Ottawa 67's in the News ... and other stuff

The OHL trade deadline was at noon today and there were a few moves involving current or former Ottawa 67's:


Brian Birkhoff was traded to the Peterborough Petes for their 5th draft pick. It will be a quick turnaround for Brian as the Petes are in town Friday night for a game. It will be weird seeing him in another jersey and I'm sure it will feel weird for him to sit on the other bench and go to the visitor's locker room.

Ironically, this picture is from December 2008 versus the Peterborough Petes where Brian was the third star.


I incorrectly posted that overager Peter Stevens was released by the club. He has been traded to the Sarnia Sting in exchange for Belleville's 14th round draft pick.


Thanks Brian and Peter and all the best (except when you play against Ottawa).



Former Ottawa 67's goalie Adam Courchaine was traded to Erie.


The Central Scouting Mid-Season Rankings are out and we have some Ottawa 67's in the mix for North American skaters:


Tyler Toffoli clocks-in at 22nd


Ryan Martindale follows close in the 24th spot


Dalton Smith registers at 66th


And for North American goalies we find Petr Mrazek (!) in the 26th spot.

And finally, I was at the game in Kingston. I am pretty busy with other stuff so I don't have the time to post pictures or a decent summary but I will note that Beskorowany is a monster! The 67's didn't lose for lack of trying. There were moments that they threw everything at him and he just managed to get some part of his 6'5" body and related parts in the way. He's the main reason that Kingston was in the game at all. The 67's could do with fewer penalties and their PP could use some work.

I won't be at the games this weekend...a business trip (and I will have to spend the weekend in Brussels - I know, you feel real bad for me).

See you in a couple of weeks.

Ottawa Takes the First Game

The Ottawa 67's persevered through a tightly contested game to take the first game of a home-and-home series against their Eastern Division rivals Kingston Frontenac. With his last second empty-netter, Corey Cowick scored his third goal in two games in the 5-2 win.


Forwards
Cowick, Martindale, Nigro (starters)
Prince, Lindsay, Toffoli
Smith, Merrett, Nesbitt,
Giftopolous, Graovac, Janes

D-pairs
Zanetti, Cuma
Demers, Gibbons (starters)
Birkhoff, Ceci

Goal: Mrazek

Scratches: Carnevale (knee), Birkhoff, Hanes

The Kingston Frontenac were without wunderkind Eric Gudbranson (out with mono I believe) but their big goalie, Tyler Beskorowany, made up in defense what they didn't have in offense. There are a few 67's who probably replayed a few wicked saves over and over in their heads last night. But he turned out to be human after all as he was taken for 4 goals (in 49 shots).

Hamilton Bulldog callup Remy Giftopolous furthered his cause as he scored his first OHL goal and put Ottawa on the board first early in the game when he was able to take advantage of a bounce off the boards and tuck it past Beskorowany. Mark Anthony Zanetti and Tyler Graovac assisted in this memorial event.

But Kingston got this back less than a minute later on a PP when a scramble in the blue paint resulted in Ethan Werek being able to pop the loose puck past Mrazek.

Ryan Martindale continued his point streak and gave Ottawa the lead again just after an Ottawa PP had expired, taking a pass from Anthony Nigro from the corner and beating Beskorowany short side.

With 20 saves on 21 shots in the first period alone, clearly Beskorowany was the difference for the Fronts in this game. They got a bit more organized in the second period, pretty much keeping pace with the 67's for scoring chances.

In a perfect example of what can happen in a split second of inattention, the Fronts were able to score just 12 seconds into the third period. Ottawa won the opening faceoff but Zanetti was lazy on the puck and his attempted pass was easily picked off by Nathan Moon, who had an easy pass to Corey Durocher with an equally easy hand-off to Zach Harnden for the tip-in and tying goal.

It could have been a tide-turner. But, on the very next play, with Chris Byrne keeping the same line on the ice that just got burned, Ottawa regained the lead and kinda snuffed any momentum the Fronts may have built on that early goal.

Beskorowany moved to play the puck off the backboards but realized he was headed to the no-goalie zone. Tyler Toffoli got to the puck first and passed it to the open area to where Cody Lindsay was heading. Lindsay pretty much had the net all to himself as Beskorowany could not get back into position. Tyler Cuma had the second assist.

