Ottawa native Scott Sabourin scored the winning shootout goal as the Oshawa Generals skated to 4-3 victory over the Ottawa 67’s in their first meeting of the season.
Not off to a great start, the 67’s didn’t get their first shot until the 10:26 mark of the first period.While the offense wasn’t great, Keegan Wilson made a couple costly saves to keep his team in the game.But it wasn’t long after when Boone Jenner scored 12 seconds into the powerplay to draw first blood with a quick knuckle shot up high in the slot.
Tyler Graovac scored his league leading 11th goal
of the season and Keegan Wilson stopped 31 of 34 shots, but it wasn’t enough for
the Ottawa 67’s as they fell 4-1 to the Owen Sound Attack on Friday night.
On the road in Barrie, the Ottawa 67’s were looking for
their second road victory of the season against the top team in the league. Despite a great effort, the Ottawa 67’s fell
7-3 to the high powered Barrie Colts.Mathias
Niederberger turned aside 41 of 44 shots to lead his team to their 8th
straight win.
Taylor Fielding and Tyler Graovac scored two goals apiece in a five-goal, second period outburst, leading the Ottawa 67’s (3-6-0-0) to a 6-2 win over the Kitchener Rangers on Sunday afternoon.Fielding now has four goals on the year to match his previous career total, while Graovac moves into a three-way tie for the league lead in goals with nine.
After earning their first road victory over the Niagara
IceDogs last night, the Ottawa 67’s were back on the road to take on the new-faced
Mississauga Steelheads for the first time this season.Unfortunately, it wasn’t the start the 67’s
were hoping for.
The Ottawa 67’s held on to edge the Niagara IceDogs by a
score of 4-3 in regulation time.Keegan
Wilson turned aside 35 of 38 shots to keep the 67’s in the game and lead his
team to their first road win of the season.
After falling behind 4 - 1 early in the second period, the Ottawa 67's fought back hard with goals from Fielding, Graovac and Janes to knot it up and made it a game. But with his unassisted hat trick goal, Sudbury's Joshua Leivo put the Wolves back into the lead and a short-handed empty netter by Michael Kantor locked it up.
The Ottawa 67's (1-3-0) got their first win during their stay at Scotiabank Place on Saturday afternoon, an 8-1 blowout victory over the Erie Otters. Tyler Graovac had a natural hattrick in the first eight minutes and seven seconds of the game to set the tone early.
The Ottawa 67’s (0-3-0) remain winless after a doubly costly 4-2 loss to the Niagara Ice Dogs on Friday Night.Goaltender Keegan Wilson left the game at the conclusion of the first period after tweaking his groin, and although Jacob Blair was solid in relief, Niagara’s offence was too much as they came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the home side.
The Ottawa 67's find themselves in a tough position early in the season, dropping their second game 4-3 to the Peterborough Petes (1-1-0) on Saturday night. Ottawa falls to 0-2-0 with two games left on their homestand.
The Ottawa 67’s gave their largest crowd in nearly a decade a great show as franchise cornerstones Cody Ceci and Sean Monahan were dominant, but ultimately, the Barrie Colts were just too much for the Barberpoles.Anthony Camara had a hat trick for the Barrie Colts, his third goal being the winner with 45 seconds left in the third period, as the visitors spoiled Ottawa’s first game of their Scotiabank Place stay by way of a 6-4 win.
With a new era of Ottawa 67's hockey starting tonight at Scotiabank Place, Chris Byrne had some tough decisions to make in a short period of time. In the past six days, Ottawa's General Manager and bench boss had to finalize his squad's situation with imports, their depth chart between the pipes, and finally, the Captaincy.
With a second consecutive win over the Gatineau Olympiques to sweep the two-game preseason series, it's clear that the Ottawa 67's are able to put the puck in the net, but it's also clear that the key to this team's success will be on the penalty kill. Thanks in large part to a 7-for-7 penalty kill, the Barberpoles won 4-2 on Saturday night in Rockland.
For the second year in a row, the Ottawa 67's (or 'Smiths Falls 67's', as they were introduced to a Smiths Falls Community Arena record 1,800 fans) have begun the pre-season with a narrow win over an inter-provincial rival with a lot more experience under its belt. After letting a three goal lead slip away, it was 67's forward and former Smiths Falls Bear Ryan Van Stralen who ended up scoring the game winner in a 5-4 victory over the Gatineau Olympiques.
The Ottawa 67's are prepared for a new season after hosting their training camp and making roster cuts this week. With just six days until the team opens its pre-season against the QMJHL's Gatineau Olympiques, we look at the roster that the 67's will take into this year, as well as some highlights from the scrimmages that were held over the past three days at training camp.
