Interview with the Coach - Nov 27

Notes from an interview w/ Killer on the TEAM 1200/ Buzz and Glenn Kulka this morning.


The 67s came off a road swing this weekend through Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie, winning both games in shootouts. They started out on the right foot in Sudbury, coming back from being down 3 goals after the first period. It gave everybody a lift, which carried over into the game in the Soo. They didn't panic when the got down by two goals, and came back with four straight of their own.

It's good for the young kids on the team to experience that. The veterans were all very satisfied with themselves. When you're losing, there's always a negative reaction and you can feel it in the [dressing] room and on the bus. Growing up is the most important part of the game.

Killer thought all of the defence played well, and after Grimaldi was thrown out of the game in the Soo they really stepped it up. He thought maybe they should get Grimaldi thrown out of games earlier if that's the way they're going to respond. :) The league will review Grimaldi's hit from behind and decide whether it warrants a suspension.

When asked, the coach didn't think reffing was a part of either game this weekend [i.e. didn't have an effect on the outcome]. There were no penalties called in the first period in the soo, and they "got away" with some 5-on-3s (i.e. didn't allow PP goals). He is concerned that there are some "hooking" penalties being called when all the player is doing is lifting the guy's stick. He doesn't think that the clutching and grabbing is creeping back into the game like it is in the NHL, but lifting the stick is just checking and checking is part of the game. Kilrea said he only yelled at the ref a couple of times this weekend.

He said Morrison is on top of his game right now, winning 2 shootouts. He'll play on Tuesday against Kingston, and Flueler will get a start next weekend when the team plays three games in three days. In the shootout, Killer thinks it's best to start with your best players instead of holding them back because you might not get to use them. The game dictates who goes. (Ed.'s note: He went with Biduke, Couture, McGinn and Liscomb both nights. McGinn and Liscomb both scored both nights)

Couture is playing in the Canada-Russian series tonight in Oshawa, and then will meet back up with the team in Kingston on Tuesday night. (Ed.'s note: Interesting stat -- Kingston also won both their games on the weekend in shootouts! Also, Couture finally got his first goal of the season Saturday, deflecting a point shot by Joslin in the second period.)

Ottawa has two or three games in hand on the leaders in their division. They've battled back to stay in the mix. For Killer though, he looks at it as being 11 points out of first place. They'll have an opportunity to close the gap tomorrow night.

Coming up this weekend, a home and home series with Oshawa, and then back to the Civic Centre on Sunday to take on Windsor. Both those teams have been struggling as of late. Hopefully the 67s can capitalize and get themselves back to competing for the top of the division.

Interview with the Coach - Nov 20

Notes from an interview w/ Killer on the TEAM 1200/ Buzz and Glenn Kulka this morning.


Kilrea saw 3 games this weekend, then came back to Mississauga for the game on Sunday. Several GMs followed him to the game as well to see the players that Ottawa was offering. Killer said that they all played so badly that they couldn't get the trade done. In response to a question about the players being a little antsy about the possibility of getting traded, he said that no one is playing well enough to say that they won't be traded.

The team played well on Friday and Saturday, but Sunday felt like the first day of training camp, they played so badly. He thought that maybe some of them want to move because they're not playing well enough to stay.

Is Kilrea concerned about Flueler? Yes, they thought he would be improving by this point. But the first period on Sunday wasn't his fault. The defence stood around and watched as Mississauga put the puck in the empty net on several cross-crease passes. The defence haven't been playing well in front of Flueler. But he battled back in the second and third periods.

Killer thought the blue line would be solid this year, but none of them have been playing well. The only exception is that Cuma is emerging into a star.

This weekend, Sudbury and the Soo are tough rinks to play in after sitting in the bus for so long. Then they have to come back and go to Kingston on Tuesday. The schedule's a little loopy this year. The need to put some extra thought into it next year.

The Running of the Bulls: 5 – 3 for Belleville

Game two in this weekend’s home and home series between these two teams. We took a leisurely drive through Westport (had lunch) and then on to Belleville where we had our pre-game meal at the Winchester Arms. Nice pub but their calamari is way too expensive for what you get.

Belleville scratches for today: Blunden, Killing, and Tipoff (sounds like a law firm for the mob) . Kevin Lalande started again in net.

Ottawa scratches for today: Brody Beard, Pat Daley, Jordan Gallea and Matt Ribeiro. Brady Morrison started in net again. Kilrea was still on the road doing some scouting.

Lines for tonight (more or less):
Alphonso, Couture, McGinn
Lahey, Linsday, Liscomb
Pleckaitis, Kewin, Biduke
Nesbitt, Jukosky, Cimadamore

Defensive pairings:
Grimaldi – Joslin
Cuma – Vojta
Reid – Ryan

Ottawa started with a jump with Jamie McGinn getting a good scoring chance 30 seconds into the game to try and set the tone. But then we made it hard on ourselves by penalties spaced out enough in the period to make it hard to get sustained rhythm going. Liscomb took the first penalty a minute 20 into the period but the PK units did a good job limiting Belleville to three shots all of which Brady stopped. Then it was our turn to go on the PP and we had good pressure for a while but could not convert. With Jukosky off for a hooking call in his defensive zone, recently acquired Aaron Snow scored his 6th goal of the season when he deflected Nick Pageau’s wrist shot from the blue line. Shawn Lalonde got the other assist. Just 23 seconds later, Julian Cimadamore scored his first OHL goal with a shot from the slot. Alphonso and Grimaldi got the assists. The arena announcer had a tough time with the kid's name but to his credit he kept trying. Ottawa had a couple of good scoring chances, one being a hard shot from Cuma that hit Lalande pretty hard but he kept the boys from adding to the score. After staying out of penalty trouble in the last couple of games, Vojta took two hooking calls pretty much back to back late in the period but Belleville couldn’t manage to hit the net much less score. The first period ended with the score tied at one and the shots: Ottawa 11 and Belleville 14.

With 42 seconds remaining in Vojta’s penalty, Belleville started with the man advantage. We won the face off and carried on to kill the penalty. Lalande continued to keep the Bulls in the game with his great stops including one from in close by Logan Couture. Brady did his job too with a great save on a hard shot Subban who had taken a cross-ice pass and was all alone in the circle to Brady’s right. Belleville finally went ahead on their only 5 on 5 goal when Shawn Matthias managed to pick up a rolling rebound and get past Brady on the right side. Later, Ottawa was caught on a 4-on-1 rush bearing down on poor Brady when one of the Ottawa players (Grimaldi??) made a great sliding play to break up the scoring chance. Whew! That had an unhappy ending written all over it until the stellar effort from our guy. With 4:42 left in the period, Tyler Cuma was called for slashing. Twenty six seconds into the PP, Matt Beleskey scored his 12th of the season with a tip-in off Matt Pelech’s shot from the slot. Tyler Donati got the other assist. That put Belleville up by two. With under three minutes left in the period, Elgin Reid was called for high-sticking. The ensuing play resulted in a big scramble in front of Brady including the puck hitting the post and at one time lying in the crease for the taking but Ottawa managed to get out of that without allowing the goal. The period ended with the score 3 – 1 for Belleville and shots on goal: 27 – 19 for Belleville.

There were 8 penalties called in the third period – 4 a side but one against Belleville was a mistake (delay of game for a puck over the glass which everyone saw being deflected off a stick) so the ref evened it up with a lame interference call against Aphonso 36 seconds later. For the scoring, at the 11:59 mark of the period, Elgin Reid pulled us within 1 with assists from Liscomb and Lindsay. But Belleville came right back less than a minute later on with their third power play goal when Tyler Donati beat Brady on the stick side with a fast shot from the slot. Matt Pelech and PK Subban assisted. Belleville pretty much owned the real estate in the slot at that point. Just when I thought it was over, Arron Alphonso managed to get an improbable shot past Lalande while he (Arron) was down on the ice. The play started with a super effort by Couture sliding in the Belleville end to block a pass. The puck somehow got to McGinn who got it to a falling Arron. For some reason Couture did not get the assist. It wasn’t high-light reel pretty but it was a goal and it got Ottawa back to within 1 with about half the period left. There were some great chances by both sides and the goalies did what they are (paid??) to do. Ottawa managed to get a face off in the Belleville zone with 1:06 left in the game and called a time out. Brady was pulled in favour of the extra attacker but Belleville’s Matt Beleskey managed to get the unassisted empty netter with 34 seconds left to ice the game.

The game ended 5 – 3 in favour of the home team Belleville. Shots: 40 – 31 for Belleville.

My Thoughts: I know you didn’t ask but since I hold the keyboard, I will offer them anyway. I thought that Ottawa played really well in the last two games against a much better team. Although Ottawa lost both, they were not blown out of either rink and we saw some entertaining hockey. Good goaltending was required by both teams. Belleville seemed faster and checked really well. After a couple of games where Ottawa’s power play seemed to click, they went 0 for 7 in this game including 1:10 with a two-man advantage. On the other side of the specialty team ledger, they took 11 (a few too many) penalties and allowed 3 goals. The larger ice surface makes for a different game and you can see how Belleville has created a team to play well on this surface. One of our party chatted with Pat Daley who commented that this is a tough rink to play in at the end of a road trip. I don’t think Logan is near 100% recovered. He put in great effort but didn’t seem to have the wheels we are used to. Mono is a serious illness and coming back too soon can have long-term results. Reid as a co-captain leaves me cold. Before Belleville scored their go-ahead goal, Grimaldi took a hit in the Belleville end that knocked his helmet off so he went to the bench as required. The play continued for quite a while until the roughing penalty could be called against Belleville. Reid skated right by the helmet at the whistle but did not bring it back to the bench which meant that Grimaldi was stranded on the bench for quite a while longer than necessary. We couldn’t hear the conversation but the two exchanged words later. Grimaldi is getting a ton of ice time and methinks Elgin is having a fit of professional jealousy. Real fine quality in a captain. I have also heard other things that bring Reid’s leadership seriously into question in my opinion. His trade couldn’t happen soon enough for me. A bag of used pucks would seem like an even-up swap. Every rink has one it seems – it Belleville it’s the cymbals guy moving around the rink clashing his cymbals with every Belleville score. We sat near the Ottawa bench in among some Belleville season ticket holders. Everyone was very nice and we had some good hockey chat. One of the locals asked about Kyle Jukosky saying she was sad to see him leave Belleville. I assured her that we were happy to have him on the team and that he was doing well. We all agreed that he plays well above his weight class.

Three stars of the game:

1. Tyler Donati (goal and two assists)
2. Matt Pelech (2 assists)
3. Brady Morrison (35 saves – some really stellar ones!)

Didn’t catch the hardest working 67 from The Team. There were too many for us to call it.

Good effort by the guys. Good luck in Mississauga. They play their next 4 games (including the one in Missisauga) on the road.

Adios folks until the next home game.

Arrgh! Lost it in the Last 16 seconds!

Front end of another home and home series between these two teams. Belleville took both games in October.

