GAME DAY PREVIEW: Ottawa 67’s at Saginaw Spirit

2nd in the East vs 2nd in the West

The last time these two teams met was back on January 21st when Petr Mrazek turned away all 36 Saginaw shots to lead the 67’s to a 3-0 victory over the Spirit.

This is an important game for both sides. The 67’s will hope to break their biggest winless streak (4 games) of the season. The Saginaw Spirit are only two points behind the Western Conference leading Owen Sound Attack. Expect both teams to come out flying as they have both only won 5 of their last 10 games.

The 67’s will be in tough as the Spirit have only lost 4 times on home ice in Saginaw. The 67’s road record fell to 16-14-0-1 with last night’s loss.

 

67’s top performers

• Toffoli 50-44, 94 points
• Prince 25-57, 82 points *injured/listed as day-to-day
• Martindale 31-46, 77 points

 

Spirit top performers

• Shalla 42-21, 63 points
• Szwarz 24-38, 62 points
• Trocheck 22-33, 55 points

 

Lineup changes for the 67’s

Julian Luciani – upper body injury, day-to-day
Marc Zanetti – knee, 1-2 weeks
Shane Prince – upper body injury, day-to-day
Taylor Fielding – hand, 1 week
Cosmo Fontana – concussion, IR

Draws in: Remy Giftopolous (Gloucester Rangers – CCHL) & Brett Gustavsen (Pickering Panthers – OJHL)

Toffoli scores 50th in 67’s 4-3 loss to the Whalers

Tyler Toffoli tipped in his 50th goal of the season in Ottawa’s 4-3 loss in Plymouth last night. Toffoli becomes the first player to score 50 goals in the Canadian Hockey League this season and only the 8th player in 67’s club history. Current Ottawa Senators prospect, Corey Locke was the last 67’s alumni to reach this plateau in 2003-04 with 51 goals and 118 points.

After a disappointing loss in Windsor last night, the 67’s came out to a strong start but Matt Mahalak stood on his head to keep them pointless in the opening frame. The Whalers scored two quick goals in the final two minutes to give themselves a late 2-0 lead. Tyler Brown opened the scoring high in the slot and gets the puck past Petr Mrazek. Less than two minutes later, Beau Schmitz scored off a big scramble in front of the net just as the first period expired.

Ottawa would storm back scoring two quick goals in the first minutes of the second period. Thomas Nesbitt snapped the puck past Mahalak to get the 67’s on the board. Just 36 seconds later on the powerplay, Toffoli tied it up off of Cody Ceci’s bullet shot from the point.

Specialty teams were key in last night’s game as all three third period goals were scored with the man advantage. On the powerplay, Austin Levi blasts it home after a nice give and go. The Whalers started to get in a bit of penalty troubles dropping 4 straight man advantages for the 67’s. Cody Ceci picked up his second point of the game capitalizing on the 5-on-3 powerplay. The Whalers continued and were successful killing off the remaining 3 penalties. Whalers momentum started to build as Stefan Noeson scored blocker side on Campbell while they enjoyed a 5-on-3 powerplay.

The Ottawa 67’s will continue on their roadtrip as they visit the Saginaw Spirit tonight at 7:11pm. The Spirit are two points behind Owen Sound for the Western Conference lead while the 67’s hope to break their 4 game slide. Plymouth remains at home while they take on the London Knights at 7:05pm.

News and notes

With the 67’s loss and an Oshawa Generals win, the 67’s find themselves in a mere one point lead over the Gens for first in the East division. The Gens have one game in hand. … The Whalers are now 2 points behind the Spitfires with one game in hand. … The 67’s go down another defenseman as Julian Luciani suffered an upper-body injury. He is listed day-to-day, but will not play the rest of the road trip. … Ryan Martindale got two assists in tonight’s game bringing him to a milestone 200th and 201st OHL career point. … Ottawa native, Jason Akeson becomes the first player in the OHL to score 100 points this season.

GAME DAY PREVIEW: Ottawa 67’s @ Plymouth Whalers

Ottawa is 2nd in the Eastern Conference (37-18-1-2 — 77 points) Plymouth is 5th in the Western Conference (31-21-1-4 — 67 points)

Both teams are coming off disappointing losses. In the last two games, the two teams have been pretty even Ottawa winning 6 of their last 10 and Plymouth winning 5 of their last 10.

The last time these two teams met was in Ottawa at the RONA Centre back in October. The 67’s got scoring from 4 different lines while Petr Mrazek turned away 26 of 27 shots to secure the 67’s 4-1 win over the Whalers.

