brampton Battalion on Thursday, November 24th @ 7:00pm

NEWS AND NOTES: Shorthanded, the 67’s played with 15 skaters … Sean Monahan and Taylor Fielding are expected to be back practicing with the team this week … The 67’s were 3/0 on the powerplay and held the IceDogs to 1/4 on the powerplay … Alex Friesen extended his point streak to 8 games … Dougie Hamilton extended his point streak to 6 games.

Click here to see the game sheet.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Jake Cardwell

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

8 of 9 periods played this weekend were with 15 skaters. That's a long time with a really short bench. 5 of 6 possible points won.
When I saw the Ottawa scratches for the game and realized that Niagara hadn't played on Saturday, I thought the 67's were in tough. But they were more than up to the task with their outstanding team game. This was a great win - well played by everyone.
The game winning goal by Prince was great chemistry between him and Toffoli. Once Prince saw Toffoli get control along the boards, he sprinted to the front of the net to tap in the laser-sharp pass. Visintin didn't stand a chance.
The Ottawa 67's penalty kill is more lethal than their PP. Room for improvement on the PP.
A rested Mrazek is a much more effective Mrazek. Nishi is a welcome addition to the team.
The Ottawa 67's have a Movember team. I was planning to get shots of the 'staches but it seems that more than a few players have shaved their attempts. No matter. Men's health is a worthy cause and if you are looking for somewhere to spread your donation-giving-budget, consider the Ottawa 67's team. Click here to go to the donation site. For the men in your life.

Pictures from the game:

Newest 67's: Goalie Michael Nishi

Click here for more pictures from the game.

Ottawa Remains On Top Despite Heartbreaking 6-5 OT Loss

2011-11-19T07:29:00.001-05:00

By Alex Quevillon
Tonight's matchup between the 67's and Barrie Colts featured two storylines that Ottawa fans have become very accustomed to this season. Ottawa lost to the Colts 6-5 in overtime in front of 5,835 fans on Friday night. This marks the fourth time that Ottawa has had to settle a 6-5 decision in overtime this season. And with the one point for losing in overtime, Ottawa moves back into first place in the Eastern Conference once again.
However, the fact that the 67’s move into the conference’s top position doesn’t change the fact that tonight’s loss was an absolute heartbreaker. With less than one second left in the third period, and the 67’s leading 5-4, Ivan Telegin buried a centering pass from Colin Behenna, sending the game to extra time.

Just 48 seconds into the additional frame, the OHL’s leading scorer, Tanner Pearson, beat Petr Mrazek with a long wrist shot, giving Pearson his third goal and sixth point of the game. He also added a pair of second-period goals.

Despite Pearson’s amazing performance, he still sits second in the OHL’s goal scoring lead, behind only Ottawa’s Tyler Toffoli. Already leading 1-0 in the first period, Toffoli caught the Barrie defence flat-footed, taking a perfect pass from Remy Giftoupolous and placing a high wrist shot past Barrie goaltender Mathias Niederberger.

Barrie forward Mark Scheifele, drafted seventh overall by the Winnipeg Jets this past summer, scored in the second period in between Pearson’s two goals to help the Colts take a 3-2 lead. But Toffoli struck again, stealing the puck from Scheifele on a Barrie powerplay and putting a nifty backhand to the back of the net.

Brett Gustavsen had opened the scoring for Ottawa in the first, taking advantage of a strange bounce off the glass that handcuffed Niederberger. Dalton Smith (powerplay) and Ben Dubois (shorthanded) chipped in with third period markers. Smith gave Ottawa their second lead of the game before the seven-minute mark of the third. Behenna tied the game on a two-man advantage, but Dubois put Ottawa up 5-4 less than 20 seconds after the Behenna goal.

Scoring aside, tonight’s game was a rather chippy affair as well. Ryan Van Stralen found himself in the penalty box for most of the evening, dropping the gloves with Jonathan Laser in the second period and then jumping to the defence of Gustavsen, dropping the gloves with Barrie tough guy Victor Terreri. Terreri also received a two-minute penalty and ten-minute misconduct for a check to the head of Gustavsen just prior to the fight.

Michal Cajkovsky also sat out a large portion of the game. Much like Van Stralen’s second tilt, Cajkovsky came to the defence of Dalton Smith who had received a knee-on-knee hit from Colts winger Brendan Bell (no relation to former 67 Brendan Bell). Cajkovsky was also in the box for holding when Telegin tied the game late.

Mrazek made 32 stops and also registered his first assist of the season on Ottawa's 2nd goal, while Neiderberger only had to make 25 for the win. Barrie heavily outshot Ottawa in the final two periods and overtime by a 29-14 margin.

Ottawa heads to Belleville to take on the Bulls tomorrow night before returning home to face the Niagara Ice Dogs on Sunday.

The Game Sheet can be found here.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Remy Giftopolous

Nishi acquired from The Soo
Although he didn't see any in-game action, tonight was the first time Michael Nishi suited up for a game with the 67's after being acquired from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on Thursday for a 13th-round draft choice.

This marks the second goaltender trade in as many years between the two teams. Last year, Ottawa dealt Chris Perugini to Sault Ste. Marie for a package of draft picks, the highest of which ended up being current 67 defenceman Mike Vlajkov.

Nishi, who started four games at the start of this season, could be relied upon if Petr Mrazek leaves in December to represent the Czech Republic at the IIHF World Under-20 Championship. Shayne Campbell went in for hip surgery this past week and is expected to be out until January, making the goaltender position a key one to bolster.

Ransom Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

Barrie is a fast skating team that moves the puck very quickly, especially on the PP. Scoring on 3 of their 4 2-man advantages (including when they pulled their goalie for the extra attacker) was not surprising.
Tyler Toffoli is the first OHL player to hit 20 goals this season as he notched his 20th and 21st goals in the losing cause.
The Colts pulled out a win despite the shaky performance of their rookie goalie. Niederberger made two huge mistakes resulting in the Gustavsen and Smith goals and an almost goal from Janes.
Toffoli's SHG was a beauty - stealing the puck from Sheifele as he tried a spin-o-rama in his own zone. Nice patience by Toffoli.
Barrie's Tanner Pearson is a late-blooming 19 year old who is having a career season. Look for him to get an invitation to Team Canada and likely to get drafted in 2012.
Late update: according to Don Campbell of the Ottawa Citizen, the 67's were down two additional men starting in the second period as Tyler Graovac and David Perklin were out with the flu. So, to give the 67's credit, they were playing with a very short bench (only 3 lines). Makes for a tough rest of the weekend.

Pictures from the game:

Injured 67's Sean Monahan, Shayne Campbell and Taylor Fielding watch the warmup.

Marc-Anthony Zanetti was called for tripping on this play

Ben Dubois' SHG to give Ottawa the lead late in the third

Click here to see more pictures.

Shutting Down the McFarland Show; 67's win 6-5 (SO)

2011-11-12T07:06:00.001-05:00

By Alex Quevillon
Saginaw forward John McFarland scored four times in regulation, added an assist and a shootout goal, but it still was not enough as Dalton Smith ended a lengthy shootout, giving the Eastern Conference leading 67’s a 6-5 win on home ice. Ottawa won the shootout portion 2-1, with Brett Gustavsen scoring the other goal.

Ottawa took three leads in the first two periods, all of which were answered by McFarland, a high second round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2010. Shane Prince finished off a 2-on-0 break just 23 seconds into the game to give the 67’s the early lead. McFarland’s 12th goal of the year tied the game. Gustavsen put the 67’s ahead again, but McFarland responded with a goal of his own less than a minute later.

Spirit forward Michael Fine ended the night with assists on all four of McFarland’s goals, but it was his giveaway on a Saginaw two-man advantage in the second period that let Ottawa defenceman Jake Cardwell walk in on a breakaway. Cardwell deked out Jake Paterson to give Ottawa another one-goal lead.

Cardwell’s goal was one of many breaks that Ottawa had on the night. Paterson was forced to make 49 saves in the losing effort with a plethora of 2-on-1 and 3-on-1 rushes. At the other end, Petr Mrazek made 31 stops.

Once again, McFarland had an answer, finishing the hat trick and knotting the score up at three with a powerplay goal 20 seconds into the third period. From there, it looked as though Saginaw would pull away. McFarland put the puck past a sprawled out Mrazek, and just as the 10-minute mark passed, set up Garrett Ross for his ninth of the season.

Saginaw took their two-goal advantage into the final four minutes, Tyler Toffoli scored his league-leading 17th goal of the season on the powerplay. Michal Cajkovsky sent the game to overtime with a seeing-eye shot from the line with less than three minutes remaining.

After overtime solved nothing, McFarland continued right where he left off in regulation. Down 1-0 in the third round of the shootout and needing a goal to keep his team alive, he placed a perfect wrist shot top corner, freezing Mrazek and tying the shootout.

In the seventh round, however, Smith walked in on Paterson and snapped a wrist shot between his legs. Mrazek shut the door on Carlos Amestoy, who was acquired earlier in the day by Saginaw, securing the win for the home squad in front of 5,000 fans.

Today, the 67’s head to Oshawa to take on Nepean-born goaltender Dan Altshuller and his struggling Generals. Oshawa dropped a 7-0 decision to the Kingston Frontenacs Friday, letting Altshuller stay in the game for the full 60 minutes. Puck drop is at 6:00 PM. Ottawa finishes their weekend with a trip to Brampton on Sunday. The 67’s take on the Battalion at 2:00 PM on Sunday.

The gamesheet can be found here

Notes: Ottawa had to do without Sean Monahan, who also missed the subway series game the night before. Monahan is out with an undisclosed upper body injury…Saginaw came into tonight’s game missing forwards Brandon Saad and Vincent Trocheck, also lost Garrett Ross, presumably to a broken foot, late in the third period.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Brett Gustavsen

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens

Tyler Graovac is a using his big body out there creating space and chances for his line mates. He looked pretty good centering the top line in place of Monahan.

That was an exciting last 5 minutes of regulation as the 67's poured it on to tie it up and to try and win in regulation. Solid work and a great result.

Sometimes you have to wonder if some refs call the game by the reputation of the player. Dalton Smith was called for cross-checking in front of Paterson but when he was dumped more than once, in full view of the ref, no call.

Paterson had to make more than a few brilliant saves. And he got lucky on a few occaisions.

The Ottawa 67's were wearing Remembrance Day jerseys which were donated by the Legion and will be auctioned-off by the Legion to raise funds. I don't have any details on the auction.

Pictures from the game:

Dalton Smith's game winning shootout goal.

Jake Cardwell's 5-on-3 SHG. It was the Team1200's play of the game.

Shane Prince surrounded by blue jerseys

Click here for more pictures from the game.

From Russia With Love; Previewing OHL vs. Russia in Ottawa

2011-11-07T19:38:00.001-05:00

By Alex Quevillon

Ottawa’s J. Benson Cartage Center will be the home to a more international hockey experience on Thursday night as Team Russia comes to the Nation’s Capital for their third game in four days and first of two against the OHL’s All-Star Team.

The first game of the series is scheduled for November 7th in Victoriaville, with the Colisée de Québec hosting the second QMJHL-Russia matchup on the 9th. The Russians finish their Ontario visit in Sault Ste. Marie on the 14th, and wrap up their country-wide tour in Regina and Moose Jaw on the 16th and 17th respectively.

It appears as though September’s exhibition game between the Québec Remparts and Ottawa 67’s was the only chance for Ottawa fans to see the talents of 2012 NHL draft eligible forward Mikhail Grigorenko, as he is only playing in the Quebec City contest. The Russians will also part ways with Artem Sergeev and Anton Zlobin after their trip to Victoriaville.

For Thursday night, however, the Russians will get a strong OHL presence to bolster their lineup.

The most notable player to watch will be Nail Yakupov of the Sarnia Sting. Anybody who pays attention to the NHL’s yearly draft rankings has heard the name. Yakupov, just 17, is second in OHL scoring with 35 points in 18 games and is almost a guarantee to go first overall in next year’s draft.

The only player with more points than Yakupov is Tanner Pearson of the Barrie Colts, who will suit up for the OHL in both the Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie games. Pearson has 37 points in 17 games. The Colts will be well represented on Thursday. Ivan Telegin joins the Russians for this one game, while Mark Schiefele does the same for the OHL. Both Barrie forwards are also highly touted prospects of the Winnipeg Jets.

A trio of 2011 NHL draft picks from the OHL will join their fellow countrymen. Windsor Spitfires' leading scorer Alexander Khokhlachev, Guelph Storm tough guy and defenceman Andrei Pedan, and Tampa Bay first rounder Vladislav Namestnikov, a London Knights forward, will surely add a boost to the Russian squad. Namestnikov will be joined by two other Tampa Bay Lightning draft picks from 2011. The Bolts also took forwards Nikita Kucherov and Nikita Nesterov with the 58th and 148th picks in this past draft. Both forwards, spending the year in Russia, will play the entire series.

The full Russian rosters can be found here

A pair of Orleans-born defencemen will have plenty of eyes on them. Family members, hometown friends and scouts alike will all want to get a look at Peterborough Pete Slater Koekkoek and Cody Ceci of the hometown 67’s. Both were given honourable mention by TSN’s Bob McKenzie in his 2012 NHL Draft Preview.

Ceci will be joined by a number of Ottawa teammates on home ice. Centers Tyler Graovac and Sean Monahan, along with winger Tyler Toffoli were announced to the team. Chris Byrne will be an assistant coach to Belleville’s George Burnett while Neil Hoch maintains his position as trainer on Ottawa’s home bench. Former NHLer Scott Walker will be Burnett’s other assistant.

Monahan, 17, is the youngest player for the OHL All Star team. Toffoli led the OHL scoring race last season while Graovac, a Minnesota Wild draft choice, has missed a large amount of time with the flu this season.

The Ottawa connection doesn’t end there. Kingston Frontenacs forward and Kanata-born Ryan Spooner will participate in both OHL games. Also, Ottawa Senators fans will be able to watch one of their three first round picks from 2011, Matt Puempel of the Petes.

The full rosters for both OHL teams can be found here

Puck drop is at 7:00PM Eastern Time. Tickets are still available.

Hounds edge 67’s 3-2

2011-11-07T03:10:00.000-05:00

By Kathryn Jean

Nick Halagian scored his first OHL career goal to help lead the Soo Greyhounds to a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa 67’s.

The 67’s flew out of the gate early. Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring with a high shot in the slot over the newly acquired Jack Campbell. That marked Toffoli’s 15th of the season.

With Dalton Smith in the box for delay of the game (the first of four on the night), Tyler Graovac picked up a puck that rebounded off Nicholas Foglia. He skated in untouched and fired a high shot past Campbell on the short side for an early two goal lead.

The Hounds responded with two quick goals. Nick Cousins deked out Petr Mrazek to get the Hounds on the board. Only 25 seconds later, Brett Findlay wired a shot from the top of the faceoff circle and got the puck past a screened Mrazek to tie the game at 2.

The two quick goals seemed to kill the 67’s momentum as they things got a little sloppy after the first period. Tyler Toffoli got one of the 67’s best chances in the second period beating Campbell in close but hitting the puck off the crossbar. Play carried the other way and Halagian picked up the eventual game winning goal beating Mrazek short side on a goal he certainly would like to have back.

The Hounds ran into some penalty trouble off of some undisciplined plays, but the Hounds managed to kill off three straight penalty kills in the third period. Both goaltenders played solid at their ends of the ice. The 67’s turned it up in the last half of the period but couldn’t solve Campbell. With the goaltender pulled and 5 seconds left, Toffoli had the best opportunity to tie the game, but rang it off the post.