Their big guns: Tyler Donati (36 points for 10th in the league), Matt Beleskey (21) and P.K. Subban (17). On the penalty side: Matt Pelech (69), Andrew Self (43) and Matt Beleskey (42). For plus/minus, keep an eye on P.K. Subban (+13), Matt Pelech (+4) and Bryan Cameron (+4). Belleville scratches for today: Geoff Killing, Matthew Tipoff and Jeff Leavitt.

Ottawa remains in 10th place in the Eastern conference with only 15 points on the season after 17 games (the fewest played in the league for some reason). Ottawa scratches for today: Julian Cimadamore, Brody Beard, Pat Daley and Sean Ryan.

To the Ottawa numbers: Leading scorers: Jamie McGinn (22), Brett Liscomb (17) and Jesse Biduke (16). On the PIM side we still have Joe Grimaldi still leading with 43, Arron Alphonso with 29, followed by Jakub Voyta with 28. Our plus/minus numbers are not so good: Arron Alphonso with +8 (and he hasn’t played in the last couple of games) , Jakub Voyta, Cody Lindsay and Jesse Biduke each with +4. Matt Lahey is not having too much of a good run with a whopping -13.

For the specialty teams: Ottawa tops Belleville in the PP home and PK home stats but when it’s all put together, Belleville edges Ottawa. Belleville has scored 29 PP goals in 20 games to Ottawa’s 26 goals in 17 games and as for the PK, both teams have allowed 24 goals against but again, Ottawa has played fewer games that Belleville. Ottawa still has the fewest PIMS in the league with 325 in 17 games; Belleville has 445 PIMs.

Lines for tonight (more or less):
Alphonso, Couture, McGinn
Lahey, Jukosky, Liscomb
Pleckaitis, Kewin, Biduke
Nesbitt, Lindsay, Ribeiro (no ice in the third)

Defensive pairings:
Grimaldi – Joslin
Cuma – Vojta
Reid – Gallea (!)

It didn’t turn out as it should have / could have but it was an entertaining game to watch. Ottawa was stung by breakdowns in their defensive play and Kevin Lalande (Moose Creek native, Belleville goalie and Calgary Flames prospect) was hot!

The first period was a very defensive period by both teams. Ottawa was on the PK very early when Jordan Gallea was called at 17:52 for elbowing. The PK teams (Couture, McGinn, Grimaldi and Joslin – Liscomb, Kiriakou, Vojta and Reid) did a really good job playing the Belleville players aggressively. Not long after that penalty was killed, Ottawa was back on the PK for too many men on the ice. This was a good kill as well and Jamie McGinn had a breakaway for a chance at a short handed goal but Lalande wouldn’t have any of it. Ottawa got its first (and only) PP chance in the period when Steven Whitely was called for roughing up Thomas Nesbitt in front of the Belleville net. They managed to get a couple of shots on net but the advantage was cut short when Liscomb was caught hooking. Brady Morrison made a great save with about 5 minutes left in the period when he came way out of the crease to cut the angle on the Belleville player (didn’t catch the number). Then it was Ottawa’s turn for a couple of great chances but to no avail. The period ended without any scoring and the shots on goal: 6 – 8 for Belleville.

The second period started with some early excitement when Kyle Jukosky had the steal and had a great scoring chance but opted instead to try and pass it back (to McGinn??). Ottawa might have been on the PP at this time. Ottawa managed 3 SOGs during the PP but could not make any of them count. Then Jesse Biduke had a chance when he intercepted a Belleville pass but that didn’t pan out either. Finally, at 15:44 in the period, Elgin Reid passed from inside the Ottawa zone to Jesse Biduke at the Belleville blue line. Jesse went in and blasted it over Lalande’s shoulder to put Ottawa on the board first! Jordan Gallea got the other assist. Well that lead was short-lived as 29 seconds later Andrew Gibbons received a pass from Aaron Snow from the corner to beat Brady Morrison. Shortly thereafter Ottawa went on the PP again when Shawn Matthias was called for interference. Ottawa managed to create some pressure but could not get past Lalande. Ottawa got another PP opportunity at 9:43 when Subban effectively tackled Liscomb at the Belleville bench. Then they had ANOTHER PP with 6:17 left in the period. This one was by far the worst PP effort of the night as they simply could not get organized at all. They’re lucky they didn’t get scored on! Then AGAIN, with 30 seconds left in the period, Belleville is back in the box for a hit from behind on Couture. With 21 seconds left, Belleville puts another guy in the box for a high stick. Ottawa can’t do anything with the 5-on-3 advantage and the period ends with it tied up at 1 but shots on goal have changed significantly: 28 – 14 for Ottawa. Belleville played the most part of the period on their heels.

Ottawa started the third period with a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:30. It seemed that they were a tad sluggish from the intermission but before the first penalty expired, Brett Liscomb scored his 9th goal of the season when he picked up a rebound and sent it past Lalande. Alphonso and Joslin were credited with the assists but I could swear that I thought McGinn took the first shot that rebounded. Oh well! Then with 31 seconds left in the 5-on-4 powerplay, Jesse Biduke scored his second of the evening from the slot. Jukosky and Lahey got the assists. Ottawa was now up by 2! On Belleville! Well, before the official announcements on the two Ottawa goals could be made, Tyler Donati picked up a rebound off the boards and beat Brady to bring Belleville quickly back to within one goal. Matt Beleskey and Shawn Matthias got assists on it. Belleville now put on the pressure and Ottawa started making some mistakes. Ottawa was finally able to get into the Belleville zone but Shawn Matthias picked up the puck inside his defensive zone, skate around Reid, split the defense and score on Brady to tie up the game with about 8:44 left in the game. It was smooth – a really nice goal BUT NOT FOR THE RIGHT TEAM!! Ottawa started breaking down defensively and getting brain cramps. With just over a minute left in the game, Alphonso took the puck into the Belleville zone and for some apparent reason though he was Jason Spezza and dropped the puck to…..well not an Ottawa player! This allowed Belleville to take the play into the Ottawa zone. Ottawa managed to ice the puck and call a time out. They didn’t win the face off back in their zone and failed to clear the puck when they had the chance. With 16.1 seconds left in the game Andrew Gibbons scored the winning goal on a shot that deflected off an Ottawa stick. Ottawa pulled Brady for the face off and the final 16 seconds but was unable to pull off the tying goal. Joslin (I think) fired a shot from the point that had the net written all over it but Lalande caught it just as the buzzer sounded.

Oh well, Ottawa played some really good hockey but unfortunately, they paid for a couple of their mistakes. Had Lalande been anything other than brilliant, it might have been a different outcome.

Final shots on goal: 41 – 28 for Ottawa.

Three stars of the game:

1. Kevin Lalande (39 saves and essentially the reason Belleville won)
2. Jesse Biduke (2 goals) (I had my had ready for the hat trick!)
3. Shawn Matthias (a really nice goal! and an assist)

Hardest working 67: Kyle Jukosky (former Belleville Bull)

Goin’ on a road trip tomorrow to see the game in Belleville. Will report upon return unless I decide that there's more to life than hockey.

Cheers!

Dogged by a Better Team - Missy wins 6 - 3

The IceDogs come into today’s game after a day’s rest to recover from a stunning 6 – 0 loss to Kingston on Friday. Rookie goalie Andrew Loverock let in 6 goals on 27 shots – one on the power play and one short handed. Their big guns: Jordan Owens (27), Michael Swift (24) and Jadran Beljo (22). On the penalty side: Brent Oliphant (41), Oskar Osala (38) and Stephan Legein (33). For plus/minus, keep an eye on Nathan Martine (+11), Alex Pietrandelo (+10) and Gianluca Caputi (+8). Mississauga scratches for today: Lucas Lobsinger (ill), Cody Bass, and Stevan Monojlovic. An addition for today: Adrian Volpe dressing as the back-up goalie.

Ottawa dropped from 8th place in the Eastern conference on Friday to 10th place coming into this afternoon’s game as Kingston had two wins against strong conference rivals Mississauga (Friday)and Barrie (yesterday). Oshawa got two points in their win against London and Peterborough also came away with 2 points against Brampton yesterday. Ottawa scratches for today: Kyle Jukosky, Arron Alphonso and Elgin Reid. Rumour has it that Joe Pleckaitis is not with the team anymore – not sure if he walked, was released or traded. His absence was not announced as a scratch nor has there been an official announcement.

As for the Ottawa numbers: Leading scorers: Jamie McGinn (20), Jesse Biduke (16) and Brett Liscomb and Arron Alphonso each with 14. On the PIM side we have Joe Grimaldi still leading (?) the pack with 41, followed by Jakub Voyta with 26 and Arron Alphonso with 29. Our plus/minus leaders are Arron Alphonso with +8, Jakub Voyta with +6 and Jesse Biduke with +5. Is there some sort of acknowledgement in order in that Arron is in the team’s top three for points, penalty minutes and +/-?

The match up in specialty teams will be interesting to watch as Mississauga has strong PP numbers on the road (5th overall with 20 goals) and Ottawa having strong PK numbers at home (3rd in the league having allowed only 7 goals). On the flip side, Ottawa’s home PP numbers are middle-of-the-road with 14 goals, against Mississauga’s road PK which is pretty strong (ranked 3rd in the league) having allowed only 13 goals. Ottawa still has the fewest PIMS in the league with 300 in 16 games; Mississauga is smack-dab in the middle with 431 minutes in 19 games.

Lines for tonight (and all 4 lines saw good ice time) were:
Lahey, Couture, McGinn
Biduke, Liscombe, Kewin
Cimadamore, Pleckaitis, Lahey
Nesbitt, Lindsay, Ribeiro

Defensive pairings:
Grimaldi – Joslin
Cuma – Vojta
Beard - Ryan

Another game where Ottawa was beaten by a team that played really well and made the 67s pay for their mistakes. Only one ref tonight and I think it showed but don’t interpret that as a complaint that Ottawa lost by the whistle (or lack thereof).

As with the game on Friday, Ottawa started slower than their opponents. Ottawa started with a PP just 22 seconds into the game but did not manage even a shot on goal. Mississauga managed a shot with the disadvantage. Then Mississauga went on the PP about just under 3 minutes later when Brodie Beard was sent off for hooking. Liscomb was really aggressive on the PK, challenging the player on the point. Ottawa came out of that with only allowing 2 shots on goal. But with just under 7 minutes into the period, the IceDogs scored when Jordan Skellet got a wrist shot from the point past Lukas Flueler. Alex Pietrangleo got the assist. Ottawa had a rough time getting anything organized outside their defensive zone. I really like the play of Tyler Cuma but he racked up some penalty minutes today starting with a boarding call at the 12:38 mark of the game. I should note that by this time Ottawa had not yet registered a shot on goal. The 67s had a good penalty kill with Flueler making a big save, Liscomb making a good interception and Kewin ending the PK with a rush and shot on Loverock. With Joslin off on a hooking call with 8 minutes left to play, Ottawa again came out of a bad situation with some skill and a whole lotta luck. Flueler somehow got all tangled up and way out of position. Thankfully Tyler Cuma and Logan Couture played double duty as stand-in goal tenders. With Jordan Skellet off for high sticking and Kyle Lamb off for elbowing, Ottawa had the 2-man advantage for 1:03. With 6 seconds left in the first penalty, Jamie McGinn scored his 12th goal of the year when he backhanded the rebound off a one-timer from Liscomb to tie up the game. Derek Joslin got the other assist. And that’s how the period ended: tied at one with Mississauga out shooting Ottawa 10 – 9.