Both teams battled hard for the next goal; Kingston for the tying goal and Ottawa to build up the lead.

It was Corey Cowick with his second goal in as many games giving Ottawa the 2-goal lead as he cleaned-up the loose-ends in the blue paint. Ryan Martindale and Anthony Nigro got the assists.

With time running down, Gilmour pulled Beskorowany pretty early but the Fronts ended up with an icing call that sent the goalie back to his crease. Kingston regained control and again went for the extra attacker but they were unsuccessful and Corey Cowick got his second goal of the night when he sent the puck down ice and it went in just as the buzzer sounded to end the game.

Final score: 5 - 2 for Ottawa with shots 49 - 38 for Ottawa.

Here's your game sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Petr Mrazek

Random Thoughts:

• As was expected, overager Peter Stevens was released by the Ottawa 67's. Here's wishing Peter success as he moves forward with his career. I would expect he will find a job in the professional minors somewhere. I'll watch and let you know what I find.
  
• This was a good game to watch. There were good scoring chances on both sides.
  
• Kingston was playing with a short bench, the posted line-up only had 10 forwards.
  
• It will be the third in three for both teams today. Wonder if Kingston will go with Beskorowany with all three games given how well he has been playing and the importance of these two points.
  

More pictures;
Prince standing his ground

Prince still standing his ground - he withstood a lot of manhandling

As did Toffoli

Tyler Cuma fending off Corey Durocher

Remy Giftopolous celebrating his first OHL goal

Derek Hartwick

Cory Lindsay

Corey Cowick

Game Set Up - Kingston

In a rare Saturday afternoon home game, the Ottawa 67's will start a home-and-home series with divisional rivals Kingston Frontenac.

The Fronts will be coming in on a high after beating the Eastern Conference leading Barrie Colts at the K-Rock Centre. The Kingston Frontenac team was pretty much intact since they had not been active on the trade front on Friday. The Colts on the other hand were without the players they had traded to Niagara (Strome (14 pts in 34 games) and Gronvaldt (6 pts in 24 games)) nor did they have the players they traded for (Pietrangelo, DeSousa and Simila). Take a look at the game sheet from last night. Looks like Kingston was able to take advantage of a team that was seriously discombobulated in the immediate aftermath of the trade.

The Barrie loss really doesn't threaten their dominance in the conference but the Kingston win helps the Fronts keep up the pace with the 67's. There are important divisional points on the line today and tomorrow.

Ottawa 67's	Head to Head	Kingston Frontenacs
20-17-3-2 45 points	Record	19-18-1-2 41 points
2nd Eastern	Conference - Rank	5th Eastern
144	GF	130
139	GA	148
5-5-0-0	P10	6-3-1-0
(34/177) 19.2 (10th)	PP% (rank)	(32/214) 15.0 (17th)
(40/183) 78.1 (15th)	PK% (rank)	(42/199) 78.9 (13th)

Top Guns

Ottawa 67's	Kingston Frontenacs
Lindsay (17-30-47)	Moon (18-28-46)
Martindale (15-31-46)	Werek (19-22-41)
Toffoli (25-19-44)	Harnden (16-22-38)
Nesbitt (22-16-38)	Farrell (9-17-26)
Nigro (10-24-34)	Fine (7-17-24)

Cowck's Return a Big Hit!! (or three)

After missing 41 games due to an injury suffered in his first shift of the first exhibition game of his last season with the Ottawa 67's, overager and Ottawa Senators pick Corey Cowick announced his early return with a thundering hit on Belleville's Kyle DeCoste.

After a chippy first period that saw 5 penalties, the Ottawa 67's settled down, took control and skated away with a 5-1 win.

There were three new faces in the lineup including the return of Corey Cowick, the recently acquired Shane Prince and callup from Hamilton Remy Giftopolous. As you would expect, the forward lines looked a bit different. Tyler Cuma also returned from a brief recovery from a broken bone in his foot.