NOTES: Gianluca Curcuruto was a late scratch after sustaining a bad charley horse versus Kingston … Shane Prince and Jake Cardwell ended their 6 game point streak after being held pointless today … Chris Byrne tried to switch up the lines to create some offense by demoting Shane Prince and Sean Monahan and moving up Tyler Graovac and Dalton Smith to the first line to replace them.

Click here to see the game sheet.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Jake Cardwell

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

How a team control the puck for so much of the game and yet be so ineffective with it? The Greyhounds did a good job of keeping Ottawa to the outside letting them cycle pretty much at will but not letting them get anything in close. And once Campbell found his groove, nothing was going to get by him.
The last three games have seen inconsistent play from the team - none of the games have been solid 60 minutes of play. They'll need to address this to reach their potential.
There were some terrific individual efforts out there today. Cardwell was tagged as the 67's hardest working 67's by the Team1200 but I thought Dubois also had great game. And Foglia played hard and fast as always.
The annual wiener dog race was held in the second intermission. Always a fan favourite. But those little critters are hard to photograph as they bolt down the ice!
There was a young family behind me, parents and two young sons. It was their first 67's game. Why dads bring their young kids to games - they can't get away with having that much fun without the kids. It was great to watch.
The next game is the third annual school game day. The 67's have yet to win this loud, boisterous affair. They play Kingston at 10:30 Monday morning.

Pictures from the game:
A contestant in the wiener dog race - think this little fella won Tyler Graovac's SHG Hit by Janes in the offensive zone allowed Ottawa to regain control

Click here to see more pictures.

Failed Attack: Ottawa Beats Owen Sound 5 - 1

2011-11-05T06:44:00.000-04:00

By Kathryn Jean

With only twenty-one seconds into the first period, Owen Sound Captain Mike Halmo surged into the Ottawa zone and ripped a shot over Petr Mrazek’s shoulder for the lead. It was the last thing the 67’s wanted after coming off a disappointing 6-5 overtime loss to the Belleville Bulls Wednesday night where they gave up a four goal lead.

The first five minutes was not the 67’s best hockey – Mrazek looked shaky and the team in front of him did not register a shot until the 14.5 minute mark. The 67’s regrouped and Mrazek came back to form after gaining more confidence off a good couple saves.

Ben Dubois got the 67’s on the board with his second shorthanded goal of the season while Steven Janes was serving a 2-minute minor for goaltender interference. The 67’s had a couple more key chances near the end of the period beating goaltender Jordan Binnington on a rebound but ringing the puck off the post.

On an early powerplay in the second period, Shane Prince grabbed a loose puck out of mid-air and tapped it past Binnington for his fifth of the year.

Some great plays continued on both sides with both goaltenders needing to be sharp. Again, the 67’s hit their second post of the game after Binnington made a great stick save.

The 67’s continued to press and the Attack progressively got more frustrated as the game went on. The Attack took a couple careless penalties including one that lead the 67’s third goal and Shane Prince’ssecond of the night. Cody Ceci wired a shot from the point which got redirected by Prince’s tip in.

Frustrations continued for the Attack. Only a couple moments later, Steven Janes was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down on a breakaway, but he failed to score and Binnington made a solid stop to keep the 67’s to a two-goal lead.

Tensions boiled over leading to a fight between Ryan Van Stralen and Kuris Gabriel. The decision was given to Van Stralen, but Van Stralen was also given a game misconduct after removing the Gabriel’s helmet. He could face supplement discipline once reviewed by Dave Branch.

Two slashing penalties within minutes of each other put the Attack in another bad position. On the two-man advantage, Tyler Toffoli beat Binnington short side and the 67s were up 4-1. More scrums ensued after the whistle but not much came from it. Steven Janes rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal to seal the 5-1 win.

Click here to see the game sheet.

NOTES: Shane Prince and Jake Cardwell extended their point streak to 6 games each … Marc Zanetti was skating today but was limited with a boot cast … Shayne Campbell is still injured while Karsten Pankhurst fills in … Brett Gustavesen was not play due to an undisclosed injury … Cameron Brace was hit with a highstick from his own teammate and stayed on the ice for a while – he stayed in the game … Rookie Artur Gavrus took a hit from behind early in the game, was a little woozy, but also stayed in the game.

NEXT GAME:

Saturday, Owen Sound @ Belleville Bulls, 7:05pm
Sunday, Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds @ Ottawa 67’s, 2pm and it's the annual Wiener Dog Race Day

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Steven Janes

Random thoughts from behind the lens:

The quick first goal against was a bit of a shocker but it might have been the best thing for the 67's as they had no time for complacency - they had to get into the game and play hard for the win.
Steven Janes had at least 4 great scoring chances that he couldn't bury. Finally got his goal with the EN.
It was good to see Tyler Graovac back in action after missing a couple of weeks due to illness.
The refs called 9 penalties in the game but it sure looked like they left a lot more out there on the ice in the third period. Ottawa was 3/6 on the PP and perfect on the PK.
It's Movember and it's entertaining to see the various facial hair results in the major junior ranks. Zanetti appears to have the lead with the most interesting (albeit still patchy) 'stach. Other players might not shave for their entire adult life and not be able to sport a credible cookie duster. Fun.

Pictures:

Ben Dubois' short handed goal to tie the game up in the first period Tyler Graovac returns to the ice after missing a few games due to illness Tyler Toffoli's facial repair after taking a puck to the chops in Belleville on Wednesday Daniel Broussard making his home debut after being traded to Ottawa earlier this week Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Prince Named OHL Player Of The Week

2011-11-01T20:25:00.000-04:00

By Alex Quevillon

Despite missing a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury, Shane Prince hasn’t missed a step. On Monday, Prince, drafted 61st overall by the Ottawa Senators in the NHL Entry Draft this past summer, was named OHL player of the week.

In Thursday’s 6-5 overtime win over the Peterborough Petes, Prince had a career-high four assists. The next night, he assisted on all three regulation goals in a 4-3 shootout win against Mississauga.

None of his seven assists were secondary assists, either. The native of Spencerport, New York directly set up all seven goals.

Prince beat out Barrie Colts center Mark Scheifele, Owen Sound Attack center Gemel Smith, and Sarnia Sting goaltender Brandon Maxwell for the honour.

The 67’s next game is against the Belleville Bulls tomorrow night. In their first meeting of the season, a 2-1 Ottawa win on opening night, Prince had the first goal of the night before suffering his shoulder injury.

67’s Acquire Daniel Broussard

2011-11-01T05:42:00.000-04:00

By Alex Quevillion
The Central Division leading Ottawa 67’s have shored up their defensive corps by acquiring overage defenceman Daniel Broussard from the Sarnia Sting.

Broussard, one of only two OHL players from North Carolina, had previously amassed 31 points and 147 penalty minutes in 182 OHL games, all of which were played with the Sting.

Sarnia General Manager Jacques Beaulieu had a very active day. After acquiring a third round pick in 2012 from Ottawa, he sent his own third round pick and a second rounder in 2013 to the last place Erie Otters for overaged center Brett Thompson.

Broussard joins a very crowded defensive depth chart. Michal Cajkovsky, Sean Callaghan, Jake Cardwell, Cody Ceci, Taylor Fielding, Ryan Shipley, Mike Vlajkov and Captain Marc Anthony Zanetti already patrol the blueline for the barberpoles. The newly acquired Broussard will likely get a lot of ice time early on with Zanetti nursing a broken foot.

The 67’s are also at their overage limit with Zanetti, Broussard and forward Ben Dubois.

Ottawa’s backup netminder Shayne Campbell is also a former member of the Sting. He was acquired by the 67’s last September for an eighth round pick. Campbell and Broussard both debuted as Sarnia rookies in 2008-09.

Ottawa’s next game is on Wednesday against the Bulls.. There is no word yet as to whether Broussard will make his 67’s debut in Belleville or not.

Great Sports Photography Workshop

2011-10-29T11:04:00.000-04:00

Any budding sports photographers out there? Here's a course you won't want to miss.

Photographing Pro Hockey with Harry Nowell Photography Inc.

Experience the life of a sports photographer!

Our 'Pro Hockey Photography Workshop' brings you face to camera with the next NHL hockey superstars at an Ottawa 67s home game! We help you shoot better hockey photos, period.

Click here to see more information

As a past student of Harry's I can attest to the quality of instruction and the value of the feedback sessions. Many of his students are repeat clients. You will be encouraged and inspired. Go for it!

Beasts in The East: Ottawa 4 Mississauga 3 (SO)

2011-10-29T00:37:00.000-04:00

By Alex Queville

They needed a shootout to do it, but the Ottawa 67's lead the Eastern Conference after knocking off the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 4-3 on Friday night at the J. Benson Cartage Centre.

Once again, Ottawa relied heavily on their top line of Shane Prince, Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli to put the puck in the net.

Coach Chris Byrne also gave the trio the nod in the shootout. Mississauga’s JP Anderson stopped Prince and Toffoli before Monahan buried a low wrist shot in the back of the net.

Petr Mrazek stopped attempts from Mississauga forwards Derek Schoenmakers, Jordan Mayer and top scorer Riley Brace to preserve the win.

Those weren’t the only penalty shots Mrazek had to face on the night, either.

In the second period, Cody Ceci hauled down Majors’ Russian rookie Sergey Kuptsov on a breakaway, leading to a penalty shot. Mrazek stopped the attempt, and had some words and a light tap for the import sniper who had run into Mrazek earlier in the frame.

Kupstov was called for goaltender interference at 11:02 of the second, causing one of three powerplays that Ottawa couldn’t convert on.

Ottawa’s top line would strike three times at even strength, however. Prince, who had four assists Thursday night, added another three helpers Friday.

At 11:33 of the first period, with Mississauga already up 1-0, Prince sent Toffoli in on a break where he placed a wrist shot top corner past Anderson.

Right before the end of the opening period, Prince took a pass across the line from Jake Cardwell, fed it over to Sean Monahan who finished it off to put Ottawa ahead.

Unlike Ottawa, Mississauga scored a pair of powerplay markers to tie the game and then gain the advantage back.

Just prior to Kuptsov’s penalty shot, Schoenmakers slid a backhander under Mrazek with Taylor Fielding in the box. And less than two minutes into the third, St. Mike’s Captain Jamie Wise beat Mrazek with another low shot. Sean Callaghan was in the box for the go-ahead tally.

With 8:40 left in regulation, Prince’s attempted centering pass for Monahan missed and found Toffoli, who roofed the tying goal, his second of the night and league-leading 13th. Monahan is tied for second in the league with his 12th of the year tonight.

Dylan DeMelo had the first goal of the game for the Majors, who fall to 9-3-0-2 and second in the Eastern Conference. The second place Brampton Battalion only trail behind by two points.

Despite icing the puck numerous times in the first period, and being hemmed in their own end for a few shifts in the third, Ottawa heavily outshot the Majors 43-26. With the win, they improve to 10-3-1-0.

Before the game, Monahan, Toffoli, Dalton Smith and Tyler Graovac (out with the flu) were honoured after being named to the OHL All-Star team. Mississauga’s JP Anderson, Riley Brace and Stu Percy (out with leg injury) were also honoured.

Announced attendance was 5, 671.

The 67’s next game will be in Belleville this Wednesday. They return home on Friday the 4th as they host the Owen Sound Attack.

Click here for the game sheet.

October 27 @ Peterborough

Tyler Toffoli’s 3rd goal of the game and 11th of the season gave Ottawa a 6-5 overtime win on Thursday night.

Toffoli also scored the first two Ottawa goals, at 5:46 and 13:55 of the first period respectively.

Just 42 seconds into the extra frame, the Ottawa sniper took a perfect pass from Cody Ceci and buried the puck past Peterborough’s Andrew D’Agostini, following up on the goal with a Jaromir Jagr-style salute.

Ceci also pitched in with a second period powerplay goal of his own, his 5th of the season and 3rd in as many games. Steven Janes and Sean Monahan scored in the second period as well. Monahan is tied with Toffoli and five others for second in OHL goal scoring with 11.

Shane Prince was all over the ice and the scoresheet, putting up four assists in the winning effort.

Peterborough got a pair of goals from Lino Martschini. Dylan Fitze, Stephen Nosad and Slater Koekkoek, born in the Ottawa area, rounded out the scoring for the Petes.

Despite outshooting Ottawa 44-36, Peterborough lost their fifth straight and fall to 6-5-2-1. With the one point, they move ahead of the Belleville Bells into second place in the East Division, four points behind Ottawa (the 67’s having played one less game).

Thursday night’s game also marked power forward Dalton Smith’s return to the lineup after serving his 10-game suspension. Unfortunately, he was held off the scoresheet in his October debut.

Tyler Graovac (flu) and Marc Anthony Zanetti (foot) missed the game. Graovac

These two divisional rivals don’t play again until December 3rd. Ottawa leads the season series 2-0 after a 5-1 win on October 7th.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Jake Cardwell

Pictures from the Game:

Dalton Smith returns from his 10-game suspension

Mrazek making one of 23 saves.

Tyler Toffoli ties it up at 3

Monahan wins it in the shoot out

Click here to see more pictures.

Lethal Powerplay Gives 67’s a 6-3 Win in Kitchener

2011-10-24T19:08:00.000-04:00

By Alex Quevillon

Playing in front of nearly 6,000 fans at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, the Rangers were expecting to take advantage of a tired and shorthanded Ottawa squad that had played the previous night in Erie.

It looked as though they were in control, too, outshooting Ottawa 12-6 in the opening frame and taking a quick 2-0 lead in the second. However, a trio of penalties in the second period swung the momentum in Ottawa’s favour, and the 67’s never looked back.

With Kitchener’s Cody Sol in the box for roughing up Ryan Van Stralen, Jake Cardwell cut the lead in half with a snap shot from the hashmarks.

After the whistle, Julian Melchiori was called for slashing Tyler Toffoli. As Toffoli skated away, he was straight-armed in the head by Andrew Crescenzi, who was assessed a checking to the head penalty.

Cody Ceci and Sean Monahan scored powerplay markers exactly a minute apart.

For Ceci, it was his second goal of the weekend and fourth of the year. Less than six minutes later, Monahan went on to score his second of the afternoon and tenth of the season, finishing off a perfect cross-ice pass from Toffoli.

Radek Faksa brought the Rangers to within one goal just before the 18-minute mark of the second, finishing off a 4-on-2 rush. Kitchener thought they had tied the game in the opening minutes of the third, however the goal was waived off and Faksa was given a goaltender interference penalty.

Edmonton Oiler prospect and German-born Tobias Rieder would have been credited with the goal had it counted. He was also given credit for the first goal of the hockey game on a goalmouth scramble behind Petr Mrazek.

The former Ranger, Shane Prince, scored shortly thereafter to regain the 2-goal cushion, and Steven Janes closed out the scoring with an empty net goal.

Crescenzi had the other marker for Kitchener, placing a perfect wrist-shot past Mrazek for the second goal of the game.

Mrazek made 47 saves in the winning effort. He started all three games on the road trip with Shayne Campbell injured.

Road Trip Overview
October 20th @ Niagara Ice Dogs

An impressive 36-save performance from Petr Mrazek, along with Ryan Van Stralen’s 2nd goal of the season, weren’t enough as the Niagara Ice Dogs (5-6-1) coasted to a 4-1 win.

Joel Wigle, Freddie Hamilton, Mitchell Theoret and Jesse Graham tallied for the Ice Dogs in front of 2,760 fans at the St. Catharines Gatorade Garden City Complex.