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Couture

As with Friday, the second period was not much different than the first. Ottawa started slow and sloppy but managed to pick things up in the second half. Again, Ottawa had an early PP opportunity but Mississauga played their PK very aggressively with success. Then it was the IceDogs’ turn with the advantage when Matt Lahey found himself on the wrong end of a tripping call. Mississauga got their only PP goal of the afternoon when Michael Swift roofed it past Flueler with a wrist shot from the circle. Ottawa still had difficulties getting anything organized out of their defensive zone and they were turning the puck over too much. At 11:02 of the period, Mississauga went up by two when Kyle Lamb scored on a delayed penalty against the 67s. Joshua Day and Michael Swift had the assists. The IceDogs made it a 3-goal lead just over a minute later when Oskar Osala beat Flueler with help from Gianluca. At this point it was 4 – 1 for Mississauga.

At the 9:11 mark, Shea Kewin and Brett Oliphant were sent off for offsetting minors (roughing) and Grimaldi for holding. Ottawa had a couple of really good chances for short handed goals, one when Couture stole the puck at the left point and another when McGinn got the puck away from the Missy player. McGinn drove for the net and appeared to me to have the step when he was hooked but Ottawa only drew the penalty and not the penalty shot. Ottawa got another 2-man advantage for 1:02 when Joshua Day and Michael Swift were serving time. Like Friday, Ottawa managed to score on both sides of the penalty pair. First it was Jamie McGinn with his second goal of the afternoon and 13th of the season when he picked up another Liscomb rebound. Couture got the other assist. Then 30 seconds later it was Liscomb in the right spot when Derek Joslin fired one in to have it bounce of Brett’s skate. A review confirmed that it was a good goal (not kicked it). Grimaldi got a point for the assist on that one. Ottawa was back in the game having scored two goals to make it 4 – 3 for Mississauga. The 67s were put to the test at the end of the period when Tyler Cuma earned 2 minutes for cross-checking and another 10 minutes for his display of temper. I should note that these penalties were called seconds after a Mississauga player got a tad too intimate in the crease with Lukas Flueler without any consequences. Lukas and the rest of the team came through with some good saves and some good shot blocks. The period ended with Ottawa down a goal and still being out shot 27 – 20.

For the third time in the game, Ottawa started a period with an early PP opportunity when Chris Lawrence was off for interference. Mississauga managed a great breakaway for a potential short handed goal but Flueler followed the player perfectly to spoil the chance. Then Ottawa got a 34 second 2-man advantage when Alex Pietrangelo was also called for interference. We all thought we had the tying goal in the scramble when it looked like the puck wend in and rebounded out really quickly but the play went on. The Ottawa players didn’t protest at all and a review was not requested. Sid got a really good picture (which I hope gets posted here) where it sure looks like a goal but from the angle it’s hard to be sure.


Click image for larger
It was hard to say w/ the angle and the little LCD camera screen
we had at the game, but looking at this bigger photo it doesn't
look like a goal -- Sid

The wind was taken out of Ottawa’s sails when Jordan Owens scored a pretty short handed goal when he got control of the puck in the neutral zone and then got the backhand through the 5-hole on Lukas to put Mississauga up again by two at the 12:16 mark of the period.

Not long after (well, about 40 seconds later by my notes), Shea Kewin and Brett Oliphant dropped the gloves right off the face off at centre ice. By the numbers (age, weight and height) it would appear that the only difference is that Shea has about 20 pounds on Brett. OHLToughguys.com doesn’t have a rating on these two. Shea definitely got the decision on this one, landing a number of solid shots and getting the take-down.

With under 4 minutes left in the game, Mississauga iced the game when Oskar Osala scored (unassisted) his second of the night.

The game ended 6 – 3 for Mississauga and the IceDogs out shooting Ottawa 38-27.

Ottawa was outplayed and out skated again. The IceDogs moved the puck really well, skated fast, kept moving and played their positions very well. Ottawa got beat by a better team. They need to tighten up their defense and stop waiting for the perfect scoring chances. All their goals came on the PP this weekend (9) – and they still dropped two games (admittedly they got a point on Friday in the losing cause). They need to do better 5 on 5. They can do it – we have faith.

Three stars of the game:

Jordan Owens (Mississauga)
Oskar Osala (Mississauga)
Jamie McGinn

Hardest working 67: Brett Liscomb (again)


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Liscomb

See you on Friday when we welcome the Belleville Bulls for the front end of a home and home series.

Ciao!

(Photos added by Sid 2006-11-13 1500h)

Just Outta Range - Ottawa Drops the Shootout

As we always do at this time of year, we started the evening by paying respects to Canadian soldiers past and present. I mostly thought of our folks over in theatre in Afghanistan – hoping that they all arrive back safe and sound. Scary for them and their families.

The Kitchener Rangers arrived in Ottawa to start a three game swing through the east. They are in 6th place in the western conference with 20 points in 18 games. I didn’t catch the scratches for tonight. Their point getters coming into tonight’s game are Matt Halischuk (21), Justin Azevedor (21) and Jakub Kindl (18). For penalty minutes they have Jakub Kindl (48 – with more added tonight), Dan Gyenes (48) and Brian Soso (45). John Murray, their rookie goalie, started in net. On the power play, they are 12th overall in the league with 27 power play goals in 147 opportunities with the advantage. On the kill, they rank 6th overall in the league having allowed 23 goals in the 150 shots they faced when down a man (or two). As for penalty minutes, they stand about 8th when counting which teams have the most.

We finally welcomed Logan Couture back after missing about 10 games because he was ill. Matt Ribeiro was back too after being sick. Matt Lahey and Brodie Beard were also back in action. And we also welcomed the newest member of the team, Julian Cimadamore wearing number 11. Out of the lineup for tonight were Joe Pleckaitis, Pat Daley, Sean Ryan, Jordan Gallea and Arron Alphonso. I didn’t get all the reasons but I think Alphonso is not feeling well. The others or most of them anyway, are likely healthy scratches (we are carrying a pretty full roster at this time).

Our numbers coming into tonight’s game look like this: 3 highest scorers – Jamie McGinn (16), Arron Alphonso (14) and Jesse Biduke (14). On the penalty side we have Joe Grimaldi (39), Arron Alphonso (29) and Jakub Vojta (26). Our PP ranks 16th overall having scored 19 goals in 123 man advantages. Our PK ranks 13th having allowed 23 goals on 114 shots on net with a man disadvantage. As for PIMS, we still have the fewest in the league.

Lines for tonight (and all 4 lines saw some ice time) were:
Lahey, Couture, McGinn
Biduke, Jukosky, Liscombe
Cimadamore, Pleckaitis, Kewin
Nesbitt, Lindsay, Ribeiro

Defensive pairings:
Grimaldi – Joslin
Cuma – Reid
Beard - Vojta

It wasn’t the outcome that we all hoped for but it certainly was entertaining at the end. The beginning was pretty rough but the guys kept at it and made a game out of an impending disaster.

The refereeing was much much looser than last week. I’m sure the Ranger fans will call foul as the specialty units of Ottawa made all the difference tonight but the refs also let alot go. It was our opinion that the Rangers tended to go in elbows-high and get away with it. But what goes around comes around and there was a price to pay eventually.

In the first period the 67s were outplayed, pure and simple. That they came out of the period down just a goal is a testament to the work of Brady Morrison and some good defensive play. They played most of the period in their defensive zone and couldn’t manage to get organized to launch a sustained attack on the Rangers. The Rangers scored their first goal against our third line three-quarters through the period when Yves Bastien managed to squeeze one under Morrison. Risk and Pepe were credited with the assists. The period ended with Kitchener with the lone goal and shots on goal 9 – 15 in favour of the other guys (thanks Brady for keeping us in the game).

The second period was not much different than the first. Ottawa started with a brief (20 second) power play but they just could not get organized. The passing was especially lousy. It didn’t take long for the strong play of Kitchener to take advantage of the weak play of Ottawa. Four minutes into the period Kitchener went up by 2 when Jakub Kindl caught Brady out of position on a rebound. Mike Duco and Justin Azevedo were the helpers. Then, at almost precisely the halfway mark of the period, Matt Halischuk, on a great heads-up play wrapped around the goal to beat Morrison. Mike Duco and and Justin Azevedo assisted on that one too. The hits were going up but Ottawa was still being out-skated, out-checked, and clearly outscored. It looked pretty grim. But…a ray of hope. Two and a half minutes after Kitchener’s third goal, Ottawa scored its first goal on the power play when Brett Liscomb, parked just outside the crease, received a nice pass from Jesse Biduke and beat goalie John Murray. The period ended with the Rangers up by 2 but the telling statistic is that Ottawa only managed 4 shots on goal in the period (and scored on one of them!!). In comparison, Kitchener had taken 17 shots on Brady (good work keeping us in the game buddy!!).

The third period – well this was just wild from a scoring perspective! It was happening so fast and furious that the official announcements were way way behind the play. And I think the official score sheet is wrong. From my record, all Ottawa points came on the PP (Kitchener’s PP unit was kept off the scoreboard all evening). OK - Ottawa came into the period down 3 – 1. They quickly came within 1 just 1:24 into the period when the crazy-8 line clicked. Just 20 seconds into a power play, Matt Lahey beat Murray with a little help from his friends McGinn and Couture. Twenty-one seconds later Kitchener re-established its two-goal lead when Justin Azevedo notched his third point of the night with help from Halischuk and Duco (anyone getting the feeling that this is a dangerous line??). The score at this point is Kitchener 4 – Ottawa 2. Kitchener then made it 5 – 2 at the 5:51 mark of the period on a Mike Duco goal when Grimaldi coughed up the puck in his own defensive zone. Then the wheels fell off for Kitchener. They managed to get themselves into a world of penalty trouble and Ottawa’s PP clicked in solidly. Follow closely, it is complicated. At 7:19 into the period, Adam Zamec was sent off for tripping. Then 24 seconds later Jakub Kindl was sent off for interference. This created a 5-on-3 advantage for Ottawa for 1:36. Before the first penalty expired, Brett Liscomb tipped in a Grimaldi shot from the point. Couture got the second assist. That retired the Zamec penalty. The score is 5 – 3 for Kitchener. We’re now playing 5 on 4. Matt Lahey made it 5 – 4 at 9:04 on the remaining power play!! Jamie McGinn and Brett Liscomb got the assists. Thirty-four seconds later, and before the official announcement was made, Kitchener made it 6 – 4 when Mike Duco scored with help from Yves Bastien and, yes you got it, Justin Azevedo. At 11:52 of the period, Kitchener’s Brian Soso was sent off for checking from behind quickly followed by a call 4 seconds later on Jakub Kindl for delay of game when he launched the puck over the glass from his defensive zone. The 67s were not to be denied. Killer pulled Morrison for the 6th attacker against 3 defenders. Jesse Biduke made it worth it when he scored on the first half of this penalty pair with assists from Matt Lahey and Joe Grimaldi. The score is now 6 – 5!! This retired the Soso penalty and still left Ottawa with a man advantage. Morrison was put back in goal. Logan cemented his impact of his return with a great feed to McGinn who tied the game up at 13:44 of the third period! Grimaldi got his third point of the night with an assist on this tying goal. That would make it 6 power play goals in the game. That’ll help the confidence (not to mention the stats!!).

