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.