To make matters worse, Captain Marc Anthony Zanetti suffered a broken foot trying to block a shot in the second period. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

Zanetti was joined in the dressing room by defensive partner Cody Ceci who left the game after two periods with symptoms of the flu. Tyler Graovac also all three games with the flu, while Ceci returned for the games Saturday and Sunday.

October 22nd @ Erie Otters

Ottawa rebounded well on Saturday, taking advantage of the struggling Erie Otters who fell to 1-10-0 after the 4-1 loss to Ottawa.

Shane Prince scored his first goal since returning from a shoulder injury. Tyler Toffoli, Cody Ceci and Brett Gustavsen also scored for the 67’s. Connor Brown responded for Erie.

Unfortunately, this game was not televised in Ottawa. However, for 67’s fans who may have seen the game, it might have been a look into the 67’s future.

Erie is in a tough position with five overagers (Mike Cazzola, Brett Cook, Derek Holden, Ramis Sadikov, and Brett Thompson). The Otters find themselves in last place in the Western Conference, and will have to lose least two of their overaged players. With Ryan Martindale signing in Edmonton, Ottawa has an overage spot free on its roster, and as such could be an ideal trade partner.

Martindale’s departure also leaves the 67’s with only two natural centers (Tyler Graovac and Sean Monahan), a void that could be filled by Thompson or Cazzola.

Ottawa improves their East Division-leading record to 8-3-1. Next up, the 67’s head to Peterborough this Thursday trying to defend their East Division lead. On Friday, the Central Division-leading Mississauga St. Michaels Majors come into the J. Benson Cartage Centre.

Welcome Alex Quevillon to the Ottawa 67's Fan Blog

2011-10-24T18:55:00.000-04:00

Alex Quevillon is a life-long Ottawa 67's fan and aspiring sports journalist who our newest contributor to the blog. Alex is going to focus on feature articles but will throw in the occasional game review like tonight's post.

You can find him in Section 12.

Welcome Alex - we look forward to your contributions!

Brampton 4 Ottawa 1

2011-10-15T06:25:00.001-04:00

By Kathryn Jean
It was a battle of the streaks at the J Benson Cartage Centre as the Ottawa 67’s fell 4-1 to the Brampton Battalion in front of a home crowd of 5,090. The loss marked Ottawa’s first at home and extended Brampton’s road winning streak to a team record of 4 games.

The 67’s came out of the gate shaky and did not record a shot on net until the 10:30 mark of the first period – by that time Brampton had 10. It didn’t help that the game had to be temporarily stopped 3 times in the first period due to excessive fog on the ice. In an attempt to light a fire under their respective teams, Ryan Van Stralen and Zach Bell got into a small fight with Van Stralen taking down Bell in the end. The 67’s started to get better as the period progressed and made the shot count more respectable, but one of their only scoring chances came in the final moments of the period.

Disappointed with the effort, both teams started off the second period with a fast-pace energy creating scoring chances at both ends of the ice. No one would take the lead until Barclay Goodrow ripped a shot past Petr Mrazek beating him up high in the slot.

Brampton would take a 2 goal lead after Phil Lane caught a feed from Jamie Lewis and, newly acquired OA, Brett Mackie. The 67’s had no answer for Keegan Wilson who stood on his head for the entire game.

It wasn’t until the third period when Sean Monahan scored his 7^th of the season and cut the Battalion lead in half. He fired a bullet shot past Keegan Wilson and beat him high glove side. The goal would extend Monahan’s league leading (tie) point streak to 8 games.

In his first game back from serving a two game suspension for slew-foorting, Ottawa native, Mitchell Porowski would respond for the Brampton Battalion after tapping in a rebound from rookie Patrik Machac’s original shot.

Coach Chris Byrne pulled the Mrazek in the final moments for the extra attacker, but Philip Lane would round out the scoring with an empty net goal.

The Ottawa 67’s are in Oshawa tomorrow night and will face the Generals for the first time this season. Meanwhile, the Battalion will be in Belleville to face the Bulls for game 2 of their 3 game road trip.

Click here to see the game sheet.

NEWS AND NOTES: Sean Monahan was awarded with the team’s Scholastic Player Award for the month of September … Brett Gustavsen left the game after being slashed on the wrist by Cameron Wind. He returned later in the 3rd period … Dan Blujus goal streak ends at 3 games.

Around the League:
NIA 3, PLY 6
PBO 4, GUE 0
OS 3, KIT 5
ERIE 4, LDN 6
OSH 3, MISS 2 SO
BRAM 4, OTT 1
KGN 4, SSM 6
BAR 2, SBY 3

Three Stars as chosen by the Team1200

Hardest working 67's: Petr Mrazek

Random Thoughts from behind the lens:

I was at the Senators game on Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche. As the first period of the 67's game against Brampton unfolded I thought it was deja vu all over again. Brampton continued its fast, aggressive pace throughout the game which pinned the 67's for protracted periods. Fortunately Mrazek was better up to the task than Anderson. Must be something in the water.
Shane Prince returned to action after his shoulder injury.
It was not the best conditions for a photographer (and there were at least 6 accredited photogs there by my count). The glass kept fogging up from the ice side and the on-ice fog was considerable. The upside is that some of the effects are actually quite interesting (if you like that sort of thing).

Pictures from the game:

Ryan Van Stralen battling for position

This is how it looked down the ice from behind the net.

Shane Prince returned to action

Tyler Toffoli

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

67's Out Tough the Whalers for a 4-1 Win

2011-10-10T10:28:00.000-04:00

By Kathry Jean

Shorthanded, Ben Dubois scored at the 12:23 mark in the second period afer beating Matt Mahalak up high for the game winner.

The Plymouth Whalers came out of the game buzzing with a strong first shift. The Whalers continued to out play Ottawa until the final minutes, but were unable to solve Petr Mrazek.

Rickard Rackell got the Whalers on the board 43 seconds into the second period after a nice setup by Sens draft pick Stefan Noesen. Less than 30 seconds later, Tyler Toffoli evened things up after getting a hold of his own rebound.

With Mike Vlajkov in the box for hooking, Nicholas Foglia cut off a breakout pass from the Whalers. He fed the puck to Ben Dubois in the slot and fired a high shot past Mahalak.

The second period turned a little rough after that. Sean Monahan was hit into the boards from behind by Mitchell Heard. With no call on the play, Monahan got up and squared off with Heard in a spirited affair.

Moments later, Marc Zanetti crushed Noesen into the boards away from the play. The hit created an angry crowd ending up with Ryan Van Stralen man-handling Rackell and Tyler Graovac dropping the mitts with Beau Schmitz.

The Whalers nearly tied it up in the 3rd period when Stefan Noesen picked up a loose puck with several bodies around the net, but the goal was called off with referee Dave Gauthier losing sight of the puck and calling it dead.

Steven Janes and Foglia rounded out the scoring with empty net goals after the Whalers pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker.

The win gave Ottawa their 4th straight win at home and improved their record to 5-1-1-0. After a long roadtrip, the Whalers fall to a record of 3-4-0-0.

The Brampton Battalion roll into Ottawa Friday night for the first meeting of the season.

Plymouth faces off against the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday and will host the Niagara Ice Dogs on Friday.

Click here for the game sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Jake Cardwell

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

The 67's are definitely a more physical team this year. They are getting used to it (fewer penalties) but are also getting better at defending the penalties they are taking. I think they only allowed 6 shots on goal during the 6 penalties they served.
Nicholas Foglia is the go-to guy for face-offs and penalty killing. He's aggressive and fast, which leads to chances like Ben Dubois' short-handed goal.
Plymouth Whaler Beau Schmitz has probably heard it before but he really is a little Schmitz-disturber. Lots of little post-whistle antics like jostling Monahan around during shift changes.
The players are wearing "Do It For Daron" stickers on their helmets all month to help raise awareness of youth mental health issues.
Not only were the 67's competing against the Plymouth Whalers, they were competing against an absolutely beautiful Thanksgiving Sunday. But the truly faithful were at the game.
It's official. Ryan Martindale has been signed by the Edmonton Oilers and assigned to their top affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons. He did not dress for their season opening 7 - 0 loss to Dallas.
Shane Prince hopes to return to action next weekend. It will be interesting to see how Byrnes adjusts his lines. All three lines have been doing really well together.
Wayne Smith, the Director of Amateur Scouting for the Boston Bruins was at the rink with his Stanley Cup ring and was gracious and patient enough to let me photograph it. It is one huge and heavy piece of bling! I have posted one picture here but go to my gallery to see other pictures of it.

Pictures from the game:
Luke Richardson and youth volunteers drop the puck for Do It For Daron Sean Monahan gets into his first OHL fight and holds his own Plymouth Whalers Alex Aleardi tries to jump through Ryan Shipley Nicolas Foglia bearing down for a face-off. 2011 Stanley Cup ring of Bruins Director of Amateur Scouting Wayne Smith Click here for more pictures from the game.

67's Spank Petes 5 - 1

2011-10-08T10:43:00.000-04:00

By Kathryn Jean
Despite being short manned, the Ottawa 67’s spanked the Peterborough Petes 5-1 last night at the J Benson Cartage Centre in front of a crowd of 4,661.

Missing from the 67’s lineup was Dalton Smith - serving game 4 of his 10 game suspension, Shane Prince - nursing a shoulder injury, Ryan Martindale – still at Oklahoma City training camp in the AHL along with rookies Mike Vlajkov and David Perklin who came down with the flu

The depleted lineup did not stop the 67’s from coming out of the gates strong. After giving up a 3-goal lead and succumb to the Windsor Spitfires last game, it was the perfect scenario. With only 39 seconds in, Brett Gustavsen picked up a bouncing rebound off of Marc Zanetti’s original shot and fired it past Petes goaltender, Mike Morrison for the early lead.

Less than 2 minutes later, Ben Dubois fed the puck to Nick Foglia who was cutting right in front and picked up his first goal of the season to give Ottawa a quick 2-goal lead. Immediately after, Mike Pelino called a timeout to settle down his troops.

Tyler Toffoli gave the 67’s a 3-goal lead with some nice initial work by Sean Monahan who fed the puck to Toffoli behind the net before the first period came to a close.

Gustavsen came close to making it 4-0 in the first but Mike Morrison came up with a big save after the small feisty winger came streaking in on a breakaway. At the opposite end, Petr Mrazek continued to play strong not allowing any Petes to solve him.

Early in the third period the 67’s scored two quick goals under two minutes apart. Toffoli picked up his second goal of the game after he ripped it short side off a crisp pass from Monahan. Overage veteran Ben Dubois picked up his first goal of the season picking up another rebound off Morrison and knocking it past him for the 5-0 lead.

Only moments later, Andrew Yogan notched Petes only goal of the game and his first of the season from Derek Mathers and Jeremy Gottzmann spoiling Mrazek’s shutout bid.

5-1 final for the Ottawa 67’s.

The Ottawa 67’s will look for redemption when Sens prospect Stefan Noesen and the Plymouth Whalers roll into to town on Sunday afternoon at 2pm.

Here's the game sheet.

Random thoughts from behind the lens:

Lots of scouts in the house again. Monahan and others did not disappoint. Expect even more scouts when the Whalers come to town on Sunday.
Interesting POV from the TSN article on the game. Apparently the Petes were a tad tired after player the Whalers at home last night. No mention that the 67's iced only three lines to Peterborough's 4 and that Ottawa was missing key players (Prince, Smith, Perklin, Vlajkov and Martindale.
Speaking of Ryan Martindale, an Edmonton Journal article on the Oklahoma Oil Barons gives us faint hope that Ryan might be sent back to Ottawa to ensure that he gets good ice time.
Several Shanahan-approved-style hits in the game. Hard and effective without causing injury. Pretty much how you would like it if you were a parent or some other loved-one of the players.
The school band playing the anthem was a nice touch. Smart, inspiring march - like it should be.
For some reason, the chicken dance in the second intermission (or is it the third) is incredibly popular with kids of all ages.
Taylor Fielding was the CTV Ottawa Athlete of the Week - worth the watch.
Former Ottawa 67's Thomas Kiriakou made his pre-season debut with the Las Vegas Wranglers and notched the GWG in tonight's game.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Brett Gustavsen

Pictures from the game:

Nicolas Foglia celebrating what would become the game winning goal

Ryan Van Stralen

Tyler Toffoli with his first home-ice goal of the season

Michal Cajkovsky making his home debut

Click here for more pictures from the game.

10 Game Suspension for Dalton Smith

2011-09-28T06:08:00.000-04:00

As expected, Dave Branch took a page from Sheriff Shanahan's approach to hockey discipline. Not only did he hand out the repeat offender a stiff sentence, he also published his rationale complete with a video (albeit without Branch narrating his thought process). Click here for OHL announcement.

Smith will miss the entire month of October. Columbus may invite him to their affiliate to practice although he will not be eligible to play (according to the Citizen).

The Ottawa 67's hit the road this weekend for one of their longer road trips: Plymouth on Friday, Saginaw on Saturday and Windsor on Sunday.

Ottawa 67's Dominating 6-2 Win Over Kingston

2011-09-25T18:38:00.002-04:00

3 goals in the span of 1 minute on 4 shots sunk the Kingston Frontenacs in the first period as the Ottawa 67's dominated for a 6 - 2 in front of over 3700 faithful fans who spent a gorgeous fall Sunday at the rink.

The first 9 minutes of the game were pretty boring with neither team really threatening much although the 67's were already leading on shots 8 - 2. Marc-Anthony Zanetti finally opened the scoring with his first of the season just 20 seconds into Ottawa's first PP of the game. Sean Monahan and Cody Ceci with the assists.

Three minutes later, the floodgates opened as Monahan, Graovac and Gustavsen each scored their first of the season in the span of one minute and on 4 shots. A minute later, Remy Giftopolous put the 67's up 5 - 0 and Bobkov was pulled with just under 3 1/2 minutes left in the opening frame.

Todd Gill went back to Bobkov to start the second and Bobkov finished the game much better than he started. Expectedly, the 67's eased up and the Fronts stepped up - especially Froats, Stokes and Spooner who at times were trying to do it all. With goals from Steele and Froats two minutes apart in the middle of the frame, the Frontenacs made the 67's pay for their sloppy play.

The two quick goals knocked the 67's out of their complacency and Sean Monahan scored his second of the game (and the season) to make it 6 - 2 Ottawa. The shots at this point were 31 - 8 for Ottawa.

The third period was scoreless as the 67's didn't give the Frontenacs much ice or possession to work with.

It was a penalty filled affair with each team earning 6 with each team including each getting a 5-on-3 advantage which neither converted. Ottawa also had to defend a 4-minute major when rookie Sean Callahan was sent off for a boarding. The Frontenacs only managed 2 SOGs in that span while the 67's got one of their own.

Click here to see the details of the score sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's: Taylor Fielding

Random Thoughts:

Expect to lose Dalton Smith for a few games once the league gets a chance to look at his run at Malcolm Subban on Friday. No attempt to avoid the collision and he got his elbow up. The league is likely to make an early example of him. Brendan Shanahan is starting his NHL disciplinary run with a strong hand and I expect Branch will start this season setting his own tone for the OHL.
As reported earlier, the 67's will be without the services of Shane Prince due to a shoulder injury suffered on Friday. The current prognosis is 2-4 weeks. The nice thing about being in the same city as the NHL team that drafted you is the access to their medical team.
Team leadership still has not been named with Toffoli and Martindale still at their NHL camps. Zanetti is wearing the lone letter in the interim.
Lots of scouts already checking things out.
It's pretty much consensus among the junior hockey pundits that the Frontenacs will have a tough year. Wonder what Spooner thinks of his trade now.
Got to the rink early and checked out the Landsdown Farmers' Market. Excellent market. Highly recommend you take it in if you have the chance. Good quality produce and lots of interesting food variety.
Kathryn was spending today trying to take over the world (well, win the finals of her baseball season) which is why you're subjected to my ramblings for this game.