Ottawa had a couple of great chances to put the game away but the game ended in a 6-all tie. Shots on goal at the end of regulation were 29 – 41 for Kitchener.

The overtime period was just wild exciting! Good thing the old ticker is pretty strong ‘cause it was running hard! Credit to Kitchener – they played most of the overtime period on the PK s they managed to get themselves two penalties in the period and still end the game in a tie. Ottawa had some great chances but just could not bury the puck. Final shots on goal 35 – 42.

So we went into the shoot out. Here’s how it played out:
Kit – Mike Halischuk - X
Ott – Logan Couture - X
Kit - Nick Spaling - score
Ott – Jesse Biduke - score
Kit – Victor Orekovich - score
Ott – Jamie McGinn X

Kitchener takes it in the shoot out – 6 – 7!

Three stars of the game:
1. Logan Couture (3 assists according to the score sheet but it may be wrong)
2. Justin Azevedo (Kitchener – goal and 3 assists)
3. Mike Duco (Kitchener – 2 goals and 2 assists)

Hardest working 67: Brett Liscomb.

Good work guys - see you Sunday.

Beached Whales! Ottawa Wins 3 – 2

The evening started with a couple of notable moments. The club played a nice video of Kilrea’s hockey career to acknowledge his 1,100th win last Sunday. The whole thing was pretty low key ‘cause I expect that that’s what he wanted. Then some guy (didn’t catch the name) presented Jamie McGinn and James Neal with jersey’s to acknowledge their selection to the OHL team in the Canada – Russia series. And finally Dennis Hull, a member of team Canada in the 1972 Canada - Russia series (as well as other teams but let’s face it – the 72 series was important!) was on hand for the ceremonial puck drop.

Another visit from a team from the far reaches of the league. It’s about 11 ½ hours from Plymouth Michigan to Ottawa and the Whalers were here to start a pretty tough weekend road trip. Ottawa tonight, Belleville tomorrow evening, Kingston Sunday afternoon and then back on the bus for a 9 hour trip home.

Plymouth was missing Jozef Sladok, John Armstrong and Zack Shepley tonight and dressed Brett Bellemore. Their big guns coming into the game were Evan Brophy (20 points), James Neal (19) and Dan Collins and Tom Sestito both with 11. As for the guys who get in the most trouble, they were Jared Boll (49 PIMS), Chris Terry (24) and Ryan McGinnis (22). Plymouth had the second best penalty kill on the road in the league having allowed only 10 goals on 73 shots on net. As for their power play on the road, Plymouth ranked 20th in the league having scored 7 goals on 64 advantages. And by my reckoning they were about 7th overall in the number of PIMS.

We were still missing Couture and Ribeiro(given another week to recover), Beard and Daley. Our top point getters were Jesse Biduke, Arron Alphonso and Jamie McGinn all with 14 points. PIM leaders for Ottawa: Joe Grimaldi (37), Jakub Voyta (24), Derek Joslin and Elgin Reid both with 19. Ottawa had the 4th best PK at home in the league having allowed 6 goals on 46 shots. Our PP at home was 13th in the league having scored 9 goals in 49 advantages. The 67s had the least PIMS in the league going into tonight’s game.

Lines for tonight – well this was pretty meaningless given that there was probably about 6 minutes of 5 on 5 play tonight. But, for brief moments, the lines might have looked something like:

Lahey, Liscomb, McGinn
Alphonso, Kiriakou, Biduke
Jukosky, Pleckaitis, Kewin
Nesbitt, Lindsay, Gallea

Defensive pairings:
Gimaldi – Joslin
Cuma – Reid
Ryan - Vojta

Well, it certainly wasn’t pretty but it’s still 2 points. Referee David Gauthier started as he meant to go on and called the first penalty of the game a scant 22 seconds into the game. The game sheet notes that it went to Grimaldi but for some reason my memory wants to suggest it was Alphonso. En tout cas, (anyways) the 67s were on the penalty kill early. They did a pretty good job – registering 2 shots on goal to Plymouth’s one shot on goal. Then, with the man advantage, Elgin Reid put Ottawa on the board with his second goal of the season with a one-timer from the point that went through the 5-hole on Plymouth goalie Jeremy Smith. Shea Kewin and Joe Pleckaitis got the assists on that one. Then the penalty parade started in earnest. Plymouth isn’t near the top of the league in PKs for nothin’. Ottawa had a couple of 5-on-3 advantages in the first period but were unable to bury their shots. Their goalie also made some great saves. Did I mention that he’s a rookie? If he keeps this up (he is the 4th ranked goalie in the league), he’s gonna do really well.

At about the half-way mark, Plymouth tied it up on a short handed goal when Brady Morrison played the puck into the corner but there weren’t any 67s there (a line change??). Plymouth’s James Neal was there to get it by Morrison with the assistance of Evan Brophy. That didn’t last long. A mere 14 seconds later, Jamie McGinn scored his 9th goal of the season and the game’s only even-strength goal when he beat Smith over his shoulder on the short side with a shot from the edge of the right face-off circle.

At about 3-quarters through the period, Shea Kewin took a mighty exception to how a Plymouth player (Ryan McGinnis??) treated Joe Pleckaitis and wasted no time in expressing just how vexed he was. No dancing, no posturing, just wham bam and suddenly both are on the ice. Hard to call it but I would give it to Kewin just for the surprise element. They were both sent off for fighting but Kewin earned a 10-minute misconduct for instigating the whole darn thing. On the up side – message sent. The period ended with Ottawa up by 1, ahead on shots on goal (12 – 7) and on the PK (Biduke off for hooking)

The second period was just plain weird. Plymouth could do no right (10 power plays given to Ottawa!) and Ottawa couldn’t do a darn thing with all the advantages. There were, what, at least three 5 on 3 opportunities for Ottawa. Do ya think they could score on, oh I don’t know, maybe ONE OF THEM! Didn’t happen. Who do they think they are – the Ottawa Senators! Between the excellent penalty killing of Plymouth and the outstanding goal tending of Smith (were there any rebounds??), it just didn’t happen for the barberpoles. I actually think that the PK units were getting tired! Neither team scored in the second. Shots on goal after 2: 27 – 10 for Ottawa.

The third period started with 4-on-4 but I was secretly wondering when Plymouth was going to tie it up. It just seemed like they had a tad of the momentum. Oh me of little faith – just 1:14 into the period, Brett Liscomb, on a great demonstration of individual effort, on a PK, picked up the puck in the neutral zone, drove for the net and pushed it under Smith for what turned out to be the game-winning goal! Jamie McGinn got the assist. The rest of the period saw Ottawa on the receiving end of the ref’s attention with 8 penalties (resulting in 7 PP opportunities for the Whalers). Plymouth was finally able to score on the PP but they needed the un-credited assist of an Ottawa player (went off an Ottawa stick).

Plymouth tried to make a game of it right to the end, pulling Smith with 1:06 to go but it was not to be.

Ottawa won the game 3 – 2. Final shots on goal 34 – 20. Well done gentlemen. It's looking good!

Three stars of the game:

1. Jamie McGinn (goal and an assist)
2. Jeremy Smith (Plymouth goalie with 31 saves – kept the team in the game!)
3. Joe Grimaldi (just a whole lotta really good defensive work – good job!)

Hardest working 67: Thomas Kirakou

The team gets a week’s rest and time to prepare for Kitchener next Friday.

See ya next week.

Soo Long and Thanks for the 1,100th Win for Kilrea!

A 4 – 1 win today over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds nets Brian Kilrea his 1,100th career win – the most in junior hockey!! Now that’s a career!! Congratulations Coach and congratulations team. It was a good win. The coaching staff from the Greyhounds crossed the ice at the end of the game to offer their congratulations – nice touch. Elgin Reid handed Coach the puck as he and his team mates congratulated him. In this business, you gotta be doing something right to hit such a milestone.

According to Google Maps, it’s about 13 1/2 hours from Ottawa to Sault Ste. Marie (SSM). Even with a win, that’s a long way to go. Having lost their last two on the road, I think that must be the longest road trip in the league.

Ottawa scratches for the game: Couture, Ribeiro, Daley, Beard and Kiriakou. Didn’t get the official report on Kiriakou but he was pretty sore from a blocked shot on Friday late in the second period. He played the third period but it looked like it still hurt so my guess is that it was still pretty sore and/or he couldn’t get his skate on. The Greyhounds were without Payton Liske, Brett Halstead and Jacob Lalonde. Matt Hasche started in goal.

SSM has played two more games than Ottawa and sits in 7th place in the west coming into this afternoon’s game with a record of 7 wins, 6 losses and 2 shoot-out losses. Ottawa is in 9th place in the east with a record of 5 wins and 8 losses.

Their top 3 scorers are Dustin Jeffery (24 points), Cody Thornton (18) and Josh Godfrey (15). Their big sinners are Brad Good (who must be a tad bad) with 37 PIMS, Brandon Biggers (32) and Tyler Cuthbert (32).

For Ottawa, our top three guns, relatively speaking, are Jamie McGinn (14), Jesse Biduke (12) and Arron Alphonso (11). On the sin-bin side we have Joe Grimaldi (35), Jakub Vojta (24) and Elgin Reid (19).

Lines for tonight:
Lahey, Liscomb, McGinn
Alphonso, Kewin, Biduke
Pleckaitis, Jukosky, Gallea
Nesbitt, Lindsay, and cameo appearances by other forwards – sometimes McGinn, sometimes Biduke, sometimes ??

Defensive pairings:
Gimaldi – Joslin
Cuma – Reid
Ryan - Vojta

This was certainly one of the better games played by Ottawa. And it was certainly a blue-collar type game to me. Nothing fancy, lots of penalties handed out (23), lots of hard work, good hits, some fast up and down the ice, good saves and a fight (more on that later).

The first period was dominated by penalties (7 handed out – 3 to Ottawa and 4 to SSM) so the specialty teams were spending most of the time on the ice (PK and PP units). The defensive play seriously limited the scoring opportunities on both sides; shots on goal at the end of the period were 6 – 7 for Ottawa. Ottawa finally drew first blood at about the halfway mark while on a 5-on-three powerplay. Joe Grimaldi notched his first of the season I believe with a shot from the left face-off circle that went in high and hit the back cross-bar for the score. Joslin and Liscomb got the assists. They were unable to score on the back half of that penalty pairing. The period ended with Ottawa ahead with the lone goal.