For the third and final part of this season preview, it’s time to look at an area that could show a lot of promise in the coming years. Up front, the 67’s are sure to lose a lot of top scorers. Their 268 goals for in 2011-12 will probably not be matched this season, although the building blocks are in place for this team to put up some solid offensive numbers. The forwards should still be Ottawa’s strong point now and in the next couple of years as well.
As mentioned in part one of the 67’s 2012-13 season preview, this team is in a rebuild mode and as a rebuilding team, should be building from the net out. Ottawa had trouble finding a young goaltender to start taking over the reins, but on the blueline, there doesn’t seem to be much difficulty building a strong, young core to add to the defenders they already have.
Next month, the Ottawa 67’s begin a new era with the 2012-13 campaign. Head coach and General Manager Chris Byrne has been given a new staff of coaching assistants as he begins his first rebuild with the Barberpoles. Not only will fans see their team playing in new stomping grounds at Scotiabank Place, but they will also be seeing a new-look team.
As followers of Junior Hockey, it’s always great to see the future endeavours of the players we had the privilege to watch. What makes this even easier is when some of these grads are pursuing their professional hockey dreams here in the city we began watching them.
The NHL's annual Entry Draft brings dreams to life for several teenaged hockey players who finally get the chance to pull on an NHL sweater. Tonight, a player that we've had the privilege to watch for the past three seasons had his name called. One way or another, Cody Ceci will be playing next season at Scotiabank Place, as he was drafted 15th overall by the Ottawa Senators.
The Shawinigan Cataractes, the only inaugural QMJHL franchise still running (they were formerly known as the Bruins and Dynamo), won their first championship in their 43-year history with a 2-1 overtime win over the OHL Champion London Knights. The Cats were a feel-good story, but perhaps very few fanbases see the joy in it to the extent that many of us do here in Ottawa.
Fans of the Ottawa 67's had a lot of news to digest on the first day of June, from a one-for-one player trade, to a deal that saw us swapping draft picks, to learning the next stage in the career of this past year's Captain.
The 2011-2012 season has come to an end and although it’s finished sooner than we had hoped for at the start of the campaign, it was still a fun seven months to follow the Barberpoles. This piece will attempt to sum up and capture the excitement and different stages that we saw in the Nation’s Capital this year.
This year's blog was the collaboration of three contributors: Kathryn the aspiring scout, Alex the aspiring sports journalist and me, the aspiring sports photographer. We combined our love of hockey and the 67's to give you our insights over the season. I have asked Kathryn and Alex each to do a season wrap-up from their point of view. This post is from my point of view - from behind the lens. I hope we hear from Kathryn and Alex soon.
After a disappointing game 4 loss at home, the Ottawa 67’s
found themselves in a hole looking at a 3-1 series deficit. A deficit they were able to overcome in round
2, but this time it was against a team that was relatively healthy and could
roll a full four lines no problem.
It was not the start Ottawa wanted. With Dalton Smith in the box for boarding, Freddie
Hamilton set up Ryan Strome in the high slot and wired it past Petr Mrazek at
the 2:02 mark of the first period to end his 6 game goalless drought.
Ottawa would respond with just over one minute later on the
powerplay. Mark Visentin made a huge
save off a Mike Cajkovsky point shot, but let out a big rebound. Sean Monahan was right in front and
redirected the rebound into the back of the net.
The fans at the Gatorade Garden City Complex were treated to
a nearly 20 minute delay well before the halfway mark of the game with a
malfunctioning penalty box door. Perhaps
the IceDogs may have caught a break, as the 67’s were starting to get back into
the game with a sense of urgency. Play resumed
for the 14 minute mark and Mrazek came up big stopping 17 of 19 shots fired his
way in the first period as Niagara dominated the last half of the period. Freddie Hamilton added a late goal after the
67’s got caught flatfooted creating a clean breakaway and Hamilton slid the
puck through the fivehole on Mrazek.
The 67’s would come out for the second period until they ran
into some penalty trouble. Just as the
powerplay expired, Alex Friesen would give the IceDogs a two-goal lead after
tipping in a Dougie Hamilton shot from the short side. Mrazek and Visentin were solid the rest of
the period.
A powerplay midway through the third period would give the
67’s some life. Tyler Toffoli fed Jake
Cardwell who was all alone out front and made no mistake to tap it into a wide
open net.