Pictures from the game:

Seconds before Gustavsen's unassisted goal.

David Perklin

May be the last time we see Smith for a while.

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

67’s edge Bulls 2-1 in home opener

2011-09-24T06:43:00.000-04:00

By Kathryn Jean
After losing both pre-season games against the Belleville Bulls, the Ottawa 67’s came out with a bit of vengeance tonight. The 67’s rebounded from last Friday’s 3-0 loss with a 2-1 win over the Bulls in front of a crowd of 7,286 at the newly named J Benson Cartage Centre.
With several players returning from NHL training camps, you couldn’t help but notice a big jump in both teams’ skates tonight. The game started off with lots of energy some close scoring chances, great saves and big hits. Rookie David Perklin was not backing down from anyone and made his first appearance to the 67’s lineup after being sidelined with a finger injury in the first pre-season game.

Shane Prince opened the scoring for the 67’s after some great puck movement between Steven Janes, Sean Monahan and himself. Prince grabbed a hold of a rebound and beat Malcolm Subban short side for the lead.

In the second period, the Bulls took advantage of their powerplay after Steven Janes was sent to the box for charging. Carter Sandlak ripped a shot from the top of the faceoff circle which was re-deflected in by Austen Brassard to tie the game at 1.

A few moments later, the 67’s got a chance of their own. Brady Austin was caught with a slash and gave the 67’s a 2 minute man advantage. Cody Ceci capitalized after skating in from the point and shooting through the fivehole on Subban.

Shortly after the 67’s scored, they got another chance. Dalton Smith came in hard and after being lightly shoved by Brendan Gaunce, he went crashing into Malcolm Subban. Smith was given 5 minutes for charging and a game misconduct. Subban stayed down for a few moments but ended up playing in the remainder of game. Subsequent discipline may come against Smith as it looks like an elbow came up.

The Bulls were unable to capitalize on their 5 minute man advantage with the 67’s doing a great job of killing it off. The Bulls continued to apply pressure for the remainder of the game but couldn’t find an answer against Petr Mrazek. The 67’s hung on to win 2-1 in regulation.

The 67’s are back in town to host the Kingston Frontenacs at 2pm on Sunday.

NOTES:
The two teams combined for a total of 95 penalty minutes on the night … The 67’s are still missing three players to NHL camps: Tyler Toffoli (LA), Michal Cajkovsky (LA) & Ryan Martindale (EDM) … The Bulls were missing 1 player to NHL camps: Adam Payerl (COL), 1 player to suspension: Danny Elser (5 games) & 5 players to injury: Braeden Corbeth, Mack Lemmon, Daniil Zharkov , Braeden Morris & Scott Simmonds.

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period
OTT – 15:04 – Shane Prince (Steven Janes, Sean Monahan)

Second Period
BEL – 3:16 – Austen Brassard (Carter Sandlak, Brady Austin) PP
OTT – 7:53 – Cody Ceci (Sean Monahan, Remy Giftopoulos) PP

Third Period
none

Shots on Goal
OTT - 33
BEL - 26

Powerplays
OTT - 1 for 4
BEL - 1 for 7

Goaltenders
OTT - Petr Mrazek (25 saves on 26 shots)
BEL - Malcolm Subban (31 saves on 33 shots)

Click here for the full game sheet.

AROUND THE O’
Erie Otters 2 @ Sarnia Sting 5
Barrie Colts 3 @ Brampton Battalion 1
Owen Sound Attack 6 @ Guelph Storm 4
Oshawa Generals 5 @ Kingston Frontenacs 1
Windsor Spitfires 3 @ Kitchener Rangers 4
Saginaw Spirit 0 @ London Knights 8
Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors 5 @ Sudbury Wolves 3

And Some thoughts from behind the lens:

The Barberpole jerseys returned tonight. While the 67's were supposed to be wearing their white jerseys, the Belleville Bulls and the OHL allowed for this exception for the home opener. They are great looking jerseys.
I don't think this version of the 67's is likely to be among the least penalized clubs in the OHL this year. Everyone seems ready to get physical and test the limits.
Not a pretty win but a win nonetheless. This will get better as the returning players get integrated and synched up.
As tweeted by AJ Jakubec, Ryan Martindale survived another round of cuts in Edmonton. He's betting that Ryan will be in Oklahoma City this season. Edmonton is still with 49 contracts with a 50 contract limit.
Tyler Toffoli is having a good camp in LA. He seems to be bonding well with Ethan Moreau, LA's captain.
No pictures for the game on Sunday - I've committed to the Nepean Match Race (sailing).

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Marc-Anthony Zanetti

More pictures:

Shane Prince celebrating his and the 67's first goal of the regular season.

Brett Gustavsen

Ryan Van Stralen and Sean Monahan crowding the crease.

Tyler Graovac has returned from the Minnesota Wild camp.

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Season Ticket Holder Pick-up Night

2011-09-19T20:08:00.000-04:00

Tonight was the Ottawa 67's Ticket Pick Up night for season seat holders. It was a very good turnout and from the discussions I had, fans are looking forward to a strong season from a team that includes 6 players who have been drafted into the NHL and another 4 who were invited to NHL camps.

Some tidbits:

For those who think this is important, Golden Palace eggrolls will be available at the Civic Centre this season. With all the hype around town, I just may have to try one.
The club continues to bring new game-day entertainment features - they've added a house band!
Petr Mrazek and Marc-Anthony Zanetti are on their way back from their respective NHL camps and will be in the line-up on Friday. Steven Janes returned earlier and played in Friday's pre-season game.
As NHL teams start whittling their camps down to season roster size, more players could be returning this week.
The players were wearing the new third jersey. Given that these jerseys can only be worn 10 times during the season, it's likely that we'll see these more in the last half of the season than in the first half.

After team introductions by Dave "The Voice" Schrieber, Coach and GM Chris Byrne introduced team management. No changes there other than to note that, as previously announced, Chris Byrne has taken over GM duties but Brian Kilrea is still around and involved with the club - notably as a scout. I had a chance to chat with him on the weekend and he's looking forward to scouting.

And then it was time for the fans to chat with the players and get autographs.

Hope to see all of you at the home opener on Friday!

Ottawa 67's Fan Blog Welcomes Kathryn

2011-09-17T07:23:00.000-04:00

I would like to welcome Kathryn as a new contributor to this blog. Taking pictures, taking notes, processing the photos and posting a timely and intelligent game summary is pretty hard so I have been looking for a collaborator for the last couple of seasons. And I have found the perfect partner: Kathryn.

She's a graduate of the sports management program at Durham College and has been an avid OHL supporter since 1999. She's worked in and out of the OHL in different capacities since 2003 including time with the Ottawa 67's. Her goal is to get back into the hockey industry - her crazy dream (her words) is to get into scouting or video coaching.

Welcome Kathryn!

Bulls shutout 67’s 3-0

2011-09-17T07:15:00.001-04:00

By Kathryn:

The Belleville Bulls closed off their pre-season with a 3-0 win over the Ottawa 67’s. The Bulls pre-season record climbs to an impressive 5-1-0 while the 67’s record falls to 2-2-1. Both teams were playing with severely depleted lineups due to injuries and players who were invited to the main NHL training camps. The 67’s ended up with 12 skaters for the last 5 minutes of the game.

Captain Luke Judson got the Bulls off to an early start after he shot the puck high stick side past Karsten Pankhurst at the 4:05 minute mark of the first period. The Bulls formed a nice 2-on-1 press starting with Garrett Hooey and finishing with a perfect feed from Brendan Gaunce.

The Bulls continued to control the early part of the game until Taylor Fielding nearly tied it up, but rang the puck off the crossbar at the 9:45 minute mark in the first. That marked Ottawa’s first shot on net. The 67’s were able to develop more scoring chances near the end of the period, but the Bulls did a good job of deflecting or blocking the shot limiting Ottawa to 3 shots in the period. Karsten Pankhurst had to be sharp and was able to keep the Bulls to a one goal lead.

Nearly midway through the second period, Bulls goaltender Charlie Graham got his first OHL taste when he took over for Malcolm Subban. Despite playing better in the second period, the 67’s failed to get any pucks past either goaltender. Michael Curtis picked up a rebound off of Jason Shaw’s shot and fired it past Pankhurst for his first goal since returning from Vancouver Canucks rookie camp.

There was no love lost from the last time these two teams faced off in Belleville. Early in the third period 67’s rookie Derek Dallman made a late hit on Scott Simmonds and sparked some mayhem as the two lines came to their teammates’ aid. It ended up with Sean Callaghan and Adam Bignell squaring off in an extended bout. As fighting is not supported in pre-season both players were sent the showers early. Derek Dallman stayed down on the ice after suffering an undisclosed injury. He also received a 5 minute major and game misconduct for checking to the head. Disciplinary action may follow.

From all the excitement above, the Bulls came out with a 3 minute powerplay. Jason Shaw found a clear lane in front of Pankhurst, took advantage and shot the puck from the top of the faceoff circle and in.

Things continued to get chippy later in the game. Brett Gustavsen got under the skin off Jordan Subban who forcefully went after him but missed flattening him against the boards. A little later Ryan Van Stralen quickly dropped Brendan Gaunce as it looked like he lost his balance.

The 67’s will look to rebound September 23, 2011 as they open the regular season with a rematch against the rivalled Belleville Bulls ( 7:30pm).

SCORING SUMMARY
First Period
BEL - 4:05 - Luke Judson (Brendan Gaunce, Garrett Hooey)

Second Period
BEL - 11:48 - Michael Curtis (Jason Shaw)

Third Period
BEL - 6:43 - Jason Shaw (Adam Guy, Alex Carnevale) PP

Shots on Goal
OTT - 19 BEL - 26

Powerplays
OTT - 0 for 3 BEL - 1 for 4

Goaltenders
OTT - Karsten Pankhurst (23 saves on 26 shots)
BEL - Malcolm Subban (9 saves on 9 shots) & Charlie Graham (10 saves on 10 shots)

Three stars as selected by the Team 1200

AROUND THE O’
Brampton Battalion 6 at Guelph Storm 4
Windsor Spitfires 4 at Sarnia Sting 4
Barrie Colts 5 at Sudbury Wolves 5

Saginaw Spirit 0 at Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 2

Pictures from the game

Click here for more photos from the game.

Great Deal for Kids!

2011-09-13T16:36:00.000-04:00

The Ottawa 67's continue with innovative ways to attract fans to the family-friendly entertainment that they offer. Today they announced a 1-day opportunity for kids tickets. Get to one of the two Pro Hockey Life locations this Saturday to take advantage. From the Ottawa 67's:

Sept. 13, 2011 (Ottawa, ON.):

The Ottawa 67’s today announced a one-day only event to give kids the opportunity to see the 67’s entire home-ice regular season for $1.00/game. The event, featuring 67’s players, coaches, mascots and the cheer squad, will take place this Saturday at Ottawa’s two Pro Hockey Life stores—Kanata Centrum in the morning and Bank St. near Hunt Club in the afternoon. Kids 12 and under can purchase a regular season Kid’s Pass for all home games for $34 AND they’ll receive a $20 Pro Hockey Life gift certificate to use on the spot or save for later.

“The atmosphere created by thousands of kids at our games is incredible,” said 67’s Owner and Governor Jeff Hunt. “Every season, we host a school day game with over 9,000 kids in the building and I wanted to make it as easy as possible for kids to be in the stands and release that kind of energy at every home game. Everybody in the stands and on the ice feels it.”

The morning Kid’s Pass event at Pro Hockey Life, Kanata Centrum, starts at 9:00 AM and runs until 1:00 PM. 67’s players will be on-hand to provide shooting tips and offer other hockey advice to young players and members of the coaching staff will also be in attendance. The afternoon event at Pro Hockey Life, Bank near Hunt Club, will also feature players and coaches and a special appearance by the legendary Brian Kilrea. Jeff Hunt, mascots and the cheer team will make appearances at both locations throughout the day.

The kids pass is not a season ticket. It entitles kids to obtain a ticket during the week leading up to a game in most sections of the arena. Certain sections are excluded. 67’s staff will be at the Pro Hockey Life events to explain all the details.

67's 6-3 Win Over Kingston in Pre-Season Play

2011-09-12T04:54:00.002-04:00

Both teams were missing a lot of players for the game. The 67's were missing 10 players who were off to NHL prospect camps (Mrazek - Detroit, Campbell - Philadelphia, Zanetti and Janes - Vancouver, Toffoli and Cajkovsky - LA, Prince - Ottawa, Graovac - Minessota, Smith - Columbus and Martindale - Edmonton). First round OHL Priority Draft pick David Perklin was also a scratch as he broke his finger.

For their part, Kingston was also missing a lot of players: Igor Bobkov, Eric Gudbranson, Alex Adams, Nathan Cull, Jason Shaw, Ryan Hutchinson, Ryan Spooner, Connor Stokes and Mitchell Fitzmorris.

Ottawa added Steven Fullan, Ryan MacLean, Kyle Leduc, Mitch McIntosh, Derek Dallman and goalie Karsten Pankhurst. Kingston did not add any players for the game.

It was pretty much what one might expect for a pre-season game that featured a few returning players and a bunch of rookies. Returning players demonstrated their ease and skills; new players had their moments trying to keep up with the pace and the skill of play.

Ottawa dominated most of the game, never losing the lead nor losing on the shot-clock. The line of rookie Van Stealen, Monahan and Gustavsen dominated the scoring for Ottawa, including a hat trick by Van Stralen, 4 (?) assists from Monahan and Gustavsen adding a goal and some assists (it's hard writing down all this stuff and taking pictures at the same time).

Ryan MacLean also scored his first goal in a 67's uniform. And Giftopolis had a sweet goal from the slot after some great stick handling.

Kingston managed to close the gap to one goal at one point but they were never seriously in contention. In 5 PPs (according to my notes) Kingston managed 3 shots on goal - converting one to a PPG.

It wasn't full-on, exciting, end-to-end hockey but it was interesting to watch given the rosters and time of year. By the time the game ended, the new players had fully engaged in the rivalry that these two teams share. Chirping, man-handling, and generally getting their competitive hate-on has started for the season. The game next Wednesday in Kingston should be interesting.

Final shots on goal were 32 - 26 for Ottawa.

Random Thoughts:

Ryan Van Stralen is no shrinking violet. He's ready to score and not likely to back down when push comes to shove. And there was the requisite pushing and shoving. He's got some size to him too.
Remy Giftopolis is much stronger on his feet.
Sean Monahan and Cody Ceci appear to have benefited from their international experience on their Team Canada teams. Very confident and dangerous on the ice.
Ben Dubois had three great break-aways. He didn't bury any of them but on one of them he was tackled.
Karsten Pankhurst likes to handle the puck a lot. He wasn't challenged too much at first but then made some great saves and also had some very lucky bounces.
Jake Cardwell also looks bigger and stronger. And ready to engage.
In the 3rd period, Ottawa had long stretches where they maintained puck possession in the Kingston zone - keeping the Fronts running around and scrambling. You could hear the bench calling for someone to ice the puck - they problem was that no one could get a hold of it.