Ottawa started the second period with a brief powerplay but were unable to convert. The Soo did a pretty good job of keeping Ottawa to the outside to really reduce the dangerous shots on goal. Jamie McGinn had a breakaway early in the period but was unable to get around the defender. Then the Soo had a great breakaway (didn’t get the number) but Morrison made a great save! The Soo had a 31 second 5-on-3 opportunity and Cuma got the vote of confidence to be part of the defensive squad (with Grimaldi and Liscomb). They did what they were supposed to do and killed the penalty. Another penalty riddled period with 4 each side. When Shea Kewin was doing a time-out for boarding a Soo player, the team displayed some really excellent second effort to kill the penalty. Among the efforts was Kyle Jukosky getting the puck into the Soo defensive zone and keeping it on the boards to kill time in the penalty. The 67s finally scored on a powerplay with 33 seconds left in the period when Shea Kewin was left all alone in front of the Soo goalie where he buried the puck behind Hache. Biduke and Alphonso got assists. The period ended with Ottawa up by two, a goal late in the period and shots on goal even at 14.

Nothing like carrying on from where you left off. A great individual effort by Aaron Alphonso (is this the same guy from last year?!) resulted in an odd, yet perfectly countable goal. Aaron managed to muscle around Michel Quesnele and although he actually fanned on the puck, it slid under the pads of Matt Hache to put Ottawa up by 3 just 32 seconds into the third frame. That’s one that Hache would dearly love to have back. Then, about a minute and a half into the game, Matt Lahey droped the gloves to have a go at Tyler Cuthbert. None of us could figure out what that was all about but Matt certainly held his own and got the take-down. Both were sent off to consider the consequences of their actions. Cuthbert left the ice temporarily (presumably for repairs). The speed really picked up and there were tons of turn-overs on both sides.

Again, we saw some terrific second efforts from the Ottawa squad on the penalty kills. Morrison made a couple of great saves, smothering the puck and not allowing the rebound, Liscomb making a stretch that is rather remarkable for someone his size to poke the puck across the blue line. All the stuff you really like to see – like they really cared about the play around them. To the Greyhound’s credit, they did a remarkable job keeping play to the outside and reducing good scoring chances. Killer gave his 16 year olds a lot of ice time and they used it wisely. Morrison’s potential shutout was lost with just 2:12 left in the game when the Soo finally scored on the power play when Jacob Muzzin scored one from the point. The Greyhounds tried to make a game of it and pulled their goalie late in the period but the Soo could not contain the 67s. Shea Kewin got an empty netter with 47 seconds left to play. It wasn’t announced by Alphonso got credited with the assist on the official score sheet. Final shots on goal: 26 - 22 for Ottawa.

So the team put in a really good effort tonight. Certainly no one to criticize. Everyone worked hard. You sure do have to like what we have in the young guys. Cuma is really showing what a good defenseman he is and what he could be in the future. Great draft!! Killer is showing his confidence in these kids with the ice time they are getting and the situations he is putting them in (PK/PP). I am really looking forward to the day we have a full, healthy squad.

Three stars of the game:

1. Brady Morrison (21 saves on 22 shots)
2. Aaron Alphonso (goal and two assists)
3. Jacob Muzzin (SSM 1 goal)

Hardest working 67: Shea Kewin

Have a fun and safe Halloween everyone!

Bulled-over!

This was the second game of a home and home series with Belleville having won the first one on home ice on Wednesday with a score of 4 – 3. The boys are trying to get Killer his 1100th win as a coach but weren’t able to do it on the road.

Ottawa scratches for the game: Couture, Ribeiro, Liscomb (injured from a slash in Wednesday’s game), Daley (?) and Beard (shoulder). The good news is that Couture and Ribeiro have started skating with the team again and should be playing by next weekend. Belleville was missing Andrew Self (serving a 2 game suspension), Erik Caladi and Kevin Lalande.

Belleville was in second place in the conference coming into this game having won 6 or their last 10 games. Ottawa stood at 8th place with an even split of their last 10.

I kinda lost track of the third and fourth lines but the first two were:
Biduke – Kiriakou – Alphonso
Lahey – Kewin – McGinn
And did my eyes deceive me? Did I see Jamie McGinn playing defense on the fourth line a couple of times? Or did he just get caught out there? That, or I have to get these old eyes rechecked.

I’m gonna apologize right now for the low quality of this blog. I’m just not inspired to write tonight. Not from the game – I actually enjoyed the game (except for the losing part) - just sorta pooped. In addition to having a fairly time consuming job, we were at the Sens game last night (woo hoo! lovin' every minute of it. Gonna claim my pizza tomorrow!)

We have a difference of opinion in our household on the game tonight. I thought that for much of the game, especially in the first period (which ended in a no-score tie) Ottawa played really well – taking the game to Belleville. After the first 6 minutes of play, Ottawa was ahead on shots on goal 8 – 2. They worked the boards hard, came up with the puck often and created opportunities. But they did have the odd defensive brain cramp that Belleville was only too happy to pounce on. Belleville has been picked by Hockey News to take the O this year (to the extent that it is a trade rag to be taken seriously). So it would be expected that they should be reasonably good. And Ottawa played without a few key players so all in all, I thought it was a good effort. The spousal unit, however, thought that the 67s were outplayed from the get-go.

The first period saw 7 penalties (3 for Ottawa and 4 for Belleville) but neither team could convert. Actually, Ottawa got itself into a bit of a penalty hole, very briefly in a 5-on-3 situation but the managed to get out very nicely.

The second period saw the most scoring for the night with Belleville getting on the board first early in the period when Subban took a pass from the corner and got a one-timer from the slot past Flueler. This was quickly followed up with another Belleville goal when Ottawa was caught on a 4-on-2 play. A nice 3-way passing play left Flueler wide open and they scored the second goal.

Then the gal next to me, Jessie, put her Battochio jersey on and the tide turned (if ever so briefly). Jessie Biduke was driving for the net and was in the very right spot at the very right moment to pick up a rebound from Alphonso’s blistering shot on Murphy (the Belleville starting goalie). Biduke sent it upstairs for Ottawa’s first goal. Kiriakou got the other assist on that goal. Then, only 11 seconds later, it was Alphonso again setting up Kiriakou this time who buried it past Murphy to tie it up! Biduke got the assist on that one. Now we’re cookin’! Or so we think. Belleville responds on the powerplay with Voyta off for the second time in the evening. Ottawa stopped minding the front of the net and Matt Beleskey was left all alone to accept a nice pass from behind the net and snap it past Lukas. He didn’t stand a chance. And then Belleville repeated that trick with about 2 and a half minutes left in the frame but this time it was Tyler Donati parked all alone in front of poor Lukas. On the up side, there were some great plays by 67s players. Tyler Cuma played hard, and Elgin Reid had some great defensive recoveries to break up scoring chances by Belleville.

The third period started with Belleville up by two and having scored relatively late in the previous frame. Also, Kiriakou went down hard on a blocked shot late in the period while killing a penalty. He looked like he was in a lot of pain but when they didn’t take him directly to the dressing room (only a couple of minute left in the second period) I was reassured that it probably stung really badly but wasn’t fatal. Anyhoo, it seemed like Ottawa lost some of its steam, especially when Belleville scored its fifth goal. Alphonso was off for tripping early in the period and John Hughes was able to convert the man advantage. Jesse removed her jersey at this point (no longer being a lucky charm obviously). But just over the halfway mark, Ottawa decided that they might make a game of it and started applying some pressure. Jesse Biduke scored his second of the night at the end of a very odd shift where everything that both teams did looked entirely broken. But a goal it was and rookies Cody Lindsay and Thomas Nesbitt helped. Then, with 1:15 left in the game, Matt Lahey got Ottawa within 1. McGinn and Kewin assisted. Despite Ottawa’s efforts, they were unable to get the play into the Belleville zone for what seemed like an eternity. They were finally able to pull Flueler but it was too late.

So the game ended with Belleville winning 5 – 4. Final shots on goal were 31 to 32 in Belleville’s favour.

I thought that Reid had a pretty good game, making some really good defensive plays to break up scoring chances of Belleville. Gotta love Cuma! Gotta wonder about Grimaldi (-3 for the night). Joslin also got a -3 for the night but I think that had more to do with the unfortunate pairing with Joe. Ottawa spread its 6 penalties across the three periods while Belleville managed to avoid the attention of the ref after the first period (no penalties in the second or third). Hmmm.

Three stars of the game:

Tyler Donati (Belleville goal and 2 assists)
Jesse Biduke (2 goals and an assist)
Matt Beleskey (Belleville goal and 2 assists)

Hardest working 67: Thomas Kiriakou

G’night. See you Sunday.

A Different Crazy 8

8 goals from 7 different players. Now that’s production!

Ottawa scratches for the game: Couture (sick), Ribeiro (sick), Alphonso (precautionary) and Gallea (healthy). New guy Kyle Jukosky played (wearing number 10). Kingston scratches were Kevin Mole, Nathan Moon, Luke Pither and Kevin Opsahl. Opsahl is one of Kingston’s goalies and today they started Jason Guy.

I kinda lost track of the lines but they were something along the lines of (no pun intended):

Liscomb, Kiriakou and Daley
McGinn, Kewin and Lahey
Ryan, Biduke and Nesbitt
Jukosky, Pleckaitis, and Lindsay

Although I noted other variations on these themes throughout the game. It’s safe to say that all the skaters got decent ice time.

Defensive pairings were: Reid-Cuma; Joslin-Grimaldi; Beard-Voyta

Morrison played in net and stayed the whole game.

The first period was pretty energetic by both team but also pretty sloppy. Kingston drew first blood just over 1 minute into the period on an odd-man rush. It was initially broken up but Bobby Hughes still managed to put it over Morrison’s shoulder for his 8th goal of the season. A minute and a half later Ottawa squared it up on the power play when Thomas Kiriakou got it past Jason Guy. Elgin Reid and Brett Liscomb got the assists. Then just past the halfway mark, Ottawa went ahead on another power play goal this time from Jamie McGinn with assists from Joslin and Lahey. There was a delayed penalty against Kingston so the previous penalty to Wallingford was retired but Bobby Hughes, the Caroline Hurricanes prospect, got nabbed for holding so Ottawa was back on the power play. About 30 seconds into the PP Kingston’s Micheal Kolarz scored a short handed goal. (Arrg!!) Morrison stopped the initial shot but was beat on the rebound. Ottawa kinda lost their stride and organization after the goal and were unable to covert on the remaining pp. Kinston went ahead with just over 4 minutes to go when Peder Skinner took a nice pass across the crease to beat Brady. At the end of the first period it was 2 – 3 for Kingston with shots on goal 14 – 12 in Ottawa’s favour. Neither of the two goalies looked too confident or solid in this frame.

Joining us in our section tonight was a visitor from Mexico – Jorge (pronounced horhay). He had never been to a hockey game before. His host (the guy who sits next to me) explained the basics and then Jorge watched. I asked him for his impressions and he said it was pretty fun and the guys looked pretty strong. We sit close to the ice so you get a decent feel for the speed and the hits.

