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.
It was an important game for both clubs. The 67’s sat one point back of the Niagara Ice Dogs for first spot in the Eastern Conference while it was even more important for the Petes who sat tied one point back of the Mississauga Majors for the final playoff spot also in the Eastern Conference.
The 67’s came out flying, Tyler Toffoli had a glorious chance to open the scoring but was hauled down by Steven Trojanovic. Toffoli made a great attempt on the ensuing penalty shot, but Mike Morrison came up big stopping the shot stick side.
They continued to press, but it wasn’t until the 12:19 minute mark that Cody Ceci would get the first goal on the board. After some great passing plays by the Prince-Cazzola-Cajkovsky line, Cody Ceci picked up a perfect drop pass from Cazzola and sent a bullet shot past Morrison in the Peterborough net. Prince picked up an assist extending his point streak to 16 games, one game back of the best streak this season from Tanner Pearson of the Barrie Colts.
A little excitement was created through the 67’s bench when Remy Giftopoulos was challenged by winger Dylan Fitze after he threw a big hit near centre ice. One big punch and Giftopolous sent Fitze to the ice.
Just over two minutes later, Shane Prince picked up his 35th goal as Cody Ceci made a beautiful feed to him as he was streaking into the slot. That marked Prince and Ceci’s second point of the game and Prince’s 22nd point against the Petes this season.
The 67’s pressure continued in the second period. Tyler Toffoli jumped on his opportunities as he got a hold of a bouncing puck from a Petes’ giveaway in front of the net. He wired it high over Morrison’s shoulder to extend the 67’s lead to 3-0.
Moments later the Petes would get one back, Derek Mathers rung a shot off the post that bounced off Mrazek and into the Ottawa net. A bit of bad luck for Mrazek who would make another blunder seconds later. After coming out far of his net in an attempt to poke the puck off of Andrew Yogan’s stick, he missed and Yogan made no mistake to shoot into a wide open net leaving the home team and crowd stunned.
Mrazek responded well not allowing any more goals for the remainder of the second period, but that remains the turning point. With Nicholas Foglia in the box for highsticking, Nick Ritchie gets a powerplay goal sniping it high on Mrazek early in the third to tie the game. This set a new tone for the remainder of the game.
Andrew Yogan would strike again with just over 5 minutes left in the game as he beat Mrazek on the short side for the Petes first lead of the game. The Ottawa 67’s tried to respond, but Mike Morrison shut to door making some big saves to keep the game tied at 3.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
The loss keeps the 67’s looking two points behind the Niagara Ice Dogs who remain top in the Eastern Conference. The win pushes the Petes into 7th place, one point back of the Generals in 6th place – but the Gens have one game in hand.
COMING UP
The 67’s will look for redemption as they host the Erie Otters Sunday afternoon at 2pm for their second of three back-to-back games this weekend. The Petes have the day off before hosting Brampton Monday afternoon at 2pm.
Click here for the game sheet.
Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:
- The benefit of having to delay the posting is that one can better reflect on one's thoughts about the game. Moving from "Ugh! Are you kidding me?!" to ""These guys just are not committed to 60 minutes of hockey." to finally "Sometimes things just don't turn out well.". The team totally dominated at times but after those two quick goals, they broke down.
- Shane Prince was in serious pain after his goal. Took a nasty spear - don't think I've seen a pain-stricken face one the ice like that. Bet he has a nasty bruise.
- I don't think Taylor Fielding ever stops skating...maybe for the face offs...but that's about it.
- Now that the 67's have lost their hold on first place in the conference, which was their goal at the beginning of the year, I think we will see what they are made of. Just how much do they want it back...playing as a team?
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