At home Plymouth is 18-8-0-2.
On the road Ottawa is 16-13-0-1.

Ottawa top performers
Toffoli (49-44, 93pts)
Prince (25-57, 82pts) *listed day-to-day
Martindale (31-44, 75pts)

Plymouth top performers
Czarnik (30-38, 68pts)
Noesen (28-39, 67pts)
Brown (23-26, 49pts)

Spitfires offence too much for 67’s

WINDSOR – Stephen Johnston scored two goals for the Windsor Spitfires enroute to a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa 67’s Thursday night.

Johnston opened the scoring early off a crisp pass from behind the net and roofed it up over Petr Mrazek.  With just under 3 minutes left in the first period, Sean Monahan got a hold of a rebound and tapped it in past Jack Campbell to tie up the game.  However, moments later Jake Carrick responds for the Spitfires and beats Mrazek with a nice wrist shot for the eventual game winner.

That would be all the Spitfires needed as the Spitfires add two more in the third period to seal the win.  Tom Kuhnhackl scores on the blocker side after he easily skated his way past the 67’s defenders.  Johnston scored his second of the night on breakaway to round out the scoring.

It was an important two points for both teams involved.  Before tonight’s game, the Spitfires were fighting for home ice advantage and only winning 4 of their last 10 games.  With the Spitfires win, the Ottawa 67’s division lead keeps dwindling down with the 67’s only ahead by 3 points with the Oshawa Generals trailing behind with one game in hand.

The Ottawa 67’s travel to across the border into Michigan to face off against the Plymouth Whalers tonight night at 7:05pm.  Windsor also hits the road and travel to Sault Ste Marie to take on the Greyhounds.

Gameday Preview: Ottawa 67’s @ Windsor Spitfires

The Ottawa 67’s are in Windsor to take on the Spitfires tonight at 7:05pm.

After a disappointing weekend – only grabbing 3 out of 6 available points – the Ottawa 67’s look to rebound with a good start in Windsor.  Tonight’s game kicks off a 3 game in 3 days Western road swing for the 67s’.

The Spitfires are in a similar position dropping two straight games last weekend.  The Spitfires will look to build off their 16-8-1-3 home record.  Fortunately for the 67’s, their away record is a very similar 16-12-0-1.

This is an important game for both teams as the Spitfires are in a bit of a slump only winning 4 of their past 1o game. They are fighting for home ice advantage in the playoffs and currently sitting 5th in the Western Conference.  On the other end of the ice will be the 67’s who have a mere 3 point lead on the Oshawa Generals for 1st overall in the Eastern Division.

The last time these two teams met was at the RONA Centre in Ottawa where the 67’s fell 6-3 to the Spitfires.  The Spitfires came off of a  fresh trade frenzy and the new guys stole the show.  Newly acquired Jake Carrick, Taylor Carnevale &  Jeff Brown finished with a combined point total of  8 points.  Tyler Toffoli was one of the lone standout players with the 67’s scoring 2 goals and adding an assist to extend his scoring streak to 24 games (this would later stop at 25 games).

 

Records

• Ottawa 67’s – 2nd in Eastern Conference (37-17-1-2)
• Windsor Spitfires – 5th in Western Conference (31-21-2-3)

 

Players to watch

• Taylor Carnevale has 7 points this season vs the 67’s (2 games – 1 goal, 6 assists)
• Jake Carrick has 6 points this season vs the 67’s  (2 games – 3 goals, 3 assists)
• Ryan Ellis has 18 points in his last 7 games (2 goals, 16 assists)
• Tyler Toffoli has 3 points this season vs the Spitfires (1 game – 2 goals, 1 assis)

 

Top performers

Windsor Spitfires

• Ellis – 19 goals, 80 points
• Kassian – 24 goals, 69 points
• Khokhlachev – 33 goals, 66 points
• Carnevale – 33 goals, 64 points

Ottawa 67’s

• Toffoli – 49 goals, 93 points
• Prince – 25 goals, 82 points
• Martindale – 31 goals, 75 points
• Nesbitt – 28 goals, 56 points

 

Lineup changes

Ottawa 67’s

• Shane Prince (day-to-day, upperbody)
• Taylor Fielding (1-2 weeks, hand)
• Marc Zanetti (2 weeks, knee)
• Shane Prince will travel with the team and be a game time decision.  Remy Giftopolous and Brett Gustavsen have been called up for the weekend.