Both teams had scoring chances very early in the period but somehow the guys were fanning on the pucks all the time. The official score sheet is missing this goal but Kyle Jukosky tied the game up when Jesse Biduke fired one on Guy and Sean Ryan was able to feed the rebound to Kyle for his first goal as a 67. I believe this puts him halfway to meeting his production for last year. This is good. Cody Lindsay then put Ottawa ahead with first OHL with assists from Pleckaitis and Reid. This seemed to put Kingston on their heels and their quality of play deteriorated. Ottawa went up by two 4 minute later when Jakub Voyta found the back of the net with a bullet from the point. Lindsay and Nesbitt got the assists. Then Kingston got into a bit of penalty trouble, especially for Justin Wallingford who earned his second and third penalties of the night when he tried to rough up McGinn. He was called for slashing and checking to the head and had to cool his heels for 4 minutes. As Adam Nemeth was already off for interference Ottawa had a 31 second 5 on 3 advantage that they couldn’t convert. Ottawa then went up by three when Joe Pleckaitis scored his first goal with the 67s and Ottawa’s fourth unanswered goal on the power play with 1:45 to go in the period on a nice set up by Gimaldi off a rebounding shot from Biduke. He quickly scooped up the puck. The period ended with Ottawa up by three (6 – 3) and well ahead of Kingston for shots on goal (27 – 17).

The score sheet has a few errors that need to be corrected. According to my notes, Ottawa started the third period on the penalty kill. I think Nesbitt was serving time for an offense committed late it the 2nd period. Ottawa was playing sloppy – perhaps a tad overconfident with a 3-goal lead. A Kingston player was able to walk right into Morrison. Luckily Brady was able to make the short side save. They got away briefly with poor defensive play but Kingston was able to score a minute and a half into the period. The goal light didn’t come on and the ref didn’t call it but on review it was quickly confirmed. This seemed to get the 67s back into the game. There were lots of scoring chances by both teams but the puck got into the skates of the players or it was fanned by the player or the players got in too deep to make the goal. Elgin Reid had a really nice unassisted goal to restore the 3-goal lead with a nifty backhand over Guy’s shoulder from the slot. Finally, McGinn iced the cake with a short handed empty netter with just over a minute left to play. Grimaldi was off for getting too affectionate and Kingston pulled their goalie. McGinn missed the first chance but Kiriakou helped him out to get the goal.

Final score: 8 – 4 for Ottawa with SOG of 43 – 29 for Ottawa.

Ottawa held Kingston off the score sheet on 7 power plays and finally got off the schneid with their own power play – scoring three power play goals. It was disappointing to have ANOTHER short handed goal scored against them but at least it didn’t cost them the game nor did it seem to set them off their game. The new guy isn’t big but he’s fast and punches above his weight class. Killer gave him a ton of ice time for his first game and had him out on PKs and PPs. He seemed to win his fair share of face offs and throw his weight around. A good addition to the team. As usual, the new kids did a grand job out there. All in all the team put in a fine effort with good results and that’s without Couture, Alphonso and Ribeiro. Imagine when the team is healthy and at full strength. Can hardly wait.

Three stars of the game:

Cody Lindsay
Joe Pleckaitis
Elgin Reid

Hardest working 67: Thomas Kiriakou (although there were many to choose from)

Well done team – now on to Barrie and Oshawa! Have a great road trip.

Wasn’t Much of a Storm After All

Now this was a good game. But to be fair, Guelph was playing their third game on the road having beaten Kingston on Friday, lost to Belleville on Saturday evening and now playing Sunday afternoon in Ottawa. That’s got to be tiring. But that’s how the schedule unfolds.

Ottawa scratches for the game: Couture, Ribeiro, and Ryan. For Guelph, I only noted on scratch – Anthony Nigro.

Other items of note – Lukas Flueler’s parents were in town from Switzerland to see their boy play. Gotta wonder what they think of Major Junior hockey in Canada. Imagine sending your young lad across the pond to a strange land to be cared for by strangers in the name of hockey. I have to think that it’s a scary prospect for parents.

Coming into the game Ottawa had the second stingiest penalty kill at home in the league while Guelph had the 11th best road power play. Guelph has also played 3 more games than Ottawa.

The Ottawa lines were basically:

McGinn, Kewin, and Lahey
Alphonso, Liscomb and Daley
Nesbitt, Lindsay, and Biduke
Gallea, Kiriakou, and Pleckaitis

I didn’t note all the defensive pairings (sorry).

Ottawa started like they meant business. Flueler stopped his first shot on goal (always a good thing). Then they got down to business. Before the first minute of play was up, new acquisition Jesse Biduke picked up a juicy rebound off Cuma’s shot and put Ottawa on the board at :54 into the period. Liscomb got the assist (noted much later in the game but not recorded on the score sheet). Just to put an exclamation point on it, 16 seconds later, rookie Thomas Nesbitt got credit for a goal that bounced in off his skate in the crease. Biduke and Lindsay got assists on that one. So, at 1:11 into the game, Ottawa was already up by two. And the home fans are some happy!

The boys did not sit back on this early success at all. They kept driving the net, getting the big jumps and winning face-offs. Some great scoring chances too! One of them was a great steal by Pat Daley who centred it out of the corner to Alphonso. The Guelph goalie, Jason Guy had to make a good save on that one.

At our end, the puck-luck was with us. There was a tremendous scramble in front of our net. We sit down low to the ice closer to the visitors’ defending net in the first and third periods so it’s hard to see what exactly is happening in front of our net in the first and third periods but it sure looked like pandemonium for this flurry of activity. Somehow Lukas and the team managed to keep Guelph from scoring.

At the 14:17 mark of the period, Brett Liscomb put Ottawa up by three with a beautiful display of patience and finesse. He had the puck breaking in on the goalie and slowed down enough to make Guy commit then he nicely backhanded it from the slot. Nice! Alphonso and Reid got the assists.

It was the best 20 minutes of play from our team that I’ve seen in a long time. Feet were moving, passes were crisp, ice-sense of each other seemed good and they were aggressive. It was great to watch!

After 20 the shots on goal were 16 – 8 for Ottawa.

I took fewer notes from here on in as it was just so much fun to watch. My memory is crappy without notes so my apologies if the following is not too detailed.

I did note that, while not rolling 4 lines all the time in sequence, all 4 lines did get ice time. Guelph started to pick up their game a tad and managed to match Ottawa’s shots on goal but it seemed to me that the Ottawa defenders were doing a pretty good job of forcing the Guelph attackers to the outside and leaving them with pretty lousy shots that Lukas could easily stop. He gave out some juicy rebounds (gotta work on that) but they seemed to land on the sticks of Ottawa players more often than not (that puck-luck thing). The referee seemed to let up on his calls against Guelph perhaps in the interest of making a game of it. Alphonso got a really bad elbow in the chops right in front of us and not all that far from the ref who seemed to miss the event entirely. This, of course, encouraged me and others to remind the ref that the game is actually at least 60 minutes and he should call the entire game or buy a ticket to watch what he won’t call. The ref seemed particularly indifferent to what the Guelph players were doing with their elbows but perhaps that’s a homer’s view.

Anyways, at 5:31 into the period, Aaron Alphonso, that guy who’s coming out of nowhere this year to floor us with his play, makes it 4 – 0 when he followed his own rebound to get it past the Guelph goalie. Reid and Liscomb get the assists. At the very end of the period, Jamie McGinn gave a Guelph player a gentle nudge in the chops with his elbow. It all looked rather friendly among the guys sorta thing but the ref thought otherwise (despite having missed all sorts of blatant shots earlier in the period). Up went the arm. Guelph’s Leigh Salters (second in PIMS for Guelph) thought it wasn’t so friendly and got right into Jamie’s face about it (had to crouch a bit for it but was in Jamie’s face none the less). Jamie didn’t back down an inch and was almost itching for Salters to drop the gloves. Salters didn’t bite and was finally pulled away by his sweater. I’d give it to Jamie for the stare-down and attitude. He grinned through the whole thing. Couldn't make out what he was saying but I'm pretty sure it wasn't about the weather.

The second period ended with Ottawa still leading shots on goal 25 – 20.

The third period wasn’t the best for Ottawa for discipline. They had to kill McGinn’s penalty and then Joe Gimaldi got three of the four penalties in the third with the fourth being a bench minor for too many men on the ice. At about the halfway mark with Joe off for two two minute minors (cross checking and roughing), Guelph pulled their goalie for the sixth man! Ottawa got possession and was setting up for a goal (Alphonso I believe) when Guelph’s little Rotter (yes that’s the player’s name) broke up the chance. There was a lot of scrambling in Guelph’s zone as the goalie could not get back on the ice.

Having stumped Guelph’s powerplay 7 times, Guelph finally beat Lukas late in the third period. Oh well. For the record, Grimaldi didn’t make it back on the ice. On a funnier note, two Guelph players checked each other in the Guelph defensive zone. It really wasn’t a good day for the Storm.

So, the boys finally put together a great game that was really entertaining at home. Lots to feel good about. On a down note, Alphonso seemed to hurt his wrist – perhaps a break which will be really bad for the team as they really need his energy and fire power.

Points came today from the 2nd and 3rd lines. Kiriakou played a lot on the penalty kill – he does really well on the face-off. And our new additions, rookies and Jesse, are doing really well. Gonna be an exciting couple of years.

Final Score: 4 -1 Ottawa with shots on goal 34-35 for Guelph.

Three stars of the game:

Aaron Alphonso (goal and assist)
Lukas Flueler (34 saves and first OHL win)
Jesse Biduke (goal and assist)

Hardest working 67: Brett Liscomb

Ciao folks!

Friday the 13th and Bad Spirits

Well, that depends which team you’re cheering for. Hi all. Sorry for being late. This will be quick.

Well, Friday was the first home game this year for me – I missed the first two while I was out west for the weekend. I didn’t have a chance to get into game mode for this one but my understanding is that Saginaw is picked by Hockey News to win the west.

Just before game time we heard that Logan Couture would be out for at least 3 – 4 weeks with mono. Ribeiro is still getting over it. Guys – stop sharing whatever it is that you’re sharing. That stuff is contagious and nasty! Poor Logan is having a rough year in his draft year. Also scratched was Sean Ryan who is still out with an injured shoulder.

Saginaw showed why they are a top pick. They skated fast, passed well and made it hard for the 67s to get organized. The Spirit opened their scoring when Jan Murzak was got one through the legs of Brady Morrison on an odd man rush. Then, in the last minute of play, down two men, Saginaw’s Tom Pyatt got past Elgin Reid, skated in on Morrison and scored a 2-man short handed goal to make it 2-0 by the end of the first period. A lot of penalties were called in the first – 6 for each team but neither team could convert the advantage (unless you count Saginaw converting on 2-men down – sheesh). On the up side, Jamie McGinn was working hard and hitting everyone in sight. Ottawa had a couple of good chances but generally it seemed that they couldn’t organize and their communication was off. Shots at the end of the first 7 – 11 for Saginaw.