Forward Combos:
Cowick, Martindale, Nigro (starters)
Prince, Lindsay, Toffoli
Smith, Merrett, Nesbitt,
Giftopolous, Graovac, Janes

D-pairs
Zanetti, Cuma
Demers, Gibbons (starters)
Hartwick, Ceci

Goal: Perugini

Scratches: Carnevale (knee), Birkhoff, Stevens, Hanes

Belleville scored the first and only goal of the first period after Belleville enjoyed almost 4 minutes with the man advantage including about 1:30 of 5-on-3. It was a mad scramble in the Ottawa crease where Demers helped out Perugini but the puck still crossed the line. Luke Judson was credited with the goal with assists going to Bathgate and Payerl.

Both coaches must have told their players to stop with the penalties and get on with the job of winning the game as the second period was much calmer and more disciplined. And it paid off for the 67's as they put 4 unanswered goals up on the board and never looked back.

It started with Thomas Nesbitt tying the game in the last second of Ottawa's 5-on-3 when he jammed the rebound past Tiechmann who had made a few great saves during the run of Belleville penalties. Toffoli and Zanetti with the assists.

Then just over 3 minutes later, Tyler Toffoli put the 67's ahead with a shot launched from a spin-o-rama move in the slot that went in stick-side. Shane Prince got his first point as a 67's with the first assist and Cody Lindsay with the second assist.

Ryan Martindale scored his 15th goal of the season and Corey Cowick with his first giving Ottawa a 3-goal lead to end the second period.
Thomas Nesbitt scored his second goal of the game in the third period to make it 5-1 to finish the scoring for the game.

Assists during this run went to Martindale (2), Nigro (2), Smith and Zanetti.

As the game wound down, Byrne gave his rookies more ice time including being the first PP unit for Ottawa's last PP.

Click here to see the game sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67 as selected by the Team1200: Derek Hartwick

Random Thoughts:

• With Cowick's major hit on DeCosta just 46 seconds into the game, there were smiles all around the 67's bench. It really set the tone early.
  
• Ottawa went 1/6 on the PP and didn't get too many shots on Teichmann. Belleville did a good job keeping Ottawa to the outside.
  
• Hartwick played well while Birkhoff was recovering from his injury. Perhaps he has played himself into a full-time gig?
  
• Shane Prince fit in quickly and easily - he looked at home with Toffoli and Lindsay.
  
• Giftopolous played to get noticed.
  
• The trade deadline is noon on Monday and Ottawa has one too many overagers. It will be interesting to see what Killer can and will do.
  
• Despite the score, Belleville's goalie Tyson Teichmann had a pretty good game. He had some spectacular saves that kept the game as close as it was.
  
• Belleville D and Ottawa native Shawn Lalonde had a very undisciplined game with 3 penalties and showing his irritation throughout the game.
  
• Lots of Belleville bodies splayed out on the ice during this game. The team trainer certainly got his workout.
  
• Apparently Peter DeBoer, new co-owner of the Oshawa Generals and Florida Panthers head coach was at the game.
  

More Pictures:
What it looks like from the ice

Shane Prince

Remy Giftopolous

Hit by Cuma

Remy Giftopolous' first OHL fight

Full house - Ottawa had three players in their penalty box to make it 7 players in total

Game Set Up - Belleville

It seems like forever since the last game! Here's the set-up for tonight's game. And there's news to share too if you have not been following the various announcements. First to the 67's...in advance of Monday's trade deadline, the 67's have acquired former Kitchener Shane Prince for Ottawa's 2010 3rd round draft pick. Based on comments on The Noof, Ottawa fans should be really pleased with this trade. Also, tonight might see the return of Corey Cowick to the lineup. If so, it will be interesting to see which other overager sits (we currently have 4) unless someone gets traded today. If everyone is still a 67's by game time, my guess is that it will be Stevens watching from the stands. And finally, Cody Ceci, a member of the silver medal Team Ontario in the recently concluded U17 International Tournament was also named as the Eastern Division's Academic Player of the Month. Congrats Cody on both achievements.

As for the Bulls, they were part of a blockbluster trade with Windsor earlier this week. The Bulls sent Philipp Grubauer, Stephen Johnston, Marc Cantin and their 2013 15th Round pick (conditional) to Windsor and received Richard Panik, Paul Bezzo, Steve Gleeson, Austen Brassard and 5 (!) picks between 2010 and 2013 (some of the picks are Owen Sound picks that Windsor had and some are conditional). I can't break this one down at all so I will leave you with the running commentary from The Noof. Panik and Bezzo both scored goals in their first game with Belleville the day following the trade.

