Round One: 67's Re-Take Series Lead (3-2) with 5-2 Win

By Alex Quevillon

Shane Prince notched a hat-trick and the 67’s finally put in a truly convincing effort, handing the Belleville Bulls a 5-2 loss and taking a 3-2 series lead after a pivotal Game 5 on home ice. They have a chance to close out the series on Monday night in Belleville.

Round One: Bulls Get Back In The Series

On the strength of two overtime goals from Jordan Mayer and Brady Austin, the Belleville Bulls are back in this series after earning a pair of 4-3 OT wins on their home ice. Mayer snapped home his first of the playoffs just 14 seconds into game 3 while Austin beat Petr Mrazek from far out, 7:46 into the extra frame in game 4 to level the series at 2-2. Now, the two teams head to Ottawa for a pivotal, nationally-televised matchup on Friday night.

Bulls seeing red as 67’s take a 2-0 series lead

The Ottawa 67’s faced off against the Belleville Bulls for the 12th time this season in front of a home crowd of 8,958. There was no love lost between these two teams tonight. After several minutes of chirping at centre ice lots of pushing and shoving broke out during the pre-game warm ups. It was quickly broken up by the officials and Marc Zanetti was assessed a 5-minute match penalty for spearing and thus thrown from the game before it even started.

This set the tone.

Round 1, Game 1: Belleville Bulls @ Ottawa 67's

by Alex Quevillon

It took a lot longer than the hometown fans had hoped for, but the Ottawa 67’s finally put the Belleville Bulls away as Tyler Toffoli scored his second of the night just two minutes and two seconds into the first overtime, giving Ottawa a 3-2 win and a 1-0 series lead.

Round 1 Preview: Ottawa 67s v Belleville Bulls

by Kathryn Jean

Ottawa 67’s (2)

Record:  40-20-5-3

Last year’s playoffs:  Swept in first round by the Sudbury Wolves

Top performers:
Tyler Toffoli 52 goals, 100 points in 65 games
Shane Prince 43 goals, 90 points in 57 games
Sean Monahan 33 goals, 78 points in 62 games
Cody Ceci 17 goals, 60 points in 64 games

Captain Zanetti Discusses Return And Long OHL Career

by Alex Quevillon

Marc-Anthony Zanetti in his rookie year

 

The Ontario Hockey League’s regular season has come to a close, and although the Ottawa 67’s have struggled to end the year, there is plenty of room for optimism. Not only because they are going into a seven-game series against a Belleville team that they went 7-0-1 against in the regular season. They are also getting a number of previously injured players back from injury. Likely the most notable sidelined body for the team in the past three weeks was Captain Marc-Anthony Zanetti.

67's Close Out Home Schedule with 6-4 win over Sudbury

by Alex Quevillon

The last regular season game played at the J. Benson Cartage Center was an emotional night for many longtime fans. The near sellout attendance of 9,250 were thanked for their support with a pre-game video montage on the score board, before being treated to a wild 6-4 win over the Sudbury Wolves, who eliminated the 67's last season in the playoffs.

Major Disappointment, 67's Lose 6-3 to Majors

The Ottawa 67’s continue to go winless on home ice, not having won at the J. Benson Cartage Centre since February 19th. Today was another large disappointment for the Ottawa fans. The 67’s were able to overcome an early 2-0 deficit, but ultimately fell 6-3 to the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors, a game that may be a first-round playoff preview.

Hamilton leads IceDogs to a 5-1 win

Freddie Hamilton scored his 6th game winning goal at the 19:52 minute mark in the first period to lead the Niagara IceDogs to a 5-1 victory over the Ottawa 67’s.

67's Annual Awards Wrapup

by Alex Quevillon
On Monday Night, the Ottawa 67's players joined a number of fans as the team handed out their annual awards. Here were the winners:

67's Become East Divison Champs, but lose to CHL's Best

The Ottawa 67’s didn’t help their own cause on Sunday, losing 5-2 to the CHL’s best London Knights. Luckily for Ottawa, a Belleville loss in Peterborough guarantees that the 67’s will win the East Division. It may be a nice sigh of relief to clinch the division three weeks earlier than they did last year, but at the same time, today’s game has to be a wakeup call for the Barberpoles.

67's lose captain, fall 5-4 to the Colts in the shootout

The Barrie Colts skated to a 5-4 win over the home team Ottawa 67’s. It took the Colts until the 7th round of the shootout when Zach Hall scored the winner in front of a crowd of 5,722 who ventured out in the snowy weather.

67's Clinch Playoff Berth with 2-1 Win In Kingston

Tyler Toffoli had a goal for the seventh straight game, Cody Ceci scored his third goal in as many games and Shane Prince increased his point streak to 18 games to match his jersey number, but today wasn’t about the individual stats, as the Ottawa 67’s won 2-1 to mathematically clinch a spot in the 2012 playoffs. To go along with the playoff guarantee, Ottawa moves ahead of the idle Niagara Ice Dogs for first in the Eastern Conference.

Otters Hold Former Teammate At Bay, but lose 6-1 to Ottawa

by Alex Quevillon
For the first time in his OHL career, Mike Cazzola wasn’t able to register a goal during Erie’s annual trip to Ottawa. The former Otters forward, now with the 67’s, had scored in each of his first three games in the Nation’s Capital as a member of the visiting side. He didn’t score today, but he didn’t need to, as Ottawa blew out the overaged center’s old team 6-1 in front of 6,731 fans on Sunday.

Petes come from behind to win 4-3 over the 67’s

By Kathryn Jean

After a leak in the roof caused unsafe skating conditions at the J Benson Cartage Centre triggering the Friday game to be postponed, the Landsdowne crews scurried hard to get the arena in shape for Saturday afternoon. With one section still leaking, it wasn’t until after warm-ups that both teams were certain that they were going to play.

Running Over the Bulls, 67's win 9-0

by Alex Quevillon
After losing the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time in several months, the Ottawa 67's took a rare three-game losing streak into Sunday's matchup with the Belleville Bulls. Ottawa wouldn't allow themselves to drop a season-record four in a row, however. The Barberpoles received a hattrick from Shane Prince, the first two goals of Sean Callaghan's career and a 35-save shutout performance from Petr Mrazek as they rolled over their division rivals 9-0

67’s unable to ride out Storm, lose 5-4 in regulation

After a heartbreaking 5-4 OT loss in Peterborough, you would have thought the Ottawa 67’s would come out with more urgency. Instead, it was the visiting Guelph Storm outshooting the 67’s 11-2 in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Fronts edge 67’s 4-3 in regulation

By Kathryn Jean

Despite being 35 points below, the Frontenacs seems to have the 67’s number.  Sophomore defenseman Kyler Nixon scored the game winner under 4 minutes left the 3rd period to lead the Kingston Frontenacs to a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa 67’s. 

Ottawa 67's Edge the Oshawa Generals

The Oshawa Generals don't look like a team that is fighting for a playoff spot and and they certainly had their chances but the 67's managed to hang on for a win over the energetic Oshawa Generals. Both goalies made several key saves and had a bit of luck too.

2012 NHL Draft Preview: Cody Ceci

by Alex Quevillon

When Brian Kilrea left the Ottawa 67’s as Head Coach and General Manager, he left behind an OHL legacy. Two Memorial Cups, three Ontario League championships, only three years without a playoff berth and 1193 wins top off the former coach’s time here in Ottawa. One of the biggest reasons for his success was patience with youth. As is evident by this season’s squad being tops in the Eastern Conference, Killer’s presence is still being felt.