67’s shut out Petes in 2-0

Prince scores his second goal in 2 games after being cut from Team USA

OTTAWA – Peterborough Petes goaltender Mike Morrison made 42 saves tonight, but it wasn’t enough to knock off the high flying Ottawa 67’s.  Notwithstanding some great saves, the Petes lost 2-0 against their division rivals.

Despite having three regulars returned from World Junior camps in Alberta, including Cody Ceci, Shane Prince and OHL leading goal scorer Tyler Toffoli, the 67’s were unable to set an offensive tone early in the game.

It would seem as if the 67’s were holding their sticks too tight and tallied hitting 5 posts and 1 at the side of the net throughout the game.  Morrison gave up limited rebounds and kept his team in the game including a solid performance in the second period where his team was outshot 20-8.

On the other side of the ice, Michael Nishi stood on his head when he needed to but that wasn’t very often.  One of the Petes best chances of the night came at the midway point when JC Campagna caught a piece of the puck, beat Nishi, but trickled to the goal post and out.

It wasn’t until the 12:49 mark in the 3^rd period when Shane Prince broke Morrison’s shutout bid after circling the net and firing the puck off a quick wrist shot.  Dalton Smith would seal the deal with an empty netter with under a minute left in the game.

With 10 regulars out of the line-up, the Petes did an exceptional job at limiting the 67’s to two goals.  Notable players missing in action were Austin Watson (Team USA – U20), Slater Koekkoek (shoulder injury), Matt Puempel (suspension) and rookies Nick Ritchie & Stephen Nosad (Team Ontario – U17).

THREE STARS
1. Mike Morrison (PBO)
2. Michael Nishi (OTT)
3. Shane Prince (OTT)

NOTES
Petr Mrazek stopped 52 shots in Czech Republic’s 5-2 win over Team USA at the World Juniors U20 tournament in Edmonton … Nick Ritchie and Stephen Nosad combined for 4 assists in Team Ontario’s 7-2 victory over Sweden at the U17 tournament in Windsor … Sean Monahan & Andrew Yogan’s 3 game point streaks end as both were hold pointless.

NEXT GAME
Up next for the Petes is a game Sunday afternoon match up against the Sudbury Wolves at 2:05pm.  The 67’s travel down the 401 to Kingston to take on the Frontenacs at the K-Rock Centre at 2:00pm.

Giftopolous leads 67’s to 4-1 win over Frontenacs

OTTAWA – Igor Bobkov made 36 saves but it wasn’t enough as the Ottawa 67’s defeated the Kingston Frontenacs by a score of 4-1 in OHL action tonight.

With Cody Ceci, Tyler Toffoli and Shane Prince returning from their respective World Junior camps, the Ottawa 67’s were able to ice a full line up. However, still missing from the World Juniors was all-star goaltender Petr Mrazek & Michal Cajkovsky.

Remy Giftopolous opened the scoring after a Jake Cardwell point shot trickled to the side of Bobkov. Giftopolous grabbed the rebound and tapped in for the first lead of the game. The 67’s continued to put on pressure and Bobkov continued to make save after save until Shane Prince got a hold of an errant puck and made a beautiful feed to Sean Monahan who was waiting in the slot.

Cody Alcock responded for the Kingston Frontenacs off a shot Michael Nishi would like to have back. The Fronts centre shot the puck from the blueline, Nishi got a piece of it but went over his shoulder stick side. It was 2-1 67’s after one period.

Off a great individual effort early in the second period, Giftopolous scored his second of the game after picking up the puck off the half boards and skating it all the way into the offensive zone with a nice wraparound goal to end the play.

The Fronts couldn’t seem to get things going offensively and despite the 23 shots on net, they were unable to solve Nishi for a second time.

On the other end of the ice, Bobkov made a couple great saves off scoring chances including one big one off of Giftopolous’ hat trick attempt.

With less than 4 minutes left in the game David Mazurek got caught with two handed slash on the Ottawa forward which led to a 67’s powerplay. Shane Prince rounded out the scoring after he wired a shot from the high slot and past Bobkov.

NEXT UP
The Ottawa 67’s are back in action Friday night at the J Benson Cartage Centre when they host the Peterborough Petes at 7:30pm. The Kingston Frontenacs are back at home Friday night hosting the high flying Oshawa Generals at 7:30pm.

Smith leads 67’s to a 4-3 OT comeback win

OTTAWA – Dalton Smith scored 1:28 into the extra frame to boost the Ottawa 67’s to a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Windsor Spitfires.  The two points pushes Ottawa in a two-way tie with the Belleville Bulls for the top of the Eastern Conference meanwhile Windsor’s falls to 7^th in the West with the OT loss.

It wasn’t all fun and games right away for the home team.  With only 15 seconds into the game, Alexander Khokhlachev scored on Petr Mrazek after the 67’s were unable to clear the zone.

The 67’s would tie it up less than three minutes later when Shane Prince slid the puck through the legs of John Cullen on the right side.  This sparked thousands of teddy bears being launched from the stands to signify the home team’s first goal.  All those teddy bears will be donated to local kids.

The Spitfires continued to press until Brandon Devlin shot the puck past Mrazek and it landed in the back of the net just over a minute later.

After the three quick goals, things started to get heated.  Dalton Smith and Ty Bilcke squared off in a lengthy battle with Smith coming out victorious.  A couple minutes later, after taking exception to a hit Ryan Van Stralen and Nick Czinder dropped the gloves with Czinder falling over from not being balanced.

With a screened Mrazek, Brady Vail fired a shot from the slot which jumped over Mrazek stick high on the blocker side and in.  Play continues at both sides of the ice.  Ryan Van Stralen notched his third of the season with a wrist shot from the faceoff dot – the puck flew top shelf past Cullen with 3 minutes to go in the second.

The two teams continued to press with Windsor controlling portions of the play and the 67’s being lucky that the posts made a couple of saves.  Midway through the third, the 67’s caught a break when Nicholas Foglia grabbed a loose rebound from Steven Janes shot and taps it past Cullen to tie the game at 3.

The Spitfires had a great chance to get the go ahead goal after a questionable tripping call on Shane Prince had the home team fans up in arms.  The 67’s only allowed one shot on net and impressively created a couple of shorthanded chances themselves.  They were able to hang on to force overtime.

The 67’s may have gotten some luck back the other way. During the huge scramble in front of the net Dalton Smith grabbed the puck scored the eventual overtime winner with the goaltender down without his helmet.  The back referee called it a goal right away but for extra measures, it went to a lengthy review.  In the end, it was a good goal and the 67’s started of their weekend on a high note.

NEXT GAMES:
The Ottawa 67’s face the Peterborough Petes tomorrow night at 7:05pm at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
The Windsor Spitfires continue their road trip taking on the Belleville Bulls tomorrow night at 7:05pm at the Yardmen Arena.

NEWS & NOTES:  Sean Monahan picked up an assist to keep his 3 game scoring streak alive … Brett Gustavsen and Tyler Graovac are still nursing a cold … Shayne Campbell has been cleared to work out after recovering surgery … Ryan MacLean was added to the 67’s lineup and looks to be travelling with the team this weekend … John Cullen was visibly upset and tried to approach the referees after the final call.  He tweeted, “I didn’t know I was playing in the 1940’s tonight where goalies don’t wear helmets. Games on the line & the ref decides to sit on his whistle”.  What Cullen forgot to mention was that the rest of rule states “…play shall only be stopped if there is no immediate or impending scoring opportunity.”  It’s a tough loss.