Ottawa started the second period with still time left on the 5 on 3 powerplay but they only managed 3 shots on goal. Before the three minute mark was reached, Tyler Haskins was allowed to walk in from the wall unaccosted and flip a backhand over Morrison’s shoulder. I don’t think Brady even saw it coming. That made it 3 – 0. Our defense was playing pretty lousy and Saginaw was having their way with them. At the 5:49 mark, Saginaw made it 4 – 0 when Jack Combs beat Brady. This was not looking good. Shea Kewin finally got Ottawa on the score board on a power play just over halfway through when he caught his own rebound and finally got one past Daniels. Grimaldi and Joslin assisted on the goal. Saginaw came back and restored their 3-goal lead two minutes later when Tomas Zaborsky bounced one in off Cuma. At the 16:31 mark, Jan Murzak of Saginaw laid a mean hit from behind on Liscomb near the boards. Brett was down for a while and I must say I was worried. He finally got up with the help of the trainer and kind of wobbled over to the bench. We didn’t see him for the rest of the period. In the ensuing powerplay, it was Kewin again on the powerplay getting a garbage goal – but a goal none the less. Assists went to Joslin and Lahey. I got my hat-trick hat ready for the third goal. Brady made a number of good saves but the team was not playing all that well in front of him. Shots on goal after two – 19 – 24 for Saginaw with the score 2 – 5 for Saginaw.

Lukas Flueler started in goal for the third period and Brett Liscomb was back – with a vengeance. Saginaw was showing some discipline breakdown as Matt Corrente was trying to go after Alphonso for some offense – real or imagined. This distraction allowed Brett to pick up the puck in Saginaw’s zone and get it past Daniels from the slot. Biduke got the assist on that one. And that’s all there would be for scoring for the game. Ottawa had a couple of good chances but they just could not bury them. They were simply outskilled by Saginaw. Flueler had a good period stopping all 8 shots that he faced – a couple of them big saves. The final shots on goal were 33 – 32 but the stats that count – 3 – 5 for Saginaw.

Three stars of the game:

Tim Pyatt (Saginaw goal and an assist)
Shea Kewin (Ottawa – 2 goals)
Tomas Zaborsky (Saginaw goal and an assist)

Hardest working 67: Jamie McGinn - no rgument there.

Cid took a bunch of really good pictures and I'm sure they will be posted as soon as time permits.

Fear of Friday the 13th: paraskavedekatriaphobia (from the Greek παρασκευοδεκατριοφοβία)

Boo!

Stephen Colbert just mentioned Jamie McGinn!

I was just watching the Colbert Report and apparently Saginaw named their eagle mascot after Colbert's eagle -- The Colbeagle :D

Colbert was wearing a Saginaw jersey, he showed clips of the mascot's debut, and he talked about the upcoming game against Ottawa ... where he mentioned Jamie McGinn by name ... How cool is that?!

LOL

Hopefully Youtube will have a clip, but for now here's an older clip of Colbert's original request to name Saginaw's eagle mascot ... [link]

67s Bounce Back, 4-1 over Kingston

Sunday, October 1, 2006

The 67s looked much better on Sunday, beating Canada's second best junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs, 4-1. The Ottawa defence really stepped up, limiting the big line of Hughes, Emmerton and Stewart to only one goal at the end of a 5-on-3 PP. Emmerton was awarded the OHL Player of the Week for scoring 4 goals and 4 assists last week, including 2 goals and 3 assists in a game against Ottawa. Yesterday, Kingston's top line looked like they couldn't find each other with the passes. Right off the start of the game, they tried some passes to each other that didn't really connect, ending up with an icing call which led to the first Ottawa goal. The 'fronts looked like the were too high on themselves and didn't really feel like showing up. Stewart's got a ton of speed but he wasn't getting support from his linemates.

Ottawa's defence did a better job of taking away space from the rushing forwards and not backing off. And, when the opposition has one big scoring line, it makes sense to put your best two defencemen together to shut them down, which Joslin and Grimaldi did, handily. The defence also seemed to jump up into the play a lot -- guys like Grimaldi, Reid, even Vojta! They can do that because there are a lot of defensively-minded forwards that would go back to cover the back end -- guys like Couture, Kiriakou, McGinn. Communication looked better between the players.

Brady Morrison played great in net, well deserving of the 1st star honour. The Fronts seem to like to load up guys in front of Morrison and then try to get the shot through the traffic. I don't know how he saw some of those, but Morrison was there to make the save. Even if he didn't see it or it got tipped, he was in good position to stop the puck. He looked like a starting goaltender. It reminded me of the exhibition game I saw him play the second half of in Kingston a couple of weeks ago.


Kiriakou had a good game, digging the puck out of the corner with a fancy spin move and then feeding Vojta in front of the net on the second Ottawa goal (what the heck was Vojta doing in front of the net?) and then in the second period taking the feed from Alphonso and sliding it over for Biduke, who snuck it in the top corner behind Borden (how did Biduke find any room up there?). Kiriakou missed a penalty shot in the first period.


McGinn had two goals. He got the first one 19 seconds in when he poked the puck through the goalie's legs. His second was on the PP when he tipped a Joslin point shot. I was hoping for a 'trick. The crazy 8 line all looked good. Other guys that played well: Daley, Pleckaitis, Cuma, Alphonso, all the defencemen. . .basically it was a great team effort. Reid took on Stevens, who is 4 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier. Reid got thrown around a bit, but definitely got in more punches. Stevens was bloodied, Reid was unscathed.


There's a good quote from McGinn in the Ottawa Sun: "It's a little more relaxing in the (dressing) room now," McGinn said. "We were starting to get nervous before the games. We wanted to make sure we came out hard right from the get-go and it's good we got a goal right off the bat." More on the relief in the Ottawa dressing room here : Morrison out in Front. Another article on the game in the Kingston Whig Standard.

One complaint I have -- the music during stoppages in play was way too loud. I have no problem with the song selections, but this wasn't a rock concert. Louder is not necessarily better. If you want to complain, you can email the 67s using the feedback form on the 67s website at www.ottawa67s.com. It's a brand new site. Very professional, if a little busy. Another complaint I have is that there's a new 67s bulletin board that you have to register for, even to just read what others have posted. You can't just lurk anonymously anymore. I never do those "free registrations". If it's free, then why do I have to register? That's why I use www.bugmenot.com to bypass the "free registrations" on newspaper sites. The 67s bulletin board is dead to me now.

Ottawa loses to Peterborough 5-1

Friday, September 29, 2006

The 67s start the season 0-2, losing their home opener to the Petes. Before the game, Vince Malette was honoured for his nine years with the 67s before becoming head coach of the Petes this year. More on Vinny in the Peterborough Examiner here and here and in the Lindsay This Week here.


Ottawa had no answer for the Ryder/Downie duo. Ryder was in on all 5 Peterborough goals with 4 goals and an assist on Downie's goal.



Other than that, I thought the 67s didn't play too badly, really. They just couldn't finish their chances.


Liscomb was still out serving his suspension that carried over from last year's playoffs. Kewin didn't play and Ribiero is out with mono. Ribiero was replaced by Cuma on left wing. That kid's good, no matter where he plays.

Don Brennon's write up of the game here: Hot Ryder runs all over 67's and he also wrote about the 67s new Assistant Coach Tim Higgins (oops!).

I know that Kingston and Peterborough are both good offensive teams, but 14 Goals Against in two games is rather excessive. I really wonder whether either of our goalies will be able to claim the number one job this year. Maybe Flueler can develop into a number one goalie for next year. He looked really nervous in the net last night -- late reactions to shots and then overplaying it; difficulty holding onto the puck once he made the save or not knowing what to do with it.

Ottawa beats Kingston Again in Pre-Season

The Kingston Frontenacs were in town tonight for their second pre-season game with the 67s. You’ll recall from StatsGuy’s summary, Ottawa beat Kingston last Sunday.

Logan Couture played tonight but we were still without Joslin, McGinn, Grimaldi. Vojta has reported to the Carolina Hurricanes camp (he’s in Group B if anyone is following the camp). We noticed that Cuma didn’t hit the ice. Couldn’t see the bench well enough to see whether he had dressed. Elgin Reid was the captain for the game (foreshadowing an announcement perhaps??). As part of the 40/30 celebrations, the 67s will be bringing back past 67s players. Tonight’s guest was Sean Blanchard who played with the club from 94 to 98 and won the Max Kaminsky Trophy in 1997. This trophy is awarded each year to the most outstanding defenceman in the Ontario Hockey League. Here’s a link to Sean’s hockey profile: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=24077

First Period: The starting line up for tonight was: Sean Ryan and Elgin Reid on defense; Liscomb centre with Couture and Lahey. Flueler started between the pipes. Kilrea played 4 lines for this period: Kewin, Pleckaitis and Daley were on the second line; Kiriakou, Alphonso and Liscomb on the third line; and the rookies Ribeiro, Linsday and Nesbitt on the fourth.

Ottawa started out much better than they did last Friday and generally outplayed the Fronts for the first half although it was not outstanding hockey (it is preseason after all). The first shot on goal didn’t register until almost two minutes had passed. Kingston scored first with 12:27 left to play. The goal by Peter Stevens with assists from Shawn Connors and Robert Mignardi was on a big rebound off Flueler. Ottawa was starting to get sloppy in front of their own net at this point. Then Ottawa managed to get itself into a bit of penalty trouble, including giving Kingston a couple of 5-on-3 opportunities (although the first one was for only 12 seconds). They managed to stay out of trouble and then it was Kingston’s turn for a couple of penalties. Coach tried out the rookie line on the PP to see what they could do. It looks like a pretty good line that will just get a whole lot better. More about that later. With 2:41 left to play in the period, Ottawa evened it up. It seemed like Logan lost sight of the puck but managed to get his stick on it somehow to rate an assist. The puck got to Brett who skated across the goalie and got it past Scamerra with a soft backhand that he probably was not expecting. Alphonso was also credited with the assist. My handwriting is so bad I coulda been a doctor – my notes have some weird notations that might suggest that there was a correction on the assists with Alphonso and Kewin getting credit. I can’t remember.

At the end of the first period, the game was tied at 1 with SOGs also even at 14 (although Ottawa trailed significantly for a while).

Second Period: Ottawa started the period on the powerplay and it took just 44 seconds for the top line to take advantage. Logan made up for a missed net earlier in the period when he took a nice pass from across the crease and sent it to the back of the net. Reid and Beard got assists on that one. Just over 5 minutes later, Ottawa went up by two when Alphonso went right for the net and took a nice pass from Daley (or was it Kiriakou – couldn’t tell in the fog) and banged it past Scammura. While the rookie line didn’t see that much time in the first period, we began to see more of them in the second period. There were a few times when Coach put out 4 rookies (the forwards with Gallea) and one veteran defenseman. He also tried them again on the PP.