Some pictures from the game (focusing on the new guys):

Steven Fullam Ben Dubois getting tackled on one of his break aways Kyle Leduc Derek Dallman Ryan MacLean celebrating his first goal in a 67's jersey. Ryan MacLean Mike Vlajkov Mike Vlajkov First star: Ryan Van Stralen Second Star: Sean Monahan Third Star: Brett Gustavsen

It's A New Season

2011-09-11T07:11:00.001-04:00

Yes, I know - I haven't posted a darn thing since the end of last season. Guess it took me a long time to get over the sudden and unexpected early end to the season. But the summer is winding down which means that hockey is starting up again and it's time to look forward to the new season. And there's much to look forward to.

This post will focus on summarizing what transpired with the club and players over the summer.

The really big news was that Brian Kilrea is stepping down as the GM of the club and that Chris Byrne will assume the roles of both Head Coach and General Manager. Brian will continue scouting and will of course be available to Chris as an advisor.

As for players, there was a lot of news over the summer. Let's start with the players who were already drafted in the NHL:

Tyler Toffoli:
When the 67's season ended last spring, he signed an ATO (Amateur Try Out) with the LA Kings affiliate, Manchester Monarchs. He played 1 regular season game and 5 post-season games scoring a total of 2 goals. He played well enough to earn himself a three-year entry-level contract with the Kings.

Tyler attended the LA Development Camp which happened after the draft and he made good impression there. He also earned himself an invitation to Team Canada's summer camp for the upcoming WJHC that will take place in Alberta this year. He's currently at the LA prospect camp. Follow @mayorNHL on Twitter or the associated blog for good coverage of all things Kings including Tyler. You can also follow Tyler on twitter at @tytoff16.

Petr Mrazek:
Petr signed an ATO with Grand Rapids Griffins (Redwings AHL affiliate) at the end of the season but I don' think he saw any action as their season was also shortened - the Griffins did not make the playoffs. Detroit does not have a development camp after the draft.

Petr remains unsigned while he attends the Red Wings prospect camp. The Red Wings participate in the Traverse City Prospects Tournament which includes teams from Minnesota (including former 67's Cuma & current 67's Graovac), Buffalo, Dallas, Carolina, New York (Rangers), St. Louis (Nigro), and Columbus (Smith).

Dalton Smith:
Dalton didn't get called up to the Columbus Blue Jackets AHL affiliate Springfield Falcons but he did attend their post-draft development camp. In the process, he earned himself a three-year entry draft contract with Columbus and he is currently attending their prospect camp.

You can follow him on twitter @dsmitty33.

Ryan Martindale:
Ryan was not called up but I'm not sure if the Oklahoma City Barons made it to the playoffs. Ryan also did not attend the Oilers' post-draft development camp due to illness. He's at the Oilers' prospect camp now. Ryan remains unsigned and in the midst of a numbers crunch in Edmonton. I was not aware that clubs are limited to the number of contracts they can have (apparently the cap is 50) and the Oilers are at 49.

Two Ottawa 67's were drafted during the 2011 NHL Entry Draft:
Shane Prince:
Shane was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the 2nd round (61st overall) and he attended their post-draft development camp. Here's a clip from his draft. He was also selected to attended the Team USA summer development camp where he played right to the end. He is currently at the Senators' prospect camp and participating in the 4-team prospects tournament in Oshawa. The other teams are Toronto, Pittsburgh and Chicago.

While Shane is not a prolific tweeter like his sister (@oliviaprince10), he is writing a blog about his camp experience.

Tyler Graovac:
Tyler was selected in the 7th round (191st overall) by the Minnesota Wild where he joins former Ottawa67's Tyler Cuma (they have a thing about players named Tyler?). He attended their development camp and is currently with his team at the Travers City Prospects Camp.

And news about undrafted members of the last roster:

Marc-Anthony Zanetti (@mzanetti10) and Steven Janes (@SJanes17) were invited to the Vancouver Canucks development camp and are now at the Canucks' prospect camp. Zanetti is by far the most active tweeter in the bunch - especially about Jersey Shore.

Shayne Campbell (@soupy31) is off the to the Philadelphia prospects camp.

Cody Ceci (@Cecer_83) played with the U-18 Team Canada at the Canada at the 2011 IIHF World Under-18 Championship April 14-24 in Germany. Canada lost to Russia in the bronze medal game. Cody was invited to Team Canada's WJHC summer development camp where he was most likely the youngest player there.

As an additional nod to his draft prospects, Cody was invited to participate in the NHL two-day research and development camp.

Sean Monahan (@yungmonny) was invited to the invited to the U18 evaluation camp for the Ivan Hlinka tournament. He made the team and made the trip to the Czech Republic and scored the opening goal in Canada's 4-1 Gold Medal win over Sweden.

Neil Hoch (@neilhoch) will be the team trainer for the U17 Team Ontario team. The tournament takes place in December in Winnipeg.

Jon Carnevale (@jcarny04) has retired from the OHL and is attending classes and playing hockey at Ottawa U.

Ottawa's first 5 picks in the OHL Priority Selection were David Perkin (@DPerks9), Mike Vlajkov (@mvlajkov11), BJ Salerno, Niko Kovachis and Tyler Hill. And if one Zanetti is good, then two must be awesome as Marc-Anthony's brother, Christian (@zanetti73) was drafted in the 14th round. The complete list of the 67's draft is here.

Former Ottawa 67’s
Logan Couture (@logancouture) was one of two finalists for the NHL Rookie of the Year award and has been signed to a 2-year contract extension with San Jose.

Jamie McGinn (@JamieMcGinn64) signed a one-year contract with San Jose.

Derek Joslin avoided arbitration and signed a contract with Carolina.

Thomas Kiriakou (@ThomasKiriakou) has left Guelph University after two years to play in the ECHL with the Las Vegas Wranglers.

Mark Mancari signed a one year contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Travis Gibbons committed to the Acadia Axemen.

Zenon Konopka signed with the Ottawa Senators.

Former Ottawa 67’s Chris Draper retired

Jason Bailey (@ehjaybay) has retired from hockey and has enrolled at Carleton University.

Corey Cowick (@ccows) is still with the Ottawa Senators and led the way to the #NHLSens prospects 4-1 win yesterday over Pittsburgh with a 3-point performance (2 goals and an assist). He was wearing an "A" for this game.

And I think that's about it. If there's any news out there that I missed, please send it along. Meanwhile, time to get ready for today's exhibition game against Kingston.

And That's a Wrap: Sudbury Sweeps the 67's with 5-3 Win

2011-03-31T23:24:00.001-04:00

Despite holding a two-goal lead at one point and going into the third with a 1-goal lead, the Ottawa 67's were unable to contain the Sudbury Wolves who sealed the deal with an EN with 7 seconds left in the game.

Too many things just went wrong.

The 67's started the game fast, hard hitting and taking the game to Sudbury. Shane Prince started the scoring and Dalton Smith had a pair but it wasn't enough.

Coach Chris Byrne wouldn't bite when asked whether injuries played a factor. "We don't use excuses here. They played harder than we did and they deserved to win the series."

As for today's game, "(They) had a couple of short-handed goals and that seemed to swing momentum pretty good and it's always tough when you put the game winner in your own net. A couple of tough plays, a couple of tough breaks but you make your breaks as well."

At times the 67's had a tough time getting out of their own zone were guilty of over-handling the puck.

Losing Sedlak with a separated shoulder early in the game when Marcus Foligno laid a bit hit on him, didn't make things any easier for the coaching staff.

As for the Wolves, Sgarbossa had a great second half to his season, had a great series and was the difference.

So the many Wolves fans went home happy having swept the series. They are fast and dangerous, Valiquette was strong in net and they had some serious puck luck to boot.

The 67's were devastated as you might expect. We bid farewell to Thomas Nesbitt, Cody Lindsay and Travis Gibbons as their Major Junior careers end.

Click here for the game sheet.

I don't have time to go through the pictures tonight - will post some tomorrow with more thoughts about the season.

Pictures from the game:

I tried to get at least one picture of each player but it was not possible. In part due to the annoying habit of the referee to get in the way. He had an uncanny instinct for getting right in the shot. More shots of this backside than he probably knew was possible. Click here to see more pictures.

Game 1 Goes to Sudbury: 8 - 7 in OT

2011-03-26T22:09:00.004-04:00

It certainly was not their best work as Ottawa 67's lost to the Sudbury Wolves 8 - 7 early in overtime.

Click here for the game sheet.

Any game that serves up 15 goals split almost evenly between two teams cannot remotely be considered a good defensive display by either team. But despite the score, the Sudbury Wolves were the better team and won game 1 on the road for their efforts.

The recently returned Alain Valiquette stole the game for his team in the first period making 22 saves on 24 shots while the Wolves played short-handed for pretty much all of it in a penalty filled frame.

The traditionally truculent Sudbury Wolves were true to form right from the jump with Markus Foligno slashing Dalton Smith in the first 11 seconds. That was followed by checking from behind calls on McFadden and Corrado, slashing by Sgarbossa with an unsportsmanlike added, O'Dell got 5 and a game for boarding Toffoli and Sudbury was caught with too many men on the ice. And that was the first period.

Ottawa took a couple too but for all that time with the man advantage, Ottawa managed two power play goals. Ryan Martindale got the first goal on the first powerplay and Tyler Toffoli got the second one just before the period ended.

All game Ottawa got 4 PPGs in 13 advantages, including a number of 5-on-3s that they couldn't convert. Martindale also had a short-handed goal and his hat trick goal in the third tied the game to send it into overtime. Tyler Toffoli added another PPG for two goals in the game and the returning Nesbitt had 2 to round out Ottawa's scoring.

Three unanswered Sudbury goals in the first 3 and a half minutes of the third period gave Sudbury first the tie, then a 1-goal lead and then a 2-goal lead which resulted in Petr Mrazek getting the hook for 7 goals on 28 shots.

Goals from Nesbitt and Martindale tied it back up but despite starting the OT period with a 2-man advantage, it was Andrey Kuchin getting his hat trick 3 minutes in when he beat Campbell to take the win.

After their gutsy games against Kitchener, Mississauga, Niagara and Oshawa in the final two weekends of the regular season it's hard to explain what we saw today. Nerves? Running out of gas? Over confidence after last Sunday's game? Discombobulation with the players who returned from injury (Nesbitt, Lindsay and Janes)? I'm sure if you ask them, they don't even know.

Meanwhile, the victorious Sudbury Wolves will have a happy bus ride home having neutralized home ice advantage and looking at games 2 and 3 in their barn.

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Thomas Nesbitt

Random Thoughts:

A rough outing for Petr Mrazek. Got run over a few times and had at least a couple of goals he would like to have back. His D also hung him out on at least one of the goals.
Between the two teams, three players had hat tricks (Sgarbossa, Leivo and Martindale. Of the 21 points earned by Sudbury, 17 came off the sticks of Sgarbossa, Leivo and Kuchin.
The lead see-sawed back and forth between the two teams a few times. Sudbury was the only team to get a 2-goal lead and that was erased by Nesbitt and Martindale.
Gibbons was seriously missed.
Valiquette had a great game including a game-saving stone of Toffoli on a break away. Think Toff needs to speak with Kilrea again about scoring on the break away.
They didn't announce the crowd and it's not on the game sheet but it was a sizable one including a good representation of Sudbury fans. I would guess it had to be close to 10,000. Stands in serious contrast with the announced 1363 in Mississauga.
Taking pictures at SBP is not nearly as good as it is at the Rona Centre. Couldn't get decent pictures of the three stars from where I could get on the ice.

More Pictures:

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Regular Season Finished with 7 - 3 Win Over Sudbury

2011-03-20T20:43:00.003-04:00

The final game of the season was a preview of the first round of the playoffs and although the 67's sent a strong message in their 7-3 win over Sudbury, it came at a mighty price as Travis Gibbons' season came to a painful halt late in the first period. A puck was deflected into his mouth and he injured his leg as he buckled from the hit.

This horrific injury overshadowed Tyler Toffoli's 5-point, 4G and 1A, to end up tied with Jason Akeson of Kitchener for the OHL scoring race.

Click here for the game sheet.

I don't know how long this has been happening but once again the final home game of the season was against the Sudbury Wolves. The playoff brackets are already set and these two teams are schedule to meet in the first round.

The 67's were still playing with a short bench. Tyler Graovac's season came to an end on Friday when he broke his forearm early in the game. Fortunately Remi Giftopolous was available for today's game so the team started with 3 whole lines (!).

The Wolves rested their starting goalie and played their backup goalie, Brendan O'Neill, who had only 4 previous starts this season.

Taylor Fielding started the scoring just 2 1/2 minutes into the game with his first goal of his OHL career. Nick Foglia quickly picked up the puck for Taylor.

Ottawa got into some penalty trouble late in the first, having to defend a 5-on-3 for 1:04. This is where Gibbons was injured. Ottawa held Sudbury off the scoreboard during the 2-man advantage but with 55 seconds left in the second penalty, Josh McFadden tipped it in for the PPG to tie up the game.

Sean Monahan restored the Ottawa lead early in the second with a pretty goal driving the net and backhanding it over the outstretched pad. Dalton Smith and Marc Anthony Zanetti with the assists.

Ottawa kept up the pressure and Brett Gustavsen put Ottawa up by two three minutes later when he picked up his own rebound, had his back to the net and shot it between his legs that beat O'Neill. That one should make the OHL high-light reel. Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli assisted.

Sudbury got within 1 with a PPG from Scarbossa who tucked it under Mrazek.

But that's as close as they would get as Tyler Toffoli took over the scoring for Ottawa with two goals in the second and two in the third for a 5-point night to briefly regain the scoring lead in the OHL and finish with 57 goals on the season. One of those goals came from behind the net as he tried to centre the puck to Martindale but it went in off the goalie.

And the game ended 7 - 3 with shots 31 - 29 for Ottawa. Both teams have had a decent look at each other. It would be a mistake for anyone to think that today's game is an indication of how the next four or more games will go.

See you at Scotia Bank Place next Saturday at 2:00 for game 1 of round 1 of the playoffs.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Jake Cardwell

Random Thoughts:

Shayne Campbell went into the net for the third period. I presume to give him some ice time against Sudbury and to give Mrazek a bit of a rest.
There were a number of Sudbury fans on hand for the game. No sign of Nick Foligno - he may have kept a low profile.
Sean Monahan moved back to centre the second line and had a great game - worked hard all game.
Surgery on Wednesday for Graovac for pins and plates. 4 - 6 weeks which could equate to the rest of the season.
Gustavsen certainly has taken advantage of his call up - playing on the top line today, scoring a goal, and assist and just getting everywhere quickly.
Jake Cardwell played against his former team - was today's Hardest Working 67's. Good start to the playoffs for him.

More Pictures: Click here to see more pictures from the game.

67's are East Division Champs with Their 4-3 Win

2011-03-19T06:58:00.000-04:00

First place in the East Division and second seed in the Eastern Conference were on the line in Friday's game. The Ottawa 67's started with a short bench and finished with an even shorter one but they gutted out this important win.

Click here for the game sheet.

The lines for the 67's started something like this: Monahan, Martindale, Toffoli; Smith, Graovac, Dubois; Gustavsen, Foglia, Fielding with D-pairs: Ceci, Gibbons; Zanetti, Cardwell; and Shipley, Sedlak.

Chris Byrne was forced to reconfigure this small crew when Tyler Graovac left the game early with a fractured forearm. By the time the game ended, I couldn't tell if anyone was playing regularly with anyone else - just bodies out there working hard to keep the Generals from getting the tying goal.

It was a fast-paced back and forth game with both teams either getting amazingly lucky with goals not scored or having agonizingly bad luck for goals not scored - depending on your point of view.