Ottawa 67's	Head to Head	Belleville Bulls
19-17-3-2 43 points	Record	13-22-1-6 33 points
2nd Eastern	Conference - Rank	9th Eastern
139	GF	112
138	GA	154
5-5-0-0	P10	3-5-0-2
(33/171) 19.3(10th)	PP% (rank)	(35/227) 15.4 (16th)
(39/177) 78.0 (16th)	PK% (rank)	(35/169) 79.3 (12th)

Top Guns

Ottawa 67's	Belleville Bulls
Lindsay (17-29-46)	Lalonde (9-24-33)
Martindale (14-30-44)	Payerl (9-21-30)
Toffoli (24-18-42)	Silas (4-24-28)
Nesbitt (20-16-36)	Judson (16-7-23)
Nigro (10-22-32)	Bathgate (9-14-23)

Rough Ride for the Bulls

With their 4 - 2 win over the Bulls, the Ottawa 67s take over first spot in the Eastern Division over the idle Peterborough Petes. Both teams have now played 38 games and are one point apart.

Forward Combos:
Nigro, Martindale, Nesbitt
Smith, Lindsay, Toffoli (starters)
Janes, Merrett, Stevens,
Hanes, Foglia (call up from Trenton, check out this video)

D-pairs
Birkhoff, Gibbons
Demers, Zanetti
Birkhoff, Hanes

Goal: Perugini

Scratches: Cowick, Cuma (foot), Carnevale (knee), Ceci (U17)

This will be quick as this is a work night and I get up very early.

The 4-2 score doesn't tell the story. The rebuilding Bulls were seriously outplayed for pretty much the entire game. Philipp Grubauer, fresh from backstopping Germany's success at the IIHF World U20 Championship DIV I Group A tournament, kept the score as close as it was. Many 67s scoring chances were thwarted by the goaltending skills of Grubauer.

Quickly, Ottawa goals came off the sticks of Dalton Smith, Tyler Toffoli, Cody Lindsay and Ryan Martindale. Take a look at the game sheet to get the details.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67 as selected by the Team1200: Anthony Nigro

Random Thoughts:

• A lot of penalties called in the game - mostly against Ottawa. While their PP stats are unlikely to improve based on this outing, their PK stats should benefit from keeping the Bulls off the board in 8 tries.
  
• Based on the looks of the three stars, you would hardly guess that the 67s won this game.
  
• Great first outing for Foglia. Fast, engaged and willing to go to the dirty areas. Based on the video clip, he doesn't lack for confidence either.
  
• There were some seriously hands of stone out there at times - it seemed that no one could make or take a pass too well in the first period.
  
• During the Nigro double minor, Ottawa seemed to have more scoring chances than Belleville. Great PK! Should get double stats-points for that kill.
  

Hope everyone has a great slide into the new year. The 67s are on the road this weekend for one of those 3-in-3 endurance tests.
More pictures:






The new kid: Nicholas Foglia

Cuma is Going to Camp!

From the Ottawa Sun:

"Senators prospect Patrick Wiercioch will not be a member of the defending champion Canadian team at this year's world junior championship tournament.

Wiercoch, who was part of the original invite list, is experiencing problems with a "pre-existing" knee injury.

Going to the team's camp in the big defenceman's place will be 67's blue liner Tyler Cuma, who was in contention for a spot on last year's squad before suffering a knee injury at the tryout camp.

Cuma, who was left off this year's list, said yesterday he is "overjoyed" at getting the invite now. "

And here's another article from TSN.

We're going to miss him but also wish him every success.

Tyler Toffoli LIghting It Up

The OHL site has a feature article on Tyler Toffoli. Click here to read it.

He had the lone goal in Ottawa's 3-1 loss to Barrie last night.

Another Battle Won

The Ottawa 67s have won all three games against the Battalion with their 3-1 win at the Urbandale Centre last night. The win is a good start to a tough weekend.