 

Notes

The 67’s two losses caused  them to drop into an honorable mention after being ranked 10th on the BMO CHL MasterCard Top 10 rankings.  Tyler Toffoli is 1 goal away from 50 on the season.  The last Ottawa 67’s player to score 50 goals in a season was Sens prospect Corey Locke in the 2003-04 season.

Toffoli shines to help sweep home-and-home series

OTTAWA – Tyler Toffoli continues his quest to the top of the OHL scoring leaderboard adding two goals and an assist during the Ottawa 67’s 5-1 thumping over the Belleville Bulls Friday night.  His three point night bumps him back up to 2^nd place with 92 points.

The 67’s drew first blood early in the first after Toffoli let a bullet of a shot go high up in the slot and past Tyson Teichmann.  Less than three minutes later, Shane Prince scores off of a perfect triple pass play between Ryan Martindale and Toffoli.  These two plays marked Toffoli’s 47^th goal and 91^st point on the season.

Half way into the first period, Dylan Corson (son of NHL alumni Shane Corson) took exception to a clean but big hit by Taylor Fielding and the two drop the mitts.  After a lengthy battle, Fielding ended up receiving the worst of it injuring his hand.  He did not return to the game.

With just over a minute into the second period, the 67’s continued their roll as Thomas Nesbitt found a loose puck and snuck it past Teichmann as he waited on the doorstep as the powerplay was expiring.  The Bulls replied a few moments later when Luke Judson scored his 25^th of the season on the power play.  This would prove to be the only goal scored on Shayne Campbell who was solid for the rest of the game.

Ben Dubois added another halfway through the second off a big rebound. Toffoli  rounded out the scoring with his 48^th of the season off a deflection from Martindale’s shot.

The 67’s travel to Brampton to face the Battalion in their final meeting of the regular season Sunday afternoon.  Ottawa leads the season series 2-1 and outscoring the Battalion 12-5.

67’s rally to stun the Bulls

BELLEVILLE – The 67’s scored five unanswered goals in the third period to shock the Belleville Bulls in front of a sold out crowd of 3,509 at the Yardmen Arena Wednesday night.

The 67’s started this game off strong controlling most of the play in the Bulls zone for the first few minutes just before Luke Judson scored his 24^th of the season off a wristshot from the top of the circle.  This goal marked Judson’s 45^th point, a career high.

Judson’s goal ignited the Bulls as they started to create a lot of scoring chances.  The Bulls were able to capitalize two more times by the end of the second period as Branden Morris added one more in the first period from the point on a screened Petr Mrazek.  Andy Bathgate scored in Belleville’s third goal of the game knocking in a rebook after a scramble in front of the Ottawa net.

With a 3 goal deficit heading into the 3^rd period and the Bulls dominating the majority of the play, the 67’s had to find something to get them going.  They would get another opportunity when Austen Brassard gets called on a hooking penalty.  While the 67’s weren’t able to muster up a lot of quality chances, Tyler Toffoli gets the 67’s on the board with his league leading 46^th goal of the season & 100^th of his OHL career right as the penalty expires.

Feeding off the goal, the 67’s play starts to improve slowly.  That was until 67’s rookie forward Sean Monahan stole the show scoring back to back goals in just under one minute to tie the game up.  Monahan then fed Cody Ceci as he let a bullet shot go from the point making it though the pads of Tyson Teuchmann for the 67’s first lead of the game.

The Bulls were still buzzing registering 20 shots in the final frame but Mrazek stood on his head and gave the 67’s every chance to keep the lead.  With an extra attacker for the Bulls in the final minutes, Dalton Smith shoots the puck down the ice and into the empty net for the insurance goal spoiling the Bulls 1000^th milestone game at the Yardmen Arena.

The Bulls travel to Ottawa to complete this home-and-home series at the RONA Centre Friday night.  The Bulls are currently two points out of a playoff spot right behind the division rival Peterborough Petes.

Ottawa 67’s weekend wrap up

Weekend record – 2-1-0

vs Erie: 4-3 Win

The Ottawa 67’s wrapped up their seven-game homestand with a 4-3 win over the Western Conference Erie Otters to finish with a record of 6-1-0.  The 67’s got up to a slow start as the Otters’ forward Brett Thompson scored his 7th in three games at the 3:12 mark in the first period.

Goaltender Ramis Sadikov & the Otters did a great job of keeping the 67’s off their A game.  It wasn’t until late in the third period that triggered a good sequence of opportunities for the 67’s. Jon Carnevale drove hard to the net as Adam Sedlak sends a pass to him to get the 67’s on the board.

