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.


It was a wild one at the J Benson Cartage Centre with back to back action throughout the game. The Colts and 67’s both came out of the gate flying firing a total of 26 shots in the first period. It wasn’t until the 12:35 mark of the first period that the Ottawa 67’s would open the scoring. Off a Colts turnover inside their own zone, Shane Prince jumped on the puck, made a move in close and a slid the puck past rookie Alex Fotinos in the Colts net. The goal extends Prince’s league leading point streak to 19 games.

The Colts continued to press, but couldn’t solve Petr Mrazek until the 8:29 mark of the second period. Ivan Telegin converted on a Steven Beyers drop pass and wired a shot top shelf over Mrazek.

The pace of the game shifted after 67’s captain Marc Zanetti was pushed by Telegin and hit the boards awkwardly. Zanetti left for the locker room and returned late in the second period. He took one shift and did not return. The pace continued to shift after some undisciplined play arose. The 67’s took three straight penalties but managed the keep the score tied at 1 against the OHL’s second best powerplay team.

With Gregg Sutch off for slashing at the end of the second period, Shane Prince would pick up his second tally of the night. Chris Byrne must have had some choice words as things seem to turn around early in the third… or so fans originally thought.

That lead would last just over 1 minute until Colin Behenna and Alex Lepkowski scored within 2 minutes of each other to take the Colts first lead of the game. Behenna tied the game off a nice backhanded feed from Tanner Pearson then Lepkowski fired a shot from the point and the puck bounced past a screened Mrazek.

Telegin would pick up his second goal of the night and his 11th in 7 games after he took advantage of a Tyler Graovac giveaway in the 67’s zone. Graovac would redeem himself after directing an innocent shot towards the net that trickled past Fortinos. A monkey off his back, it was Graovac’s first goal in 13 games.

Graovac’s goal sparked the 67’s bench as they continued to turn their play around and eventually tie the game on another weak trickling goal – this time birthday boy Steven Janes was awarded with the tally.

Credit to rookie Fortinos, after two very weak goals, he stepped it up in the extra frame and helped keep his team in it including successfully killing off a full man advantage. There were some great efforts on both sides, but overtime would not solve it.

It took seven rounds to end this game. Tyler Toffoli and Ivan Telegin scored the only two goals in the first three rounds. A couple missed shots (and hit crossbars) and a couple nice saves. Zach Hall would finally notch the winner in the 7th round to give the Colts their second straight shootout victory in two days.

Click here for the game sheet.

NEXT UP
The Ottawa 67’s have the day off and will host the top team in the CHL, the Western Conference London Knights on Sunday at 2pm. The Colts travel back to Barrie to get ready to host the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors Saturday night at 7:30pm.

NOTES
The Niagara IceDogs lost in regulation tonight which means the 67’s move into a tie with them for first in the Eastern Conference … While Tyler Toffoli scored in the shootout, his OHL goal streak is halted at 6 games … Shane Prince’s league leading point streak is extended to 19 games … Marc Zanetti did not return to action in the 3rd period, he will be looked at by team doctors tomorrow … Jake Cardwell and Daniel Broussard made their return to the lineup.




Three Stars as Selected by the TEAM1200




Hardest Working 67's: Dalton Smith

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

• While the 67's had long stretches of controlling the puck, they were unable to turn them into many scoring chances. Barrie did a good job of keeping Ottawa to to the outside and also cleaning up anything that went into the slot. They protected their rookie goalie quite well.
  
• Ottawa did an outstanding job, especially Dalton Smith, in diffusing Barrie's power play. I think I counted a total of 4 shots on goal by Barrie over their 6 minutes with the man advantage.
  
• I didn't get the benefit of seeing a replay but it sure looked like the guy who took the "hit to the head" by Big Mike sold it. The ref didn't even put his arm up until the kid stayed down for a bit and looked at the ref.
  
• Colin Behenna will never get an easier 5-on-5 goal. He was left all alone beside an open side while everyone else was running around.
  
• Former Ottawa 67's team mates Zenon Konopka and Lance Galbraith attended the game and signed autographs. Judging from the long line up, they remain fan favourites after all these years.
  
• Ryan Martindale was reassigned from the Stockton Thunder to the Oklahoma City Barons again. In Stockton, he played 34 games where he scored 6 goals and had 9 assists. This is his third trip up to the Edmonton Oiler's AHL affiliate.
  

Some pictures from the game:
 Former 67's Lance Galbraith and Zenon Konopka were on hand to sign autographs.  Yes, officials do try to get out of the way. Sometimes the only way is up.  Tyler Graovac getting some air to avoid running over Anthony Camara.  And the birthday boy gets the tying goal. Click here to see more pictures.