Forward Combos:
Nigro, Martindale, Nesbitt
Smith, Lindsay, Toffoli (starters)
Janes, Merrett, Carnevale,
Hanes, Graovac, Stevens

D-pairs
Zanetti, Cuma
Demers, Gibbons (starters)
Hartwick, Ceci

Goal: Perugini

Scratches: Cowick, Birkhoff

The first period got to a slow start, including a long delay to replace a plastic connector between two panes of glass. No flow before the repair and by the time the period was half over, each team had only mustered 3 shots each. With Ottawa's 4th shot on goal, Anthony Nigro finally got the first goal of the game when he beat Carp native and Pittsburgh prospect, Patrick Killeen. Ryan Martindale fed the puck to him from behind the net for the quick goal. Mark Anthony Zanetti had the second assist.

Jon Carnevale, who had two goals against Brampton the last time they were here, scored his 6th goal of the year when his sharp-angle shot from the corner near the goal line went in through the legs of Killeen. He was unassisted in what turned out to be the game-winner.

Perugini made a fabulous glove save on Carrick when Tyler Cuma gave the puck to Carrick away deep in his own zone. Carrick had Perugini dead to rights, down and having to move across the crease but he was denied! But Ottawa was scrambling and with 56 seconds left in the period, Phillip Lane tucked it past Perugini to make it a 1-goal game.

3 goals between the teams from a total 16 shots on goal.

The second period was scoreless and not particularly noteworthy. Not that it was a bad period, it just wasn't all that exciting.

The third had a bit more entertainment value including each team springing a player on a break-away. The first was a Brampton break-away when Jones got the puck at mid-ice and was all alone in on Perugini from the blue line. He tried to go stick-side but was denied.

The Ottawa break-away was a beaut. Anthony Nigro connected with Thomas Nesbitt with a long pass that went between the legs of the defender. Nesbitt's fast shot beat Killeen high glove-side and restored the two-goal lead. Tyler Cuma with the other assist.

Mark Anthony Zanetti took an unnecessary penalty with 1:27 left in the game. Brampton called a time out and with the face-of in the Ottawa zone, they pulled Killeen for the extra attacker and a 6-on-4. Ottawa did a great job putting pressure on the Battalion and forced an icing. That put the face-off back into the Brampton zone and Killeen back into the net and sealed the deal.

Ottawa gets an important win at home to start a tough weekend.

Here's your link to the game sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200 (third star Carrick did not take a turn)

Hardest Working 67 as selected by the Team1200: Thomas Nesbitt

Random Thoughts:

• It seemed to me that there wasn't a lot of emotion from the team during the game. They seemed a tad tense to me. They worked hard, and played tough but just didn't look like they were having fun.
  
• Some really good defensive play - blocked shots, rebounds cleared, pockets picked.
  
• There were some solid hits by both teams. Including the hit by Clark on Hanes that resulted in Peter Stevens challenging Clark. The call goes to Stevens - no question.
  
• While Brampton had more shots on goal, many of them were really long-distance pucks on net that weren't real scoring threats.
  
• I have no idea who the fastest skater is on the 67s but I would put my money on Nesbitt. His quickness puts pressure on other teams including a great short-handed scoring chance in the second in this game.
  
• The Olympic torch was in the house but was not lit. Apparently it is not supposed to be lit prior to the official run in Ottawa on Saturday. Guess that rule does not apply to politicians and Parliament Hill. Too bad for us mere mortals.

This will be my last game before Christmas as I will be in Edmonton this time next week. Here's to a happy and safe Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa or however you celebrate the season.

More Pictures:
Ceremonial Face-off with the Olympic torch

Game Set Up - Brampton

The Brampton Battalion return to the Urbandale Centre for their last regular season game. The first two games between these two teams were wins for the 67s (7-4 and 4-0). The Battalion are coming off a weekend where they lost twice to Sudbury. The 67s are likely (hopefully) still feeling the sting of their 4-0 loss to St. Mike's last Sunday.

Ottawa will have to stay focused on today's game and not get ahead of themselves; they travel to Barrie for a same tomorrow (Barrie's on a 19-0-0-1 streak) and they are in Mississauga on Sunday.

The Olympic torch will be at the UCC tonight.

