67’s to Host Gatineau in Outdoor Game

By: Chris Crawford

Ottawa, ON- History will be made at Lansdowne Park on December 17^th, 2017. The Ottawa 67’s announced they will be hosting les Olympiques de Gatineau in an outdoor game at TD Place Stadium. The game will take place on the same outdoor rink that the Ottawa Senators will face the Montreal Canadiens in the Scotiabank NHL100 Classic.

It will be the first time an OHL outdoor game will take place in Ontario and very first one in 67’s franchise history. This will truly be a historic and memorable event that will add to the impressive line-up of Canada 150 events in the nations capital this year.

Speaking to the media following the 67’s win over the Oshawa Generals on November 10^th, 2017, head coach Andre Tourigny expressed how exited his team is to play in this truly unique and exciting event:

“It’s going to be so special, you could feel the energy, all the players were talking about it. You see those games on TV, you don’t think at one point you will be apart of it. It’s the last game before Christmas break so players will have a lot of family in town and we will have huge crowds with a lot of enthusiasm.” Tourigny said.

Ottawa 67’s Captain and Colorado Avalanche prospect Travis Barron told the media that playing in an outdoor game is fulfilling a childhood dream:

“We are all really excited, we all dream of that (playing outdoors), we watch the Winter Classic. To be able to play in that game we are going to be really excited and it will be a lot of fun.” Barron said.

Tickets for the game start at $15 for general admission and are available in person or online at the TD Place Box Office.

67’s split weekend in tough home-stand

By: Chris Crawford

 

It wasn’t an easy schedule, but the Ottawa 67’s went 1-1 on the weekend home-stand at TD Place Arena. The 67’s faced two of the top three teams in the Ontario Hockey League including the league leading Sarnia Sting and third place Barrie Colts.

 

On Friday night against the Barrie Colts, the 67’s and Colts found themselves spending a lot of time in the penalty box. The two teams combined for 66 penalty minutes and traded power-play goals. However, it was the Colts that never surrendered the lead in the game and defeated the 67’s 4-2 and handed Ottawa their second loss on home-ice.

 

The 67’s had a big rebound game on Sunday when they faced the league leaders in the Sarnia Sting and defeated them 4-3 on home-ice. Ottawa outshot Sarnia 39-30 and never relinquished their lead in the game and handed the Sting their third loss of the season. Speaking post-game to the media, Coach Tourigny was impressed with his team’s ability to play a full sixty minutes:

 

“They (Sarnia Sting) have a really good team, they only had two losses since the start of the season. You have to play sixty minutes against those kind of teams and we did. We played really solid. I am really happy with the way we worked, we were really efficient defensively, clogged the neutral zone like we wanted and offensively we were good at managing the puck and forced them (Sarnia) to take penalties.” Tourigny said.

 

Through the two games he played this weekend, goaltender Olivier Tremblay stopped 58 of the 65 shots he faced. Coach Tourigny praised Tremblay’s effort over the weekend:

 

“I am really happy about his weekend. He wasn’t just good, he was ready and confident, he was aggressive and competed hard this weekend. He gave us confidence.” Tourigny told the media after Sunday’s victory over the Sarnia Sting.

 

The 67’s are back in action on Friday on home-ice as they host the Oshawa Generals at 7:00 p.m.

Kody Clark scores second consecutive OT winner to sink Gens 2-1

OTTAWA - On a night honouring the Ottawa 67’s legends of the past, Kody Clark drew from inspiration after scoring his second consecutive overtime winner with 25 seconds remaining in the open frame. The win keeps Ottawa unbeaten record at home intact - a big relief from last season where they carried the worst home-ice record all season.

It didn’t start out great for the 67’s and their frustration showed through but in the end Head Coach Andrè Tourigny was happy with his team’s overall play.

67’s show resiliency in victory over Peterborough

By Chris Crawford 

Ottawa, ON- Resiliency. That’s the word that best describes the Ottawa 67’s after their win against divisional rival Peterborough on Friday night. 

It was a roller coaster game with the 67’s trailing for large portions of the divisional tilt. The game was scoreless and even game after the first period, but it was the Petes that scored two power play goals in the second frame. Ottawa showed their offense in the third period with San Jose Sharks prospect Sasha Chmelevski scoring a pair of goals in the first six minutes of the period to even the game at two. With just a few minutes left in the 3rd, Austen Keating got a puck past Petes netminder Dylan Wells to give the 67’s their first lead of the game. With Wells’ out of the net and the extra attacker out, the Petes fought back and with 2 seconds left, scored, forcing extra time. 