Flueler made a couple of really great saves when a Kingston player had a breakaway chance. Flueler stopped the shot but gave up a(nother) big rebound that another Front shot right back at him which he stopped too. That was probably the play of the game.

With 12:42 to play Kiriakou scored with assists from Gallea and Couture. It was pretty crowded and foggy so I really didn’t see how it happened. But it happened and that’s good enough for me. A short time later (about a minute and a half), Matt Lahey scored Ottawa’s second power play goal with assists from Liscomb and Couture.

Brodie Beard took a penalty with 6:56 to go and Kingston scored its second (and final) goal of the night when Fleuler was beat on a screened one-timer straight from the slot. Didn’t stand a chance. Then it was Ottawa’s turn to score on the PP. With 1 minute left to play, the rookies scored Ottawa’s 6th goal and 3rd power play goal of the night. Nesbitt was credited with the goal with assists from Ribeiro and Gallea.

The period ended with Ottawa ahead – 6 – 2 with shots on goal 28 – 24 for Ottawa.

Third Period: Ottawa started the period again on the PP. They didn’t play too well and allowed Kingston a short handed breakaway which didn’t score. With 13:02 left to play, the rookies struck again when Lindsay scored with help from Ribeiro and Nesbitt.

Final score: 7 – 2 with shots on goal 42 – 35 for Ottawa.

Thoughts: It was great to see Logan in uniform again. At first I thought that he might not see too much ice time just ease into the game but it seemed that he certainly saw enough time. With a shortened bench, Liscomb saw lots of time. We didn’t see Kewin back on the ice after the first period. I didn’t see any injury so perhaps….. The line of rookies is looking pretty good for a fourth line. Kilrea gave them lots of ice time for power plays and we saw some of them on the PK too. It will be really interesting to see them develop over the season. They will keep some of the second year players sharp and looking over their shoulders I think. Flueler looked calm in the net but he sure does give up some really juicy rebounds. Until he learns how to stop doing that the team is going to have to play really well to get to them before the opposition. Flueler played the entire game and speculation around me is that Morrison will get the call for the entire game on Sunday (against Belleville??). It was a significant improvement over last Friday’s game. The passing was better, the anticipation was better and there was a little more jump in my opinion. And the points came from a number of players tonight which is a good sign. All in all a pleasant Friday’s entertainment. Attendance was announced as 5672.

Ciao!

4-3 Ottawa @ Kingston, Sunday, Sept 10

Exhibition Game #2



I was driving home from the cottage today and figured since I'd be going through Kingston around 2:00 anyways, I should stop in and watch the 67s take on the Frontenacs. Thanks to OHL Arena Guide for directions to the rink and general info.

Parking was $2 and the general admission pre-season ticket price was $6. Attendance was good -- I'd say 50-60% of the Memorial Centre was filled. Walking in the front door, you take a couple steps in and you're standing in the Kingston player's bench. Weird. The trainer turned and gave me a dirty look so I figured I wasn't supposed to be there, but no, that's actually how you get to the stairs to get up into the stands. It's a small arena (compared to Ottawa) with about 10 rows of seats all the way around. I like the view from about 10 rows up, so I stood behind the seats on the upper concourse instead of sitting in the stands. Good view of the action from there.

I was late getting in, so I missed about half of the first period. I looked up at the scoreboard and was surprised to see that it was already 3-1! For the visitors! That was especially surprising because the 67s seemed to be very offensively challenged on Friday.

Ottawa's 1st three goals:
Lahey (Kiriakou, Alphonso)
Lahey (Kewin, Cuma)
Kiriakou (Lahey, Alphonso)

Flueler started in net for the 67s. He let in another goal to finish the period up 3-2. Flueler made the save, but it kind of bobbled around and bounced behind him, off his calf, and then trickled in the net. More bad luck than anything. The scorer was the same guy that scored the first Frontenac goal, but I can't remember who it was. Kingston tied it up in the second -- a nice tick, tack, toe passing play on the PP to the guy in the slot who slid it just inside the post. I don't think that one was really Flueler's fault either. I'd give Flueler just an 'average' rating for the night.

Midway through the second, Fleuler came out and Morrison went in. Morrison had a spectacular game! By the end of the game, the Fronts had over 50 shots on net, and Morrison faced most of them. He pulled off a shutout for his half of the game. I think he's going to be battling for that starting position. It should push both goalies to be better.



Kiriakou (from Reid and Vojta) scored the go-ahead goal on the PP. There was a scramble in front of the net and Kiriakou spun around and wristed the puck into the net. That would be it for goals. Ottawa wins the game 4-3. There were a ton of penalties called in the game. I think the refs were getting paid by the penalty. They were mostly even for both sides until the last half of the third period. Either Ottawa was trying to lose or the refs were trying to even the score because the 67s started a parade to the penalty box, including a couple of 5-on-3s. Morrison stood on his head and saved the game for them a few times. I'd give him the first star of the game.

The Ribiero-Lindsay-Nesbitt line impressed me again today. They've got energy and speed, and seem to 'click' already as a line, moreso than any of the other lines. If they keep improving, they may see more and more ice time and may even become the second scoring line we need! Lindsay is being groomed as Killer's #2 PK guy, after Kiriakou. Lindsay even got some 5-on-3 PK time. On another occasion, the 67s iced the puck on the PK, and Nesbitt went racing down the ice afer it. The Kingston goalie half-heartedly tried to play it behind the net but ended up just leaving it there, so Nesbitt got to it first and played it smartly out in front to Lindsay. Lindsay had an empty net to shoot at because the goalie was still trying to get back, but a Frontnac defenceman got in front of the shot and made the 'save'. Still, it was a great opportunity created by hard work. As the season wears on, they'll start capitalizing more on those opportunities. Veterans take note!

The Lahey-Kiriakou-Alphonso line played really well, notching all 4 of Ottawa's goals. Alphonso smacked a few guys around with some big hits, and knocked one of the Frontenac players into the Kingston bench. No real fights -- Liscomb and Kewin were involved in a 'tussle' in front of the 67s net and just got roughing penalties for it. Beard didn't play. I saw Jeff Hunt there with a bunch of kids in 67s jerseys.

Forward lines:
Lahey-Kiriakou-Alphonso
Liscomb-Daley-Kewin
Ribiero-Lindsay-Nesbitt
Never did see Pleckaitis (odd man out)???

Defence (can't really remember the pairings):
Reid-Vojta
Cuma-Ryan
Gallea

A New Season Begins!

Welcome back everyone. Hope you had a good summer. Mine was pretty busy – didn’t golf nearly as much as I had hoped to and far worse than I thought I should. We spent three weeks in Austria at the same time that the U-18 tournament was going on in the Czech Republic. We entertained thoughts of getting to a game or two but couldn’t get organized. Would have been fun.

Sid and StatsGuy invited me back to do the game summaries this year so, unless there is a strong flashback from the readership out there, I will try to take it on this year.

Tonight was the first pre-game of the season. I didn’t take any notes – need to get my ice-eyes back and get used to the new guys. So this summary is based entirely on my (not photographic) memory and a couple of fairly indecipherable notes scratched on the roster that was handed out at the game.

The Belleville Bulls came to town to help start the season. Good thing it was only a pre-season game. The good news is that there’s lots of room for improvement. The bad news is that some of the vets will need to do some of the more serious improving. Lotta rust out there.

Both teams had some of their strongest guys out of the line up for one reason or another. Most of the guys were guys away and NHL camps. Logan Couture did not dress tonight presumably to keep healing. For those of you who may not know, Logan was injured in preparation for the U-18 tourny. I couldn’t find an article directly about the injury but here’s a link that makes reference to it: [link]. Jamie McGinn didn’t dress nor did he go to the Shark’s camp. Apparently in Tuesday’s practice he had a collision with a line mate and ended up with a concussion. The doc said he couldn’t fly so he’s grounded here in Ottawa. Gotta feel for the kid – he must have been really looking forward to the NHL team camp. Derek Joslin is at the St. Jose camp. Jakub Vojta is a Carolina draftee but he played tonight. Perhaps their camp starts later. And Joe Grimaldi has gone to the Islander’s camp (not sure making this team would be a good thing!).

For the Bulls, we didn’t see Matt Belesky (Anaheim), Shawn Matthias (Detroit) nor Levin Lalande (Calgary). Or at least I don’t think we saw some of these guys. I didn’t do a roll call. I know for sure that Lalande didn’t hit the ice tonight.

Our starting lineup was Sean Ryan and Elgin Reid on D, Alphonso and Kewin as forwards and Liscomb at centre. Brady Morrison started in net.

Overall, Belleville outplayed Ottawa from pretty much start to finish. There were a few moments of promise from the barber poles but they were generally few and far apart. Well, perhaps the there were more of these moments in the third period but by then it was pretty much a done deal. It seemed that Belleville’s passing was better, their break out was better and they generally were seeing the ice better than our team. In the first period, Ottawa spent a lot of time in front of their own net and the few times they got out, they needed to dump the puck so they could do a line change. Don’t really score a lot that way.

I was hoping there would be a score sheet tonight so I didn’t take any notes but if memory serves me correctly Belleville scored an even handed goal, a short-handed goal and a powerplay goal all in the first period. The short handed goal was from a bad bad misplay by Elgin Reid on the point. He missed the pass and the Belleville player got the puck behind him and made the goal on Morrison.

Ottawa finally got on the score board in the second period when rookie Matt Ribeiro got one past the Bull’s rookie goalie Edward Pasquale. That would stand as the lone Ottawa goal for the night.

Half way through the second period and right after the goal, Coach sent in our new goalie Lukas Flueler. If you’ve been following any of the training camp threads on the 67s site you will know that he’s not a tiny lad. In fact he seems to fill the net quite nicely. He made a few good saves but finally the Bulls got one past him. It was a nice goal even if it was for the other guys.

The 67s had a whole lotta powerplay opportunities but they could not convert any of them. They even managed to squander a couple of 5-on-3 opportunities. Their PP was pretty lousy. Generally speaking, the 67s didn’t get caught making too many infractions but of those that they made, Shea Kewin was the leading offender with at least three if I recall correctly.

The team did seem to play better in front of their net which is good. But it would be better if they didn’t spend so much time in front of their own net. Elgin Reid did not have a good night at all. Killer was noted saying that they will have to depend on their defense while the forward lines mature. If one were to judge solely from tonight’s game, we will really need to count on our goalies. And our crazy-8s line. Yikes!

The rookies did pretty well by my reckoning. I thought Mike Ribeiro had a good night. Tyler Cuma looked pretty raw but seemed to keep his feet moving. I was less impressed with many of our more senior returnees.

It was announced that attendance was 4250. The arena looked reasonably occupied for the first pre-season game of the year that fell on a rather nice day (sever thunderstorm notwithstanding). We’re all working out the kinks of getting back into hockey mode and we can all look forward to improvements to our team and our own participation as fans.

There’s another home pre-season game next Friday, the ticket pickup for season ticket holders on the 25th and the home game opener on the 29th. Thus begins this year’s dream (hallucination??) for junior hockey greatness. Hope you stick with us and the team for the ride!

Cheers!