The 67’s caught another break as Freddie Hamilton took a bad
penalty in the last two minutes. The 67’s
fired everything they could at Visentin, but despite two extra attackers and
the scrambles out front – the buzzer horned signalling the end of the game. The
end of the series and the end of junior hockey careers for Marc Zanetti, Daniel
Broussard and Mike Cazzola.
The 67’s fell 3-2 to the Ice Dogs in regulation and fall 4 games
to 1 in the series. The Ice Dogs advance
to the OHL Finals vs the London Knights for the first time in their club
history.
Petr Mrazek stopped 39 shots, but it wasn’t enough as the Niagara IceDogs skated to a 5-2 victory over the host Ottawa 67’s. The win gives the IceDogs a 3-1 series lead and puts the 67’s in a must win situation Friday night at the Gatorade Garden City Complex.
The past two days have been wild for Niagara Ice Dogs goaltender Mark Visentin, but it appears as though he's redeemed himself for an otherwise rocky performance in Games Two and Three. He scored the final goal into Ottawa's empty net, a shorthanded goal that he sent the length of the ice for his first career goal, putting the finishing touches on a 5-2 Ice Dogs win as the visitors take a 2-1 series lead.
by Alex Quevillon
After playing a terrific road game on Friday night, it looked as though the Ottawa 67’s had already found themselves in an insurmountable hole against the Niagara Ice Dogs. One game later, the mindset has completely changed and the 67’s have the ball in their court, earning themselves a well-deserved split heading back to Ottawa.
by Alex Quevillon
After a pair of disheartening losses at the Barrie Molson Centre put the Ottawa 67’s on the brink, they came back with a 2-1 win on home ice to stay in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Barrie Colts.
Michale Nishi making a save against Peterborough in December
On November 17th, the Ottawa 67's struck a minor deal with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds that, understandably, didn't garner much attention. In the pre-season, with Petr Mrazek and Shayne Campbell at NHL camps, the fort was held down only by Karsten Pankhurst, who hadn't played a regular season game in his OHL career (he was a backup in Plymouth).
by Alex Quevillon
It took just under 90 minutes of hockey to find a winner on Sunday, but with 9:53 gone in the second Overtime, Colts Captain Colin Behenna beat Petr Mrazek from far out to send Barrie home with a series split in Ottawa, in what ended up being the second-longest game in 67’s history. (The longest? MEMORIAL CUP (2005) GAME 2 – Ottawa vs Kelowna – Ottawa Wins in 2OT (3-2) )
Just when it looked as though the Barrie Colts were going to take over game one of the Eastern Conference Semi Final in Ottawa, the home town 67's came out with an explosive second period and never looked back, taking the series opener by a score of 5-1.
REGULAR SEASON
Ottawa 67’s 1-1-1-1
Barrie Colts 3-1-0-0
This was a very close battle all season long. All four games were decided by 1 goal with the exception to the third game of the regular season series where Ottawa netted a late insurance goal for a 2 goal win.
Shane Prince notched a hat-trick and the 67’s finally put in a truly convincing effort, handing the Belleville Bulls a 5-2 loss and taking a 3-2 series lead after a pivotal Game 5 on home ice. They have a chance to close out the series on Monday night in Belleville.
On the strength of two overtime goals from Jordan Mayer and Brady Austin, the Belleville Bulls are back in this series after earning a pair of 4-3 OT wins on their home ice. Mayer snapped home his first of the playoffs just 14 seconds into game 3 while Austin beat Petr Mrazek from far out, 7:46 into the extra frame in game 4 to level the series at 2-2. Now, the two teams head to Ottawa for a pivotal, nationally-televised matchup on Friday night.
The Ottawa 67’s faced off against the Belleville Bulls for the 12th time this season in front of a home crowd of 8,958. There was no love lost between these two teams tonight. After several minutes of chirping at centre ice lots of pushing and shoving broke out during the pre-game warm ups. It was quickly broken up by the officials and Marc Zanetti was assessed a 5-minute match penalty for spearing and thus thrown from the game before it even started.
It took a lot longer than the hometown fans had hoped for, but the Ottawa 67’s finally put the Belleville Bulls away as Tyler Toffoli scored his second of the night just two minutes and two seconds into the first overtime, giving Ottawa a 3-2 win and a 1-0 series lead.
Last year’s playoffs: Swept in first round by the Sudbury Wolves
Top performers:
Tyler Toffoli 52 goals, 100 points in 65 games
Shane Prince 43 goals, 90 points in 57 games
Sean Monahan 33 goals, 78 points in 62 games
Cody Ceci 17 goals, 60 points in 64 games
The Ontario Hockey League’s regular season has come to a close, and although the Ottawa 67’s have struggled to end the year, there is plenty of room for optimism. Not only because they are going into a seven-game series against a Belleville team that they went 7-0-1 against in the regular season. They are also getting a number of previously injured players back from injury. Likely the most notable sidelined body for the team in the past three weeks was Captain Marc-Anthony Zanetti.