Ottawa had to play to win...not to not lose and and play to win they did. Dalton Smith started the scoring on Ottawa's first PP when he popped the puck past Di Salvo just 4 minutes into the game. Jake Cardwell and Brett Gustavsen with the assists.

But in what would be a pattern pretty much all game, the Oshawa Generals got it back just three minutes later when Boone Jenner got one past Mrazek from in close.

The Oshawa Generals are the most penalized team in the OHL but tonight Ottawa got into the most difficulty half way through the first when Tyler Toffoli went off for slashing and then Ryan Martindale was sent off for putting the puck over the glass. The Generals had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:24.

The 67's did a great job defending the 2-man disadvantage and with Toffoli back on the ice, Dalton Smith poked the puck past the General's defensman Tony De Hart and skated (faster than I think I've seen him skate all year) into the Oshawa zone. De Hart and Smith both went down but as he was falling Dalton Smith got the puck to Tyler Toffoli who buried it past Di Salvo for the short handed goal to put Ottawa back up by one. Zanetti had the second assist on that pretty goal.

But once again, the Generals tied it up in a goal-mouth scramble that had J.P. Labardo getting credit for the goal.

The teams traded goals again in the second with Ben Dubois scoring his 5th goal of the season when he tipped Jake Cardwell's shot from the blue line for Ottawa's second PPG of the game. Dalton Smith had the second helper there.

Ottawa native Calvin de Haan tipped in Tony De Hart's shot on one of Oshawa's 6 power plays to tie the game once again. But what must have been the best/worst puck luck of the game (again, depending on your point of view) was a series of chances the Generals had in the last 6 minutes or so to bury the puck into an open net with Mrazek clearly out of the way but simply could not. The TV time-out could not come fast enough for the 67's to rest their legs and get their hearts back into their chests.

The 67's looked a bit tired to start the third but they had to bear down right away with Zanetti being sent to the box for tripping just 42 seconds in. The 67's killed that one, no shots at all by Oshawa.

Then, when he returned to the ice Marc-Anthony Zanetti one-timed a pass from Tyler Toffoli that beat Di Salvo short-side. I didn't see a replay but from my pictures, it looks like it may have gone in off Di Salvo's glove. In any event, it gave Ottawa the lead again, and produced one of the most enthusiastic goal celebrations I've seen in a while. Jake Cardwell got the third assist for his third point of the night.

As Dalton Smith said after the game, the strategy in the third was to keep the shifts short, slow the game down, be patient with the puck and chip it out. And they executed it perfectly. There wasn't anything left in the tank of the 67's players as they kept the Generals at bay.

Another outstanding team performance for a gutsy win. The 67's face the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday for what could be a preview of the playoffs. The Wolves have been a surprising team all season and are not to be taken lightly.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Brett Gustavsen

Random Thoughts:

Dalton Smith was a beast! Terrific on-ice leadership.
This was one of those Roger's games where the mothership broadcasts the game. While usually a bit of a pain because of the commercials, it worked in Ottawa's favour as it gave Chris some regular breaks to rest his very short bench. Probably saved their legs a bit.
Again, lots of scouts at the game. Not that there's any good time for an injury but this is really bad timing for Tyler Graovac. This is his draft year and he has been getting better and stronger out there all year. His fracture will have him out 6 - 8 weeks. Tough finish to the year.
Other injury updates: Shane Prince is back in town. Says he feels better. Not sure when he will be cleared to skate; Fontana is skating again; Janes may get clearance soon; no word on when Nesbitt will skate; Lindsay should be back for the playoffs. Carnevale and Luciani are indefinite.
Playoffs start next Saturday at Scotia Bank Place. The first round opponent has yet to be determined.

More Pictures: Celebrating the Toffoli's short handed goal.Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Another Tough Overtime Loss: 3 - 2 Mississauga

2011-03-13T20:32:00.002-04:00

Our intrepid injury-ridden Ottawa 67's put in another solid performance against a tough conference rival and Tyler Toffoli notched his 100 and 101st points of the season but it wasn't enough to carry the Ottawa 67's to victory. They made it to overtime but this time it was all over in less than a minute when Justin Shugg rung it in off the post.

Click here for the game sheet.

The list of scratches was almost as long as the list of players actually playing: Carnevale (post-concussion - indefinite), Nesbitt (lower body - week-to-week), Luciani (concussion - indefinite), Giftopolous (with his Tier 1 today team by agreement), Janes (shoulder), Prince (mild concussion), Fontana (concussion), Lindsay (jaw). For those who without the libretto, that list includes three of the 67's top-six forwards and two of the three overagers.

Three of the 9 forwards were rookies including Fielding who is also plays defense. Fortunately the 67's welcomed Marc-Anthony Zanetti back into the line up.

So, on paper anyway, the Ottawa 67's looked to be in tough against the league leading Mississauga St. Mike's Majors. Dave Cameron didn't take any chances; he started J.P. Anderson and he rolled 4 lines all game.

The Ottawa 67's clearly didn't think they were in tough. For two periods they matched the Majors in intensity and scoring chances and at the end of two, they held a two-goal lead with goals in the second period from Sean Monahan and Cody Ceci.

Sean's goal came near the halfway mark of the game when Tyler Toffoli, from right beside the net, got the puck to Sean at the front of the crease. Sean flipped it over Anderson for the PPG. And with his assist, Tyler finally notched his 100th point of the season making him the first player to do so since Corey Locke. And this milestone was achieved in front of the nearly 7,000 fans gathered this Sunday afternoon unlike his 50th goal which happened in front of an unappreciative Plymouth audience.

And then about 5 and a half minutes later, Cody Ceci scored his 9th goal of the season when he took the puck around the back of the net and banked it in off Majors' Dylan DeMelo. Tyler Toffoli and Sean Monahan with the assists.

In the final 5 minutes of the game the 67's successfully defended a 5-on-3 PK, limiting the Majors to one shot on goal and finished the period up by two goals and staying close on shots at 19 - 17 for Missy.

But the pace of the game caught up with the 67's in the third period. Able to roll 4 lines, Missy was able to keep fresher legs out there and keep the 67's players out there longer than they would have preferred. When playing with such a short bench, short shifts is key.

Missy's first goal came just under 30 seconds into the third period when Justin Shugg's sharp angle shot squeezed between Campbell and the post for his 39th goal of the season.

It was an important goal in that it gave the Majors some serious momentum early in the third. But the 67's kept working and had some good possession series with strong cycles but they were unable to get shots to the net, much less score.

It was just after one such strong cycling series that Mississauga gained possession and came back up ice to tie up the game when Ryley Brace found the loose puck and tucked in into the net at about the halfway mark of the third period. At this point Mississauga had 8 shots in the period to Ottawa's one.

The 67's held off the push by the Majors to finish regulation tied at two and earn an important point.

Overtime ended when Justin Shugg picked off Jake Cardwell's turnover at the blue line and rung it in off the post just 36 seconds into the OT frame.

And so, the depleted Ottawa 67's played hard against the two highest performing teams in the conference point-wise and came away with two points, having lost both games in OT. Not the results they were hoping for but not for lack of effort. They remain 3 points ahead of the Oshawa Generals who have a game in hand. Ottawa now rests up and prepares to play the Generals next Friday for first place in the Eastern Division.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Brett Gustavsen

Random Thoughts:

Brett Gustavsen has done nothing but work his butt off since joining the team. He is a fast, resilient player who bounces back from all the attention he attracts from the opposition.
Ben Dubois has really stepped his game up recently. Fast, hardworking, he makes the opposing team pay attention.
Shayne Campbell was called for an odd interference call in the second period when he ran into a Majors player as he (Campbell) attempted to return to the crease from behind the net. He was headed directly to his spot when the Majors player wanted to use the same path to get behind the net. For some reason, Campbell was at fault. hmmmm.
The games against Kitchener, Niagara and Mississauga have all had a playoff feel and the 67's have played solid hockey. This is a great way to go into the final weekend of the regular season with second spot in the conference in play.
Had a chance to chat with Cody Lindsay and Julien Luciani before the game. Lindsay has a non-displaced fracture in his jaw. It's pretty sore and he's hungry (can't eat too much when you can't open your mouth). Luciani is skating and feeling well but still hasn't been cleared to play. The OHL has a rigorous process for clearing players.
A video featuring Dalton Smith (thanks to Scott MacArthur of Team1200 for tweeting it out).
A review of Billingsley's hit on Prince.

More Pictures: Tyler Toffoli collecting the puck from his 100th point of the season. Congrats Tyler! Kevin Lowe (Edmonton Oilers) being interviewed by Lee Versage. Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Tough Loss But Character Play by the 67's

2011-03-12T07:12:00.001-05:00

It was a tough loss in the Rona Center last night as the injury riddled Ottawa 67's battled hard against the Niagara IceDogs, outplaying them for most of the game. Already missing starting goaltender Petr Mrazek, veteran defensemen Marc Anthony Zanetti and Julian Luciani and hard-nosed Jon Carnevale, in-game injuries to Shane Prince, Cody Lindsay and Thomas Nesbitt slowly depleted the on-ice available talent. And kept trainer Neil Hoch pretty busy too.

The team played hard but with just 5.5 seconds left in the OT period (and a penalty kill), Ryan Strome sniped the game winning goal and notched his 101st point of the season.

Click here for the game sheet.

There is certainly no love lost between these two teams and this game was no different.

Both teams came out fast, physical, and in a playoff mood. Both teams limited their opponent's scoring chances with the opening goal coming off only the 5th shot, in total.

During Ottawa's first PP of the game, Tim Billingsley lined Shane Prince up as he came across the blue line and drilled his forearm into Shane's head. Shane did not have possession of the puck and Billingsley was not going for the puck. The rink was stone silent as Shane lay on the ice with both trainers attending to him until he managed to leave the ice with assistance. It was later reported that he required repairs to both the back of his head and to his face. Since he fell backwards from the hit, the facial injuries must have been the result of contact to the head from the hit. No penalty on the hit.

Jake Cardwell stepped up to mete out the justice that the referees seemed disinclined to do. The officials gave him 2, 5 and 10 for his efforts, but everyone else gave him their respect.

While on the ensuing 4-on-4, Alex Friesen put the IceDogs on the score sheet with a short-angle shot that squeezed between Campbell and the post.

The 67's were not rattled by the injury to their team mate or the goal as they came right back hard on the puck in the Niagara zone. Taking advantage of the strong cycling and possession work, Sean Monahan sniped the puck over the glove of Visentin to tie it up.

Shortly thereafter, Cody Lindsay took a puck in the face and left the game for good. It was later reported that a jaw injury was suspected. So with the game tied at two in the first period, Ottawa was down to 9 forwards and missing 2 of its top-6 forwards.

The speed, intensity and physicality picked up as the period continued and both teams had their scoring chances but neither team could finish.

The second period was a bit tamer and was scoreless. Perhaps the coaches told their teams to settle down. It certainly was not because the officials set the tone. Ottawa carried the play, outshooting the Dogs 20 - 8, but they were unable to solve Visentin.

Ottawa continued pressing in the third, getting two goals called back. Jake Cardwell's goal was called off apparently because the ref thought Graovac interfered with Visentin. I guess the ref didn't think that Gronvaldt's involvement mattered.

The second was on a very fast whistle when the ref found himself on the other side of the action and the puck out of his sight while it remained in play.

You had to think that they would eventually get one that the refs could not call back and Captain Thomas Nesbitt delivered by snapping a shot from the slot past Visintin. Sean Monahan and Cody Ceci with the assists.

Ryan Strome got it back with 8 seconds left on the power play as his shot from the face off circle squeaked through Shayne Campbell for his 100th point of the season.

Ottawa had one last power play of the game when Myles Doan kneed Thomas Nesbitt. Ottawa was not able to get anything going and regular play ended in a tie. He didn't return to the game.

So Ottawa went into OT now down 3 of their top-6 forwards. This certainly was a war of attrition.

With 51 seconds left in OT, Cody Ceci was called for tripping.

Marty Williamson must have seen something as he called a time out with 35 seconds left in the game and a face off coming up in the Ottawa zone. Niagara won the face off and Ottawa had a chance but was unable to clear the puck all the way down the ice. Niagara re-entered zone and Strome fired the puck upstairs for the PPG goal with 5.5 seconds left in the game.

It took a full strength IceDogs team all they had right down to the wire to defeat a seriously depleted Ottawa 67's.

TAGThree Stars as selected by the Team1200 (second star Visentin did not take a turn)

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Travis Gibbons

Random Thoughts:

Cannot say enough about how the team stepped up in face of all the challenges that were set before them. Strong defensive play from everyone, players stepping up in defense of their team mates, taking the hits, giving the hits. A great team effort that may not have been rewarded with two points but certainly rewarding as a team effort. There was no room for passengers and there certainly weren't any.
Matt Cooke, er, I mean, Tim Billingsley, is a menace. In December 2007 he delivered an open ice hit on Logan Couture that resulted in a concussion. And last night he delivered an open ice hit on Shane Prince. I would be surprised if it does not result in a concussion. With all the recent attention in the NHL to head injuries, including discussions about the OHL's intolerance for hits to the head, I wonder if Dave Branch will review this incident for supplementary discipline. With reported injuries to Prince's face, it would be hard to argue that there wasn't significant contact with the head. Prince did not have possession so the hit was not to separate him from the puck; the hit was to separate Prince from the game.
Ottawa needs more consistency on their PP. Lately it swings from being totally powerless to occasionally threatening but not nearly successful as it was earlier in the season. They went 0/6 on the PP.
Another house full of scouts again with so many draft prospects on the ice. A good game for them to see some great character at play.
Earlier this year, Niagara IceDogs coach Marty Williamson earned himself a 5-game suspension for his comments directed at officials. While it may have cost him a few bucks and some bad press, it may also have had an impact on officials.
I understand that officials get at least a video review for each game. Should be a feedback-rich session for this game. Among other things, the refs were particularly disinterested in making use of the video review. 'nuf said.

More Pictures: Sean Monahan's unassisted goal The second goal that was waived off - the ref in the upper left corner has the whistle to his mouth. Puck is still in play but he had whistled it dead. Click here to see more pictures from the game.

The Barber Pole Jerseys are Returning!

2011-03-10T17:19:00.000-05:00

As you may have heard, the Ottawa 67's are bringing back the barber pole jersey next season. From yesterday's press release:

The Ottawa 67’s will return to their roots next season by wearing the barber pole jersey/socks as their “dark” uniform. The team was forced to temporarily switch from the barber pole to a solid colour prior to the start of the 2009-10 season when the OHL adopted the new Reebok EDGE jersey. At the time, 67’s Owner and Governor Jeff Hunt pledged that his team would return to the barber pole design as soon as it was technologically possible, and that time has now arrived.

“The barber pole jersey is synonymous with 67’s hockey,” said 67’s Owner and Governor Jeff Hunt. “It’s the jersey of Denis Potvin, Doug Wilson and Bobby Smith. It’s the jersey of our Memorial Cup winning teams. And it’s fantastic to finally be able to return to it and give our fans the look they’ve been asking for.”

The jersey will be unveiled to 67’s fans at the Rona Centre on Friday before the start of the game against but you can get an early look right here.

Ottawa 67's Captain was available earlier today to give us a preview of the jersey and here it is:

Ottawa 67's Booster Club Awards Banquet

2011-03-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of attending the Ottawa 67's Booster Club annual awards banquet. The Booster Club is celebrating 20 years of supporting the players. These volunteers work all season to raise money that goes to the players in the form of performance awards to the players, gifts at Christmas and the end of the year and other items for the benefit of the players. All funds raised go to the players - over $2000 this year alone.