Two quick penalties early in the third period allowed Shawn Szydlowski to capitalize and score the go ahead goal for the Otters. Shane Prince tied the game notching his 23rd of the season on a beautiful wrap around goal.  Only 16 seconds later Mike Cazzola puts the Otters ahead again this time on the breakaway.  With the Ottawa’s recent 3rd period collapses, this was something that couldn’t help but cause some worried feelings among the 67’s fans in attendance.  This feeling was quickly wiped away when the 67’s scored a pair of goal as Tyler Toffoli and Dalton Smith sealed the deal for Ottawa.

 

Vs Barrie: 2-1 Loss

The Ottawa 67’s travelled to Barrie to take on the 10th seed Barrie Colts.  Last game time the two met in January, the 67’s had trouble with the Colts and were upset 6-4.  This game showed earlier signs of deja-vu.

 

Petr Mrazek was sharp after a shaky start against the Otters the night before, but the 67’s fell behind 2-0 and couldn’t seem to get anything going (Eric Locke and Colin Behenna with the Colts’ goals).

On the powerplay Shane Prince score his second in two nights to give the 67’s a glimmer of hope but proved to be the lone goal for the struggling 67’s.  Behenna scored his second of the game to round out the scoring.

 

vs Majors: 4-2 Win

After a disappointing loss in Barrie, the Ottawa 67’s tried to re-group as they travelled to Mississauga to take on the #1 seed in the OHL, the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors.

Unlike the first two games, the Ottawa 67’s came out strong scoring three unanswered goals in the first period.  Cody Lindsay started off the scoring off a great 2-on-1 with Sean Monahan.  Cody Ceci snaps his 3rd of the season past an unexpecting JP Anderson right off a pass from the faceoff.  Tyler Graovac scored the third goal as he banks he puck off the shoulder of Anderson and into the net for his 9th of the season.  The Majors added a late first period goal off a one-timer from Devante Smith-Pelly on the powerplay.

Ryan Martindale scored his 31st of the season late in the 2nd.  Late in the third period Maxim Kitsyn gets a hold of his own rebound and scores on Petr Mrazek.  That is all it took for Mrazek shut the door and make 41 saves enroute to the 4-2 victory over the Majors.

 

NEWS & NOTES:

Goaltender Petr Mrazek got the start in all three Ottawa games.  Tyler Toffoli scored his 45th goal of the season. Toffoli leads the OHL in goals scored, but has now been passed by Ryan Strome (Niagara) and Jason Akeson (Kitchener) by one point in the OHL scoring race.  The 67’s lost Marc Zanetti to injury late in the third period of the Majors game.  It is reported as a lower body injury and he is expected to be out for 2-4 weeks.

67’s take advantage of short benched Knights

OTTAWA – Detroit Redwings prospect, Petr Mrazek, stopped 24 shots to earn his third shutout of the season as the Ottawa 67’s won 4-0 in front of a crowd of 7,410 at the RONA Centre Sunday afternoon.

The 67’s and London Knights both came out strong in the first period, but the effects of a short bench with the Knights soon wore on.  A flu bug had riddle through the lineup and caused the Knights only dressed 16 skaters – 7 forwards and 9 defenceman.  To make matters worse, the team experienced some bus troubles and arrived at the rink only two hours before the game started.

After a scoreless period in the first, the Ottawa 67’s controlled the play for the majority of the second as  the Knights were unable to register a shot until the 10-minute mark.  Juliani Luciani opened the scoring with a weak shot from the point that ended up deflecting into the net to beat Anaheim Ducks prospect, Igor Bobkov.  The Knights showed some life and sustained pressure in the 67’s zone after a cross-checking call was made on Jon Carnevale in the final two minutes; however, they were unable to finish.

The 67’s took advantage of an out-of-gas Knights team and scored three more goals in the third period.  The first goal went off Knights defenceman Jarred Tinordi and made its way past Bobkov.  Jon Carnevale was credited with the goal.  Veteran Marc Zanetti scored on a great shot from the point with a screened Bobkov.  Ryan Martindale rounded out the scoring off a nice feed from Shane Prince in the slot.  This marked Martindale’s 30^th of the season.

The 67’s finish of their weekend with an impressive 2-0 record. While the Knights travel back with a satisfactory 1-1-1 record after a tough three game road trip.