The last regular season game played at the J. Benson Cartage Center was an emotional night for many longtime fans. The near sellout attendance of 9,250 were thanked for their support with a pre-game video montage on the score board, before being treated to a wild 6-4 win over the Sudbury Wolves, who eliminated the 67's last season in the playoffs.
The Ottawa 67’s continue to go winless on home ice, not having won at the J. Benson Cartage Centre since February 19th. Today was another large disappointment for the Ottawa fans. The 67’s were able to overcome an early 2-0 deficit, but ultimately fell 6-3 to the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors, a game that may be a first-round playoff preview.
Freddie Hamilton scored his 6th game winning goal at the 19:52 minute mark in the first period to lead the Niagara IceDogs to a 5-1 victory over the Ottawa 67’s.
The Ottawa 67’s didn’t help their own cause on Sunday, losing 5-2 to the CHL’s best London Knights. Luckily for Ottawa, a Belleville loss in Peterborough guarantees that the 67’s will win the East Division. It may be a nice sigh of relief to clinch the division three weeks earlier than they did last year, but at the same time, today’s game has to be a wakeup call for the Barberpoles.
The Barrie Colts skated to a 5-4 win over the home team Ottawa 67’s. It took the Colts until the 7th round of the shootout when Zach Hall scored the winner in front of a crowd of 5,722 who ventured out in the snowy weather.
Tyler Toffoli had a goal for the seventh straight game, Cody Ceci scored his third goal in as many games and Shane Prince increased his point streak to 18 games to match his jersey number, but today wasn’t about the individual stats, as the Ottawa 67’s won 2-1 to mathematically clinch a spot in the 2012 playoffs. To go along with the playoff guarantee, Ottawa moves ahead of the idle Niagara Ice Dogs for first in the Eastern Conference.
by Alex Quevillon
For the first time in his OHL career, Mike Cazzola wasn’t able to register a goal during Erie’s annual trip to Ottawa. The former Otters forward, now with the 67’s, had scored in each of his first three games in the Nation’s Capital as a member of the visiting side. He didn’t score today, but he didn’t need to, as Ottawa blew out the overaged center’s old team 6-1 in front of 6,731 fans on Sunday.
After a leak in the roof caused unsafe skating conditions at the J Benson Cartage Centre triggering the Friday game to be postponed, the Landsdowne crews scurried hard to get the arena in shape for Saturday afternoon. With one section still leaking, it wasn’t until after warm-ups that both teams were certain that they were going to play.
by Alex Quevillon
After losing the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time in several months, the Ottawa 67's took a rare three-game losing streak into Sunday's matchup with the Belleville Bulls. Ottawa wouldn't allow themselves to drop a season-record four in a row, however. The Barberpoles received a hattrick from Shane Prince, the first two goals of Sean Callaghan's career and a 35-save shutout performance from Petr Mrazek as they rolled over their division rivals 9-0
After a heartbreaking 5-4 OT loss in Peterborough, you would have thought the Ottawa 67’s would come out with more urgency. Instead, it was the visiting Guelph Storm outshooting the 67’s 11-2 in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Despite being 35 points below, the Frontenacs seems to have the 67’s number. Sophomore defenseman Kyler Nixon scored the game winner under 4 minutes left the 3rd period to lead the Kingston Frontenacs to a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa 67’s.
The Oshawa Generals don't look like a team that is fighting for a playoff spot and and they certainly had their chances but the 67's managed to hang on for a win over the energetic Oshawa Generals. Both goalies made several key saves and had a bit of luck too.
When Brian Kilrea left the Ottawa 67’s as Head Coach and General Manager, he left behind an OHL legacy. Two Memorial Cups, three Ontario League championships, only three years without a playoff berth and 1193 wins top off the former coach’s time here in Ottawa. One of the biggest reasons for his success was patience with youth. As is evident by this season’s squad being tops in the Eastern Conference, Killer’s presence is still being felt.
Former 67 Logan Couture, joined by another familiar face in Brian Campbell, watched a trio of his old teammates help beat the Sarnia Sting 5-2 on Friday night in a nationally broadcasted game. Expected to go first overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Nail Yakupov made his return to the Sarnia lineup from injury and had the spotlight on him all game.
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.
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.
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.
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 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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