It is clearly a labour of love for the Booster Club members, volunteers and executives and the efforts and results are clearly appreciated by the players. It's all very impressive.

To acknowledge the 20 years of dedication and contributions to the Ottawa 67's players, Brian Kilrea presented the executives with two gifts on behalf of the Ottawa 67's club. One is a plaque that lists the gifts that the club have donated in the past with places to note the gifts that will be given in the future. The other is a team photo.

Fans of all ages chat with the players, get autographs and take pictures...and then there's the awards.

The first award of the evening was for the Best Defensive Player. This year's award went to overager Travis Gibbons.

It was followed up by the award for the best Offensive Player. No surprise there - Tyler Toffoi.

Best Two-Way Player: Thomas Nesbitt

Brian Kilrea Trophy: Thomas Nesbitt

Fan Favourites: It was a tie - Tyler Toffoli and Petr Mrazek

Jon Abbott presented the first Team1200 Hardest Working 67's Trophy. Jon said that choosing just one player as the hardest worker was hard since the expectation from club management is that everyone works hard. Notwithstanding a difficult task, Jon presented the first Team1200 Trophy to Petr Mrazek.

CTV-Ottawa Sportscaster Terry Marcotte was on hand to present the Brian Smith (Smitty) Trophy for Community Work to Travis Gibbons.

Terry also presented the Bill Patterson Trophy for Rookie of the Year to Sean Monahan.

It was a very enjoyable evening....taking photos, chatting with some of the players and some of the folks who make the game-day experience enjoyable, and witnessing the obvious affection between the Booster Club members and the players.

Shayne Campbell Backstops His Team to a 2-1 OT Win!

2011-03-06T21:08:00.000-05:00

Best home game of the year - without doubt. It was a full 64:29 minutes of full-on teamwork that was fast and physical and in the end, the right guys won (for this fan anyway).

And I believe a number of 67's acquitted themselves very well in front of the many scouts in attendance. Some stock went up today for sure.

Click here for the game sheet.

Talk about hyper-hype-drive: critical points, league leading scorers, NHL prospects, key players injured. Pick your sub-plot - the game delivered on all of them.

Let's start with the leading scorers. After leading the league in scoring for much of the season, Tyler Toffoli's lead was overtaken by Jason Akeson. Today, Jason was kept off the scoresheet while Tyler had an assist on the GWG. Tyler also played the most physical game I think I've seen him play this year.

It's not unusual to see more scouts when Western Conference teams play in Ottawa in the final quarter of the season. It was in overdrive today with top-5 NHL prospect Gabriel Landeskog coming to town. Driving up the hype curve was the interest of Ottawa Senators scouts, management, fans and media given the current and predicted final standings of same said Senators. The Ottawa 67's checked Landeskog close, taking away his space and time and generally rendering him harmless.

Both teams were missing key players: Ryan Murphy, second in scoring on the Rangers, was injured this weekend and returned to Kitchener; Ottawa was missing starting goalie Petr Mrazek. Shayne Campbell had an outstanding game with numerous game-saving saves, stopping 40 of the 41 shots he faced. He was simply a wall.

And the 67's came away with the important two points to remain 5 points ahead of Oshawa.

Chris Byrne returned to line combinations that we were used to seeing earlier with Prince returning to the top line and Monahan centering Lindsay and Nesbitt.

It was almost 65 minutes of fast, end to end play with both teams getting great chances and both teams unable to bury their chances. Both goalies did their job well although I would say that Shayne had the harder work. But the 67's also blocked a ton of shots and cleared rebounds out of harm's way.

The Ranger's lone goal came with over 7:00 minutes left in the first frame with a backhand from Tobias Rieder that got by Shayne. Shots on goal at that time were 9 - 6 in Kitchener's favour.

It stayed a one-goal game, literally, until over halfway through the 3rd period when Shane Prince stole the puck behind the Kitchener net and put it perfectly on Ryan Martindale's stick in the slot and he snapped it top-shelf blocker side to tie the game.

The three-in-three and the fast pace of this game started catching up with the Rangers and Ottawa started carrying more of the play. But they couldn't get the winning goal in regulation and so it was off to OT.

Ottawa continued to dominate in OT but just as it looked like we were heading to a shoot-out, Tyler Toffoli picked up the puck at the half-wall, passed it back to Jake Cardwell who threaded a pass from the point to Cody Ceci by the crease and he flipped it up and over Maxwell for the dramatic game winning goal.

And then Ceci was mobbed - first by Toffoli and then the rest of the team.

That was a great game!

Never get too low or get too high. They can enjoy this win for a day and then get back to business and prepare for Kingston on Wednesday.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Shane Prince

Random Thoughts:

This game showed everyone that the 67's can play a hard, fast full team game. No sag at any point. That was fun to watch.
What a weekend for Shayne Campbell, playing only his 10th and 11th games of the season and getting two great wins. And the game's first star.
Full marks for Kitchener - they played with a ton of energy given this was their third game on the weekend: a shoot out win in Kingston on Friday, a shutout loss in Belleville yesterday and today's game in Ottawa.
Good crowd at the game although it took a while for them to filter in. I understand there were a lot of walk-ups. The hype at work.
The spousal unit says "Landes...who?". His ranking is certainly based on more than one game but this better-than-a-point-a-game guy was held pointless by the Eastern Conference.
Zanetti and Mrazek should be skating again tomorrow. No official word on Luciani or Carnevale. I would not be surprised through if Jon is done for the year.

Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Full Team Effort in 67's 5 - 2 Win Over Barrie

2011-03-05T09:53:00.000-05:00

Another strong game from Sean Monahan led the injury riddled 67's to a 5-4 win over the visiting Barrie Colts. Everyone stepped up to give Shayne Campbell another win at home.

Click here for the game sheet.

Down two veteran D (Zanetti and Luciani) and arguably their best defensive player not playing defense, Petr Mrazek, as well as Jon Carnevale and with Janes and Fontana still side lined, there were no healthy scratches for this game.

And despite being in last place in the league, the Barrie Colts were not to be taken lightly. They already beat Ottawa twice this year and their last two games were one-goal losses against Kingston and Guelph where they had scored a total of 9 goals.

Remy Giftopolous and Brett Gustavsen were called up last weekend while the 67's were on the road and they will be staying with the club for the rest of the season.

Byrne went went with the same lines as Wednesday, sprinkling his older vets across the lines: Smith, Martindale, Toffoli; Prince, Monahan, Nesbitt; Lindsay, Graovac, Dubois; Giftopolous, Foglia, Gustavsen.

The order of the day was strong defensive play and so they did but not at the expense of generating scoring chances. Barrie didn't get their first SOG until halfway through the first period by which time Ottawa had 10 shots on Barrie keeper John Chartrand.

Ottawa went 1/4 on the PP while the Colts went 1/6. Cody Ceci started the scoring with Ottawa's lone PPG on a one-timer from the high slot. Ryan Martindale with the perfect feed off the half-wall with the first assist and Tyler Toffoli with the second assist.

Hard working Tyler Graovac put the 67's up 2-0 when he knocked Ben Dubois' rebound out of the air and past Chartrand 5-hole. Cody Lindsay with the other assist.

But despite being pretty much outplayed all period, Barrie pulled within 1 when Thomas Nesbitt turned over the puck inside his own blue line allowing Taylor Pearson to pick it up, shoot, get his own rebound and beat Campbell top shelf. That was Barrie's 6th SOG with about 4 minutes left in the period.

Sean Monahan continued his scoring ways as he restored the two-goal lead with 1:12 left in the period. Shane Prince fed a great pass to Sean in slot. Brett Gustavsen with the second assist.

The Ottawa 67's got themselves into a bit of penalty trouble in the second, playing almost half of it short-handed, including 54 seconds of a 5-on-3 with both Gibbons and Smith in the penalty box. Ottawa successfully defended the 5-on-3, limiting Barrie to one SOG but with 8 seconds left in the Smith penalty, Petr Beranek slipped the puck in the net on a wrap-around attempt that went in off Sedlak's stick.

The early PPG got Barrie back in the game. They started carrying the game and Ottawa was scrambling at times. But neither team scored for the rest of the period and at the end of two it remained 3-2 Ottawa with SOGs at 27-19 in favour of Ottawa.

It took until the second half of the final frame for the 67's to get some breathing room on the scoreboard despite having possession in the offensive zone for a long stretch. Thomas Nesbitt scored short side on a play that started with Sean Monahan's hard work to keep the puck in play before the blue line. Shane Prince with the first assist.

Sean Monahan put the icing on the cake with under 7 minutes left with a nice move at the top of the crease on a pass from Thomas Nesbitt.

And these two teams have played each other for the last time this season with each team winning at home. Ottawa is 5 points ahead of Oshawa for the divisional lead with Oshawa having 2 games in hand.

The 67's now prepare for Sunday's game against the high-flying Kitchener Rangers who are led by top-NHL draft prospect Gabriel Landeskog and the league scoring leader and Ottawa native Jeremy Akeson.

Hope to see you there.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Tyler Graovac
Random Thoughts:

Brian Kilrea has said that after Christmas, there are no more rookies on the team meaning by then the kids have enough experience to play like veterans. Despite that expectation, it's still a bit nerve wracking to see all of them playing because so many older veterans could not. A bit like watching the Senators....only with much more on the line.
Some folks have suggested that Shane Prince's success was due in large measure to the players he was playing with. In his last two games since returning from his shoulder injury he has 5 assists and is a +3 with new line mates so I guess that puts that theory to rest. He's a good player - plain and simple.
Barrie Colts Behenna had at least two one-timer chances at the edge of the crease that he could not connect on. It could have been a much different outcome.
Great to see points developing across the roster. Sean Monahan has been the highest scoring 67's since January 1st with 10 goals, 24 assists goals and a +16 and Cody Ceci has quietly racked up 17 points in his last 20 games. The newest members of the team, Gustavsen and Giftopolous made big contributions last weekend.
This was a good win for Shayne Campbell too - creating confidence as he is likely to be in goal again on Sunday against Kitchener.
Don't forget to get your copy of the 2010-2011 limited edition of "Through Our Lenses", a beautiful, 80-page full colour book of photos of the 67's. You can get your copy for $35 at the Booster Club or order it for $40 via kijiji Ottawa.

More Pictures: Sean Monahan's hard work leading to Thomas Nesbitt's goal in the thirdA one-timer in the makingWelcome back Remy GiftopolousWelcome Brett GustavsenClick here to see more pictures from the game.

No Bull - Ottawa Wins 5 - 1

2011-02-19T09:09:00.001-05:00

The Ottawa 67's more than made up for their lackluster play in Belleville on Wednesday with a strong game here to completely dominate the Belleville Bulls.

Shayne Campbell was solid between the pipes, making 30 saves on 31 shots - the only goal against coming on a PP (and he nearly had that one too).

Click here for the game sheet.

The story was Tyler Toffoli bookending the scoring with the first and last goals of the game as he inches his way to his personal goal of 50 goals this season. He sits atop of the league for goals scored with 48. He is second in scoring with 92 points, 2 points behind Jason Akeson of the Kitchener Rangers.

It started just over 4 minutes into the game as the top line was repeated frustrating the Bulls' attempts to control the puck and clear the zone. Tyler Toffoli picked off a Belleville pass, stepped into the slot and slapped it past Teichmann for the unassisted goal.

Less than three minutes later, the top line once again made the Bulls pay for sloppy play in their own end. Shane Prince started it, picking the pocket of Belleville rookie Joe Underwood at the point and starting a tic-tac-toe play with Tyler Toffoli and Ryan Martindale before finishing it off with a tap-in past Teichmann to put Ottawa up by 2. That goal stood as the eventual GWG, his 6th of the season.

Thomas Nesbitt gave Ottawa a 3-goal lead with a PPG early in the second by tapping in the puck as it sat behind Teichmann near the goal line. Ryan Martindale and Shane Prince with the assists.

But the Bulls got that one back with a PPG of their own just a couple of minutes later when Luke Judson one-timed a cross-crease pass past Campbell. They had a couple of chances to get within 1 on a later PP but Campbell and his team mates had other plans and kept Belleville off the board.

Ben Dubois restored the 3-goal lead picked up a deflected shot from Julian Luciani and put it into the wide-open net. Dalton Smith with the second assist.

Tyler Toffoli's 48th goal of the season came less than 5 minutes into the third period when Ryan Martindale's shot deflected in off him. Julian Luciani with the other assist. Julian has played well against his former team.

Neither team gave up but it was clear that Ottawa was going to skate away with this win giving Ottawa the win in 6 of the 7 games these two teams have played, only losing the first game of the season.

They travel to Brampton for a Sunday afternoon game and then to Kingston for another afternoon game on Family Day. Ottawa has won 2 of the three games against Brampton this year.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200:Julian Luciani

Random Thoughts:

Solid solid team game for 60 minutes. Great to see. Hope we see more of this.
Good to see Shayne Campbell with a this strong home win. He gave out some juicy rebounds early but his team played well in front of him, clearing the puck away and he got better control as the game went on.
Ottawa rookies Taylor Fielding and Ryan Shipley don't hesitate to drop the gloves. Both engaged in some fisticuffs. Fielding hurt his hand and left the game while Shipley got bloodied. Neither player with a clear decision on their tilts.
All four lines played well and had great scoring chances. Teichmann kept the score from being much worse.
Sean Monahan didn't get any points in this game but he has quietly moved up the rookie scoring ranks with 14 points in the previous 10 games.
Belated happy 19th birthday to Petr Mrazek.
Milestone game for Nesbitt and Gibbons on Wednesday in Belleville: Nesbitt with his 201st point and Gibbons with his 101st point in their OHL careers.

More Pictures: Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Ottawa Digs for 4-3 Win Over Erie

2011-02-12T10:00:00.002-05:00

It wasn't a masterpiece but the Ottawa 67's overcame a sluggish first period to take the win against Erie on Friday night at the Rona Centre and extend their winning streak to 5 games. The loss ended Erie's streak at 2.

Click here for the game sheet.

After missing 18 games with post-concussion symptoms Jon Carnevale returned to the ice with all cylinders firing, bringing energy, delivering big hits, and scoring 2G and 1A including a big goal in this game to get his team on the board.

Playing their first game of their East Division swing through the league, the Erie Otters played a strong road game. They had the early jump on the 67's, out-shot them 14 - 4 in the first got on the board early when Brett Thompson put a rebound over Mrazek's shoulder.

The 67's managed to sort out some of their sloppy, disorganized play and get going in the second period, getting more pucks on net but more importantly tying the game. In a hard-nosed drive to the net Jon Carnevale slipped the puck 5-hole to finally tie the game. Adam Sedlak assisted.

Both teams got down to scoring business in the third with Erie making good on a 43-second 5-on-3 advantage with Lindsay first in the box for high-sticking followed up by Zanetti for delay of game (puck over the glass). Szydlowski one-timed a great pass from Varone to put the Otters back on top. Ottawa successfully defended the remainder of the Zanetti penalty.

Erie played Ottawa close, doing a good job of taking time and space away but Shane Prince can be hard to contain which he demonstrated ably with a great wrap-around goal that beat big Sadikov to tie it up again. Tyler Graovac assisted.

But before the goal announcement was finished, Cazzola was sprung on a break-away and beat Mrazek glove-side to re-gain the lead for the third time.

To this point, there had only been two penalties handed out in the game and both were to Ottawa at the beginning of the third. Erie finally had their turn to defend and Tyler Toffoli tipped it in from in front of the crease. Ryan Martindale and Cody Ceci with the assists.