GAME NOTES:
In a rarely seen move, while on the powerplay , Dale Hunter pulled his goaltender with 5 minutes to go in the third period in attempts to recover from a 3-0 deficit.  Unfortunately, for the Knights it did not work out.  The three star selection was another 67’s sweep: 1. Petr Mrazek, 2 . Travis Gibbons, 3. Marc Zanetti.

OHL NEWS & NOTES:

Windsor 7, Brampton 1

Specialty teams were key in this game. Windsor scored two short-handed goals, two powerplay goals and one on the penalty shot.  Kerby Rychel and Tom Kuhnhackl scored a pair of goals each while Kenny Ryan, Alexander Khokhlachev and Nick Ebert added the others.  Andreas Tsogkas scored the lone goal for Brampton.

Kitchener 4, Sault Ste Marie 2

Kitchener battled past a struggling Sault Ste Marie team to hand them their 4^th straight loss.  Jerry D’Amigo scored his second goal in two games back from the Toronto Marlies and added another assist.  Tobias Rieder added the eventual game winner on the powerplay. Tyler Randell rounded out the scoring for Kitchener.  Dylan King and Ryan Sproul were the goal scorers for Sault Ste Maries.

Owen Sound 5, Saginaw 4

Saginaw dressed the league minimum 15 skaters while they struggle with a shortened bench.  Owen Sound wins their 7^th game in a row as Robby Mignardi, Joey Hishon, Garrett Wilson, Mike Halmo and Andrew Shaw (game winner) all add singles.  Scoring for Sagniaw was Jordan Szwartz, Josh Shalla, Brandon Saad and John McFarland.  Shalla’s goal marks his 39^th of the season.

Oshawa 5, Sudbury 4

Alain Berger added a pair of goals and an assist as Oshawa holds out to edge Sudbury for their 3^rd straight win.  Boone Jenner, Emerson Clark and Scott Valentine score the other three goals for Oshawa.  In a losing effort, Mathew Campagna, Andrey Kuchin, Mike Lomas and Eric O’Dell score for Sudbury.

67’s cruise past the Petes

OTTAWA – The Peterborough Petes have had a hard time finding an answer to the Ottawa 67’s so far this season.  Tonight was no different.  The 67’s cruised past the Petes with a defined 6-2 win to close off the season series with a record of 7-0-1.

Tyler Toffoli set up the first goal of the game after making a sharp pass to Ryan Martindale who snapped the puck past Andrew D’Agostini with a hard wrist shot from the hashmarks.  Martindale picked up his second on the night as he capitalized on the 67’s second powerplay of the night.  Gibbons found Martindale opened in close as he got the puck past D’Agostini on the backhand.

With his two goals on the night, Martindale was no doubt one of the best forwards on the ice.  He took advantage of his opportunity as Petes defenseman Connor Boland stumbled at his blueline creating a 3-on-0 rush with Tyler Toffoli and Shane Prince.  Prince found the back of the net after a stunning give-and-go play to score the eventual game winner.

Matt Puempel gave the Petes some life as he broke through the 67’s defenseman and snapped one past Petr Mrazek to ruin his shutout bid.  However, three minutes later the Ottawa 67’s responded.  Rookie forward, Sean Monahan made a nice feed to Thomas Nesbitt who was waiting on the short side to knock it in for the 67’s 4^th of the game.

With only 26 seconds into the third period, Austin Watson cut the lead in half with a great backhand shot that finds its way past Mrazek.  The comeback was short lived after taking three straight penalties.  Toffoli restored the three goal cushion after he picked up a loose puck and shot it top shelf to score his league leading 44^th of the season.  Lindsay added another one scoring his 7th goal three games off a great back pass from Monahan on his knees.

The Petes travel back to Peterborough when the Sudbury Wolves roll into town, 7:00pm at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.  The Ottawa 67’s are off until Sunday where the London Knights roll into town for a 2:00pm matinee at the RONA Centre.

NEWS & NOTES:

In their 8 meetings this season, the 67’s have outscored the Petes 37-18 with the 67’s top line combining for 52 points…  The 67’s outshot the Petes 48-23… The 67’s went 1/6 on the powerplay, while the Petes went 0/5. Geoff Bezruchko was given the boot for his unsportsmanlike play after a fight broke out between him and Marc Zanetti .  Bezruchko continued to throw punches as Zanetti was down on the ice.  Bezruchko received two for cross-checking, five for fighting, a game misconduct and faces possible suspension upon OHL review…   The three star selection was a 67’s sweep, in order: Martindale, Toffoli, and Monahan.