Ottawa 67's	Head to Head	Brampton Battalion
14-12-3-2 33 points	Record	12-13-4-2 30 points
4th Eastern	Rank - Conference	6th Eastern
107	GF	78
103	GA	86
8-2-0-0	P10	3-3-3-1
(29/137) 21.2 (10th)	PP% (rank)	(16/141) 11.3 (20th)
(29/136) 78.7 (14th)	PK% (rank)	(25/144) 82.6 (7th)

Top Guns

Ottawa 67's	Brampton Battalion
Lindsay (12-22-34)	Jones (19-7-26)
Martindale (11-22-33)	Carrick (10-10-20)
Toffoli (17-15-32)	Tanski (4-12-16)
Nesbitt (16-14-30)	Lane (7-7-14)
Nigro (7-17-24)	Thorne (8-5-13)

Former 67s: Deadly Sharks

Our 67s alumni are thriving in the San Jose pod.

Here's a great summary of their contributions from the Worcester Sharks site.

And here's a feature on Logan Couture from NHL.com.

And even more love for Logan (this guy's cleaning up in the man-crush category).

Great work guys!

Game Set Up - Mississauga

The Mississauga St. Michael's Majors make their last visit of the regular season to the Urbandale Centre this afternoon. Their previous visit on October 23rd resulted in a 7-4 loss by the 67s where Devante Smith-Pelly was a one-man wrecking crew scoring 4 goals.

Much has changed for the 67s since then. They are playing much better team hockey and are now second in the Conference as opposed to last place when these two teams last met met. While both teams are close in GF, it's clear that the key to Missy's success is their ability to keep pucks out of their own net.

Their goalies rank 1st and 5th in the league for GAA (Chris Carrozzi 2.28 and JP Anderson 2.55). But their rankings change quite a bit when looking at their save percentages (7th with .915 and 25th with .898 respectively) which I interpret to mean that getting the pucks to the net is hard but profitable.

One of Ottawa's keys to victory will be not turning the puck over so much. While they have been playing much better on this latest run, they still have too many turn-overs and the Majors will be only too happy to pounce on them.

I will not be at today's due to another obligation. I'm counting on you to cheer the 67s on to an important victory.

Ottawa 67's	Head to Head	Mississauga St. Michael's Majors
14-11-3-2 33 points	Record	20-6-2-0 42 points
2nd Eastern	Conference - Rank	3rd Eastern
107	GF	102
99	GA	69
9-1-0-0	P10	7-2-1-0
(29/135) 21.5 (9th)	PP% (rank)	(34/147) 23.1 (7th)
(29/135) 78.5 (14th)	PK% (rank)	(21/128) 83.6 (4th)

Top Guns

Ottawa 67's	Mississauga St. Michael's Majors
Lindsay (12-22-34)	Smith-Pelly (17-16-33)
Martindale (11-22-33)	Cizikas (11-15-26)
Toffoli (17-15-32)	Gaunce (4-18-22)
Nesbitt (16-14-30)	Mayer (12-9-21)
Nigro (7-17-24)	Wallen (9-12-21)

Tyler Toffoli - OHL Clips

Check out the OHL site for two video clips involving Tyler Toffoli. In the upper right corner of main page, hit the "Features" tab to get to the video for "OHL Top Performers for the Month of November" then go to the "Plays of the Week" tab to see Tyler's highlight reel headliner goal against Oshawa. It's been a while since the 67s fans have seen one of their players featured among the elite in the league.

Congrats to the team - the hard work is paying off!

Teddy Bears Counter Attack

Owen Sound Attack goalie Scott Stajcer stopped 39 of 40 shots for his team but it was the 67s who skated off with the 2-0 win and the three game winning streak. Bit it was well into the third period before the fans got to exercise their throwing arms with the Teddy Bear Toss.

Forward Combos:
Nigro, Lindsay, Nesbitt (starting forwards)
Toffoli, Martindale, Carnevale
Graovac, Merrett, Janes
Hanes, -, Stevens

D-pairs
Zanetti, Cuma (starting D)
Demers, Gibbons
Birkhoff, Ceci
Hartwick

Goal: Perugini

Scratches: Cowick, Smith

There's really not much of a story to tell when a game gets down to the last 7 minutes before the first goal is scored and the second goal is an EN with 6 seconds left. Owen Sound's goalie, Scott Stajcer did everything but skate up ice with the puck to help his team win. Between the two goalies, he had to work the hardest. He was positionally very strong and he didn't let out a whole lotta rebounds for second chances. Both goalies had some help from the posts.