Overtime solved nothing, forcing the game to a shootout. The 67’s went a perfect three for three, with goals by rookie Graeme Clarke, Sasha Chmelevski and Tye Felhaber to secure the extra point. 

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Andre Tourigny spoke about how important it was for his squad to stick with the plan. “We played well the whole 65 minutes and stuck with it. In the 2nd period, we took too many penalties and they capitalized on two of their power plays but we still had a good period, we didn’t panic, we stuck with it.” Tourigny said. 

The 67’s continue their home stand Sunday night against the Flint Firebirds.  

A season of redemption: A look at your potential 2017-18 Ottawa 67's

After three long seasons of ups and downs, the Ottawa 67’s are off to a fresh start with a lot of new faces from rookies to veterans and almost the entire coaching staff.

This optimism was a little deflated after a terrible showing in Barrie where they lost 11-2 in the opening game of the new OHL season. They rebounded the next game with a big 4-3 win over the Mississauga Steelheads. The home opener is tomorrow at 7:00pm.

Let’s take a closer look at you 2017-2018 Ottawa 67’s:

Round 1 Game 6: 67's bow out

They lasted longer than most expected, forcing a six-game series, but the 67's eventually bowed out and did it by way of a blowout loss on Sunday.

Round 1 Game 5: Lazarev turns aside 51 shots to force game 6

Photo from game 4

Down 3-1 in the series, a depleted Ottawa 67’s squad took to the ice in Mississauga with their backs up against the wall. Without their captain, who was injured in game 4, the 67’s had to find a way to win to extend their playoff hopes.

Enter: Leo Lazarev.

Round 1 Game 4: 67's on the ropes after fight night

A year ago this time, the 67’s had suffered a hearbreaking overtime loss to carry a 3-1 deficit into a gruelling fifth game on the road, with veteran players proclaiming that it “felt like an elimination game”.

Fast forward and they’re in an eerily similar position, losing a fourth game on home ice and losing the captain to injury just as they did in the 2016 post-season dance, albeit more violently. 

Round 1 Game 3: Steelheads win back home-ice advantage with 2-1 win

Noel Hoefenmayer and the rest of his Ottawa 67’s know they can’t dwell on one game.

“It’s a long series,” the top-defenseman said after Ottawa’s 2-1 regulation loss. “You’ve just got to forget about it and move on to the next.”

He isn’t wrong. The 67’s will have a day of rest to regroup and try to head into game 5 with a 2-2 series tie.

In the last two games, the 67’s have done a great job so far standing up against the highest scoring team in the Eastern Conference limiting them to only 2 goals. However, scoring is something that has plagued them in this series so far.

Round 1 Game 2: Ottawa sets the pace and ties the series with a big 4-0 win

Leo Lazarev is a quirky as they come, but like any good goaltender, he rarely lets a bad night rattle him two-games in a row. After allowing 5 goals on 29 shots in game 1, Lazarev turned aside all 31 shots for a solid bounce back game in Mississauga. With the help of an Ottawa 67’s scoring blitz late in the second period, he shutout the Mississauga Steelheads 4-0 in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

Round 1 Game 1: Mississauga gets to Lazarev, winning 6-2

The 67's probably couldn't have drawn up a better start to the opening night of the playoffs, putting a brief scare into the heavily-favoured Steelheads, but it didn't last long.

Sasha Chmelevski, a near-miss on a 2-on-1 in his back pocket, buried a cross-seam pass to open the scoring on the powerplay.

Mississauga awaits; playoffs begin Friday

There was a time in the early 2000's where Ottawa-Toronto playoff hockey was just about guaranteed at both the junior and professional levels.

Now, that Toronto OHL franchise has gone through two name changes and a short-distance relocation since meeting the 67's three consecutive years in the post season, and the 2017 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal that begins Friday in Mississauga surely won't have the same vitriol of the old rivalry.

It also, admittedly on the part of Ottawa's bench boss, probably isn't the end of the stick that modern-day Ottawa wanted to end up on.

Playoff scenarios: Who would Ottawa rather face?

In their final game of the regular season, the Ottawa 67’s had a chance to lock down sixth place in the Eastern Conference. But it wasn’t until the final when this all came crashing down. With a 1-0 lead going into the third period, the 67’s allowed three straight Hamilton Bulldogs goals to lose 3-1 on Sunday afternoon.

The fate of their playoff opponent is no longer in their hands. They will have to wait the result of the final OHL game of the regular season tonight when the Sudbury Wolves face the Mississauga Steelheads.

67's slipping away, wakeup call missed

A meeting with the bench boss’ former team, a game ripe with opportunity and teaching points, slipped through for the 67’s on Sunday and a rough weekend has them at serious risk of missing the postseason.