Ritchie’s hat trick leads Petes to 5-2 victory

Nick Ritchie scored a hat trick to lead the Peterborough Petes to a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa 67’s Thursday night.  The win breaks Peterborough’s eight game losing streak and increases Ottawa’s to five games.

Outshot 15-4 in the first period, the 67’s came out of the gate flat.  Much time was spent in the Ottawa zone, but it wasn’t until the 15:24 minute mark that the Petes would be able to solve Clint Windsor.  Alan Quine intercepted the puck on a failed clearing attempt and found Richie in the slot.  Ritchie made no mistake but to snap the puck in behind Windsor in the Ottawa net.  For the 17^th time in 21 games this season, the 67’s gave up the first goal in the game.

Nick Richie would pick up his second goal of the night four minutes later on the powerplay knocking in an errant rebound into a wide open cage.

After regrouping from the 2 goal deficit in the first period, the 67’s came out with more urgency.  The 67’s better play would be rewarded with their first goal of the game eleven seconds into their first powerplay opportunity.  Steven Janes picked up his seventh of the season after skating hard to the net and tapping in a bouncing rebound.

Things looked good for the 67’s bringing the same intensity into the third period as the previous period.  They were forechecking hard and took over control of the game… until the Petes scored two quick goals. 

Stephen Nosad picked up the puck as the trailer, moved back and forth and beat Windsor on the backhand.  Just 45 seconds later Ritchie would pick up his hat trick goal off a perfect cross-crease pass from Quine.  It was a big night for Ritchie who just came back after missing 12 games with a shoulder injury.

The Ottawa 67’s would cut the lead in half after Cody Ceci was left wide open and scored easily on a wide open net.  But that was all for Ottawa.

Ottawa native Slater Koekkoek wrapped up the scoring beating Windsor blocker side to give the Petes a 3 goal cushion.

The Ottawa 67’s fall 5-2 to the Peterborough Petes on the road.  They travel back up highway 7 to host the Niagara IceDogs on Friday night at Scotiabank Place