Then Dalton Smith surprised Radikov with a one-timer from the face-off dot that beat him short-side and finally give Ottawa the lead. The resurgent Jon Carnevale had the only assist on that critical GWG.

The 67's went on to protect their one-goal lead for the remaining three and a half minutes to deliver their 20th win on home ice in front of 5760 fans.

They immediately hit the road for their game in Barrie tonight and an important match-up against Mississauga on Sunday. Once again, they play the best team in the conference as a third-in-two-and-a-half-day game.

But first they need to focus their game in Barrie who was shellacked 7 - 0 by Niagara on Friday. They won't be in a good mood and despite their record (and that score), they can present tough opposition. The last time the Ottawa 67's looked past their opponents in anticipation of the Mississauga game, the Oshawa Generals stormed back from a 3-goal deficit in the third to beat the 67's 6 - 5. No team can be taken lightly and with Oshawa's loss on Friday, Ottawa now has a 6-point lead on them with tonight's game in hand. These 2 points are critical.

As for Sunday's game, the Majors were dealt a rare defeat on Friday, on home ice to boot, on a buzzer-beating PPG by Plymouth. Following the comments on twitter, many are calling out the officiating in that game. Mississauga has today off to prepare for the 67's on Sunday. They will be rested and in no mood for another loss at all, much less on home ice.

All in all a key road trip for the 67's.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Dalton Smith
Random Thoughts:

Congratulations to Ryan Shipley who was named the East Division OHL Academic Player of the Month for January.
The Ottawa 67's drew back into the CHL Mastercard Top 10 rankings. Results will do that. Well done team!
A match-up between the two least penalized teams in the league and true to form only three penalties called, including one that was over the glass.
With such potent scoring power, the 67's have played more often with the lead than from behind (if memory serves me correctly). It was good to see them overcome their early sludge and dig hard for the win.
Nice to see point contributions from across the roster - makes the team more dangerous.
Happy birthday to Julian Luciani. His gift to the team - drawing the hooking penalty that resulted in the final tying goal. Well done.
I love the tradition of singing the national anthems before games and I really enjoy it when the club brings young choirs in. A very young lad (maybe 6 years old?) sitting in the first row lustily accompanied the Holy Redeemer Catholic School choir. Fabulous!

More Pictures: Child cancer survivor Ziad delivers the game puck. The University of Ottawa medical students held their Shave for the Cure night at the game. Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Zzzzz'ing through a 67's 4 - 0 Win over London

2011-02-06T20:22:00.001-05:00

In what can be charitably described as a less-than-exciting game, the Ottawa 67's broke through the mind-numbing trapping of the London Knights to give Mrazek his third home shut-out of the season.

Click here for the game sheet.
Give the Knights full marks for keeping the 67's at bay for the better part of this game. The Knights were down to icing only three lines in this 3rd-in-three road game. Illness swept through the team starting on Friday and by today they had listed 8 players as scratches. Throw in some bus issues along the way just to mix it up and you have all the reasons you need to play as defensively as possible for as long as possible.

So, the London strategy was to trap right from the get-go. Ottawa had a tough time breaking through it, Stretch passes were interrupted or went for icing, the neutral zone was impenetrable and London did a good job of keeping play in their offensive zone for decent stretches.

The shots that did get through, big Bobkov managed stop just by being big although he was also positionally pretty good in many cases. He did his part to keep this game close for a long time.

The first goal of the game didn't come until just under 8 minutes left in the second. Julian Luciani scored his 3rd goal of the season when his shot from the point made it past Bobkov on a deflection off his own player, Tinordi.

At this point the SOGs were 18 - 8 for Ottawa and London had just two in the period so far. But they started getting their chances and Mrazek had to make a few good saves to preserve the tenuous lead.

By the third period, the wear and tear on London was taking its toll and the 67's were able to keep them skating and from setting up the trap. And the scoring chances and goals followed.

Before the halfway mark of the third, Jon Carnevale was credited with a goal that Tinordi actually put in his own net. But that was because this hard working line was creating havoc in front of the net. Dalton Smith and Tyler Graovac were credited with the assists. It was good to see this line finally show up on the scoreboard given all their hard work.

Then it was Marc Zanetti's shot from the point that beat a screened Bobkov to put the 67's up by three with just under 6 minutes left in the game.

With Sedlak in the penalty box for slashing and just over 5 minutes to go, down 3 - 0, Dale Hunter pulled Bobkov for the extra attacker. Two Ottawa skaters each managed to get control of the puck at about their goal line and send down the ice towards the empty net and twice the puck went just wide - in just about the same spot. Taking matters into his own hands (or stick I guess) Petr Mrazek managed to get ahold of the puck and he too tried to score the EN, but his went way wider. The PP ended with London getting only one shot on goal.

The RST line rounded out the scoring with Ryan Martindale's shot from the slot to put the 67's up 4 - 0 with about a minute and a half left. Shane Prince and Tyler Toffoli with the assists.

So all that was left was for the 67's to preserve the shut-out for Mrazek which they did easily.

With their two wins this weekend the 67's officially clinched the playoffs and maintain their 4-point divisional lead on the Oshawa Generals who also won their games this weekend. And they are even in games-played against their closest rivals.

Ottawa ranks second in the league in GF at 214 in 50 games (Owen Sound Attack has 222 in 52 games) and third in the league in GA with 150 (behind Niagara with 142 in 50 games and Mississauga with just 121 in 49 games). And Ottawa remains the least penalized team in the league.

Next Friday, Ottawa hosts the Erie Otters before starting a tough road schedule.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Dalton Smith

Random Thoughts:

Wish the OHL published game stats like face-offs, hits, etc. It would be interesting to know Monahan's face-off stats.
I happened to catch the tail-end of last Monday's practice where they held a drill/competition for nailing empty-netters from the front of one of the goals. Two players (who shall remain nameless) kept missing over and over again. A meaningless drill at the end of a practice? Gauging from today's results, not at all. Keep practicing boys.
Was chatting with a NJD scout during the second intermission and even he thought it was a pretty boring game. NJD!
We should be receiving this year's "Through Our Lenses" this week. Be sure to get your copy of this limited edition either at the Booster Club table at home games or by contacting me at through the email address bruggbllitz@hotmail.com. This high-quality keepsake is $35 (plus shipping where necessary).

More Pictures: Click here to see more pictures from the game.

Ottawa Tops Petes 6 - 2

2011-02-05T07:13:00.003-05:00

The RST line was reunited with the return of Shane Prince and they were back in business putting together 7 points including a rare but beautiful 3-on-0 tic-tack-toe play that Shane Prince finished with a top shelf goal.

Click here for the game sheet.

In the 8th and final regular season match-up between these divisional rivals, it was pretty much all Ottawa....most of the time. The team still struggles to put in a full 60-minute game but they survived it this time.

With 42 saves on 48 shots, and many of them good scoring chances, Peterborough goalie Andrew D'Agostini did his best to keep his team in the game but the Pete's were reward him with a better result.

Ottawa started with a jump and early pressure resulting in Ryan Martindale getting the only goal of the first period and giving the 67's the lead that they would not relinquish. Tyler Toffoli with the assist.

Early in the second period, Ryan Martindale notched his 29th goal of the season on the PP to give Ottawa the 2 - 0 lead.

But the prettiest goal of the game (it will likely be on YouTube sometime soon) came as the Peterborough Petes were doing a pretty good job of thwarting the 67's attempts to clear the zone. Then one of the Pete's defenders (Kalle Ekelund?) blew a tire trying to stop the puck at the blue line and it went right to Tyler Toffoli who broke out with Ryan Martindale and Shane Prince on a 3-on-0 rush. Toffoli fed it to Martindale who tipped it back to Prince who promptly snapped it top shelf on a literally defenseless D'Agonstino. That was also the GWG which is a nice way for Shane to return.

As has been a habit with this team, they once again lost their sense of urgency and got sloppy in their own end and left Matt Puempel alone in the slot to break Mrazek's chances for the shutout.

Thomas Nesbitt got it back before the period ended on a great cross-crease pass from Sean Monahan. Cody Lindsay with the second assist.

Ottawa started the third period with 39 seconds remaining in Sedlak's tripping penalty in the second and Austin Watson made it a two-goal game 26 seconds in.

The 67's continued to look a little flat in the early going in the third but with goals from Tyler Toffoli and Cody Lindsay the game was over for Peterborough.

So the regular season games between these divisional rivals are done with Ottawa winning 7 of the 8 games.

Ottawa now prepares to host the London Knights on Sunday.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Cody Lindsay Random Thoughts:

Cody Lindsay's outstanding results from last weekend (back-to-back hat trick games) was acknowledged with being named the OHL and CHL player of the week. Congratulations Cody!
As expected, Sean Monahan continued to centre Lindsay and Nesbitt. Dalton Smith played with Graovac and Foglia creating a tough checking line. Ottawa now has three solid lines with Dubois and Carnevale waiting for the return of Janes and Fontana to round out a 4th line.
Peterborough was able to keep Ottawa's PP pretty much in check, allowing only 1 goal in 6 PPs.
Had a rare chance to take photos from between the benches. It's always interesting to hear the friendly chatter that goes on.
And speaking of friendly, there was some chippiness going on. A few scrums and pushing. Peterborough's Geoff Bezruchko and Marc Zanetti went at it and once the tilt was done and the linesmen had them down, Bezruchko wouldn't cease and desist. He was shown the gate for his efforts.
A well-attended game where Ottawa's first responders, (Police, Paramedic and Fire) were honoured.

More Pictures: Click here to see more pictures from the game.

A Natural Hat-Trick For Lindsay in 67's 3 - 2 Win

2011-01-29T19:46:00.000-05:00

Who is this guy and what have they done with Cody Lindsay?

One year to the day since he scored his first hat trick, Cody Lindsay scored a natural today making it two hat trick-games in a row. Good thing he was on fire because the Kingston Frontenacs scored two goals in the last 6 minutes to make a game of it so his third goal stood as the GWG.

Click here for the game sheet.

This was the second game in less than 24 hours for both teams in a rare Saturday matinee in Ottawa. Kingston rode into town off a 1-goal loss to Peterborough on Friday, not only wanting to rebound with a win but likely remembering the 9 - 0 loss when these two teams last met on December 29th.

Kingston started with a jump, getting the early shots on Mrazek and keeping Ottawa from organizing any sustained possession for the first 6 or 7 minutes of the game. But it was the recent hot stick of Cody Lindsay who picked up where he left off yesterday, literally, with a tap-in past Grubauer off the left post. Linemates Sean Monahan and Thomas Nesbitt with the assists.

Kingston put on the pressure to tie it up, leading with SOGs but with Jeff Braithwaite in the penalty box for hauling down Tyler Toffoli, Cody Lindsay buried Cody Ceci's rebound to make it 2 - 0 Ottawa. Sean Monahan assisted on that one too.

And with just over three minutes left in the game, Cody Lindsay made it a natural hat-trick thanks to his linemate Thomas Nesbitt who waited patiently to dish the puck off for a beautiful snap by Lindsay past Grubauer.

The 67's managed to spend the bulk of the third period in the Kingston end, controlling the puck and frustrating any attempts of the Fronts to get organized. But this is a fast game and a couple of good bounces resulted in goals from Brown and Cajkovsky and a new game for the last three minutes and change.

With Grubauer pulled for the extra attacker, Kingston had a couple of chances to tie it up but the 67's prevailed for the important win.

So, the Ottawa 67's get 4 important wins for the weekend. No game tomorrow as they start preparing Peterborough and London next weekend.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200 (Michael Cajkovsky did not take a turn)

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Sean Monahan Random Thoughts:

Good to see the boys pick it up after their less than stellar play against Barrie.
Rookie Sean Monahan is playing really well between Nesbitt and Lindsay. Four points on Friday and two today, working hard, drawing attention and making room for his linemates. That line has been very productive in the last two games. Dalton may have his work cut out for himself when Prince returns.
Might as well put Lindsay's name on the left side of the crease. I think he must have scored 4 or 5 of his 6 goals this weekend from that spot.
How fast fortunes change. With about 8 minutes left in the game, the Kingston bench was dead and the guys on the ice couldn't get organized. Couple of bounces go their way, two goals scored and the bench was up on their feet and back in the game.
Some bumps and bruises to heal in the week ahead. Ben Dubois was hurt in a collision, Taylor Fielding got his nose bloodied in his scrap with Alex Gudbranson, Julian Luciani took a puck off the leg and Travis Gibbons was skating something off. All players finished the game but are likely looking forward to some time to heal a bit.

More Pictures: Click here to see more pictures from the game.

A Toque-Trick for Lindsay For the Win

2011-01-29T09:52:00.001-05:00

Timing is everything and three goals at home on a toque-giveaway night was good timing for Cody as many fans celebrated his accomplishment by throwing their Home Depot toques on the ice.

The Barrie Colts fought back from a 3-goals deficit to make it a 1-goal game for a while but the 67's prevailed for a 7 - 4 win.

Click here for the game sheet.

With Shane Prince out of the line-up (shoulder) and Jon Carnevale returning, the lines looked a bit different. Dalton Smith moved up to the top line and Sean Monahan centred Lindsday and Nesbitt.

Dalton Smith got his team on the board first with a goal just 39 seconds into the game with his drive to the net and a nice tip of a pass from Ryan Martindale. But it was Cody Lindsay who restored the Ottawa lead in the first period and went on to give his team a couple of insurance goals in the third period resulting from hard work and good timing.

After Norm Ezekiel tied up the game going top shelf on Shayne Campbell, Cody Lindsay gave Ottawa the lead as he popped in a loose puck from a goal-mouth scramble.

Up 3 - 1 going into the second period on Ryan Martindale's 27th goal of the season and having out shot Barrie 20 - 8 in the first frame, the Ottawa 67's let Barrie carry the play for the first half of the period. For a good portion of the period, neither team created any scoring chances with a lot of the play taking place between the blue lines it seemed.

Sean Monahan got the scoring started with an unassisted bullet from the hashmarks that beat Clint Windsor top shelf to make it 4 - 1. But with a goal late in the period from Trent Hawk and another early in the third from Steven Beyers, the 67'w were toying with another late-game melt-down.

With last Sunday's collapse hopefully still in burning in their guts, the 67's started to play again and take over the game. Tyler Toffoli gave Ottawa some breathing room on their only PPG of the game as he snapped it past Windsor from the slot.

Ottawa went up 6 - 3 when Sean Monahan drove the net in a slick move on the defender. Nesbitt picked up the rebound, fed it to Lindsay who popped it in for his second goal.

Barrie's top scorer Colin Brehenna got his team back within two with 4 minutes to play but Cody's wrap-around goal for the toquie put it out of reach.

So after giving the fans, the coaches and themselves another scare, the 67's beat the last place team in the league 7 - 4.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Dalton Smith

Random Thoughts:

Shayne Campbell was in net for only his 7th start of the season and perhaps only his second or third start at home.
The Barrie Colts made Ottawa work for this win. Any team can beat any other team on any given night. With Oshawa just 4 points behind and for the Divisional lead and 1 game in hand, Ottawa cannot afford to take any shift off, much less take any team lightly.
Good to see points spread around the roster a bit: goals from Smith, Lindsay, Martindale and Toffoli; assists from Toffoli (2), Martindale (2), Monahan (3), Zanetti, Gibbons and Nesbitt.
Ottawa went 1/5 on the PP against the weakest PK in the league.
Thomas Nesbitt and Dalton Smith teamed up on a crucial penalty kill in the third as they kept the puck in Barrie's zone for a long stretch, running down the time.

More Pictures: Click here to see more pictures from the game.