It was Tyler Toffoli who finally got Stajcer moving across the crease and beat him 5-hole. Tyler Graovac got the assist for intercepting the clearing pass and the sweet feed to Toffoli.

With one minute left and the faceoff in the Ottawa zone, Owen Sound called a time out and pulled the goalie for the extra Attacker and Perugini had to make a couple of save. Thomas Nesbitt blocked the shot from the point, dug out the puck and skated in for the easy EN to seal the deal.

The 2-0 win gives the 67s get their third shut-out of the season, the second for Chris Perugini and they take over first spot in the East Division with a P10 of 9-1-0-0. A pretty amazing run.


Here's your link to the game sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67 as selected by the Team1200: Andrew Merrett

Random Thoughts:

• 67 shots on goal and the 67s win...hmmm. Not as creative as the numerology logic in the following clip:
  
  
  
• Play was pretty even for the first period (nothing stellar from either team) but Ottawa owned the third. They had the Attack pinned in their zone for long stretches, passing and cycling almost at will and taking control of the neutral zone.
  
• I shot from between the benches for the third period and the frustration of the 67s at not being able to score was audible. The lack of scoring certainly wasn't for lack of effort.
  
• A lot of candidates for hardest working 67s. The spousal unit and I were guessing that it would be Thomas Nesbitt. He certainly played hard enough for consideration.
  
• It's hard to believe that Cody Ceci is still only 15 years old (for a couple more weeks). Watching him improve over the next few years is going to be a real treat for the 67s fans.
  
• One ref and two penalties - for the whole game. These were mighty polite players!
  
• Homer moment: IMHO Hockey Canada got it wrong. If Hodgsen and McFarland were try-out worthy for the WJHC selection camp, Cuma and Toffoli definitely earned the opportunity to be invited. This is one of those character building moments and Cuma handled it very graciously and professionally in the interview clip I saw.
  
• Tyler Toffoli was named the OHL Player of the Month for November. He currently holds top spot in the league for scoring streaks (6 games). There are three other players with a 6-game streak but Tyler has the most goals. Those stats were as at November 29th. His streak was broken in the Belleville game where he was held off the scoresheet.
  

I will miss the game against the Mississauga St. Mike's Majors on Sunday. The Majors lost in Kingston and will be in no mood for another loss. This should be a very exciting, competitive game.
More Pictures:
The warm-up pucks

Perugini - no rebound







Peter Stevens chatting with young fans during the warm-up

Looking up to the 67s





Teddy bears in flight!

Game Set Up - Owen Sound

The Owen Sound Attack kick off their weekend swing through the Eastern Conference with tonight's visit to the Urbandale Centre. Both teams are on a 2-game winning streak - one of which will be broken tonight.

Remember, it's the Teddy Bear Toss tonight (one of my favorite game-days) so bring your new or gently used teddy bear to toss on the ice when the 67s score their first goal.

Ottawa 67's	Head to Head	Owen Sound Attack
13-11-3-2 31 points	Record	12-15-1-2 27 points
4th Eastern	Conference - Rank	8th Western
105	GF	96
99	GA	126
8-1-1-0	P10	5-5-0-0
(29/134) 21.6 (10th)	PP% (rank)	(24/156) 15.4 (15th)
(29/134) 78.4 (14th)	PK% (rank)	(37/169) 78.1 (15th)

Top Guns

Ottawa 67's	Owen Sound Attack
Lindsay (12-22-34)	Mignardi (17-16-33)
Martindale (11-22-33)	Shipley (7-23-30)
Toffoli (16-15-31)	Wilson (15-9-24)
Nesbitt (15-14-29)	Carroll (15-8-23)
Nigro (7-17-24)	Schemitsch (2-19-21)

Some Owen Sound info:

• #12 Jesse Blacker defense selected by Toronto Maple Leafs round 2 #58 overall 2009 NHL Entry Draft
  
• #40 Scott Stajcer goalie selected by New York Rangers round 5 #140 overall 2009 NHL Entry Draft
  
• #17 Garrett Wilson forward selected by Florida Panthers round 4 #107 overall 2009 NHL Entry Draft