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 7^th round of the shootout when Zach Hall scored the winner in front of a crowd of 5,722 who bared 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 11^th 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 step 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 7^th round to give the Colts their second straight shootout victory in two days.

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 tomorrow night at 7:30pm.

THREE STARS

1.  Ivan Telegin, Barrie
2.  Shane Prince, Ottawa
3.  Mark Sheifele, Barrie

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 3^rd period, he will be looked at by team doctors tomorrow … Jake Cardwell and Daniel Broussard made their return to the lineup.

Petes come from behind to win 4-3 over the 67’s

The Peterborough Petes scored four unanswered goals to defeat the Ottawa 67’s 4-3 in regulation in front of 6,017 Ottawa fans.

After a leak in the roof caused unsafe skating conditions at the J Benson Cartage Centre triggering the game to be postponed, the Lansdowne crews scurried hard to get the arena in shaped 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, 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 Morrisson 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 35^th 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 22^nd 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 Morrisson’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 snipping 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 7^th place, one point back of the Generals in 6^th 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.

THREE STARS

1. Andrew Yogan (PBO)
2. Cody Ceci (OTT)
3. Mike Morrisson (PBO)

67’s unable to ride out Storm, lose 5-4 in regulation

OTTAWA – After a heartbreaking 5-4 OT loss in Peterborough, you would have thought the Ottawa 67’s would come out with more urgency. Instead, it was the visiting Guelph Storm outshooting the 67’s 11-2 in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Scott Kosmachuk opened the scoring after squeezing past three Ottawa players, dragging the puck and shooting it top corner behind Petr Mrazek in the 67’s net. With momentum leaning Guelph’s way after an early powerplay chance, Tyler Bertuzzi picked up the puck behind the net and passed it out to the slot where teammate Patrick Watling was waiting. Watling wired it past Mrazek.

The 67’s would continue to get into penalty trouble when Mike Vlajkov was slapped with a minor for cross-checking. That didn’t stop Tyler Toffoli who notched his 39^th of the season and 150^th career OHL goal with a man down. He streaked in from centre ice, shot to puck from the top of the faceoff circle and lifted the puck over the blocker of Garret Sparks to cut the lead in half.

Just under 30 seconds later, Francis Menard tip in an Andrey Paden point shot screening Mrazek to regain the Storm’s 2-goal lead after time still remained on the powerplay. The 67’s continued to improve their play, but it wasn’t enough to add more in the first period.

With Cody McNaughton in the box for hooking – his second straight penalty – Tyler Toffoli made a great individual effort after he skated into the open slot from the halfboards and snaped the puck high over the blocker of Sparks to get into the game within 1 goal. Guelph was quick to respond again as Hunter Garlent defected in a wrist shot to the open side of the net to regain the Storm’s 2-goal lead.

Early in the 3^rd period, Mike Vlajkov gave up the puck at the side of the net. Kosmachuck jumped on it and fed the puck behind to Garlent who notched his second straight goal.

The 67’s continued to press but couldn’t seem to capitalize on any chances. It wasn’t until Sparks got caught outside of the net where Ryan Van Stralen was able to pass the puck out front to Remy Giftopolous who shot it into the open net. Less than 20 seconds later, the 67’s would cut the lead back to 1 after Cody Ceci’s point shot was redirected in by Shane Prince.

New life was shot into the 67’s play, however it wasn’t enough time and despite some great scoring chances, Garret Sparks came up with some great saves and some help from his goal posts.

The 67’s have the day off Saturday, but return to action Sunday as they host the Malcolm Subban and the Belleville Bulls for the final home meeting of the season. Meanwhile, the Storm travel down the 401 to face the Belleville Bulls Saturday night and Kingston Sunday afternoon.

NOTES: Tyler Toffoli’s two goals places him in a tie with Seth Griffith of the London nights for the goal scoring lead with 40 … Toffoli still leads the OHL scoring race with 80 points in 49 games … Shane Prince extends his point streak to 26 points in 13 straight games … The Ottawa 67’s announced its plans to move operations to Scotiabank Place for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons while construction is done on the Lansdowne Live project. See more information here: http://ottawa67s.com/article/67-s-relocating-to-scotiabank-place-during-lansdowne-construction

Fronts shock 67’s 4-3 in regulation

OTTAWA – Despite being 35 points below, the Frontenacs seems to have the 67’s number.  Sophomore defenseman Kyler Nixon scored the game winner under 4 minutes left the 3^rd period to lead the Kingston Frontenacs to a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa 67’s.

Shane Prince opened the scoring with a sharp angle goal that flew over the shoulder of Igor Bobkov in the Kingston net.  The 67’s were all over the Fronts in the first period outshooting them 15-5 and forcing Bobkov to come up with some fantastic saves.

However, the second period was much different as the 67’s allowed three unanswered goals in the span of just over 7 minutes. The possible turning point, Conor Stokes scored an early goal on the powerplay after Petr Mrazek couldn’t hold onto the rebound.  Three minutes later, Mrazek catches a bad break after Warren Steele’s shot gets deflected off of Zanetti and into the net for the go ahead goal.  The Fronts would take a two-goal lead, Michal Cajkovsky had a defensive breakdown allowing Darcy Greenaway to effortlessly pick up the puck and fire it into the back of the net.

With help from a screen, Marc Zanetti responded on the powerplay to cut the Front lead to one.  Three and half minutes later, the Zanetti would factor in on another powerplay goal.  Mike Cazzola notched his 8^th of the season redirecting the point shot into the net to tie the game at 3.

It was a clean slate going into the third with momentum swinging Ottawa’s way… but it was all Kingston instead.  Mrazek made some great saves to give the 67’s the chance to win nevertheless it wasn’t enough.  Kyler Nixon fired a shot from the point that beat Mrazek for the eventual game winner.  With the loss, the 67’s season series record fell to 3-2-1 against the Fronts.

NOTES: Cody Ceci and Jake Cardwell missed their second straight game due to injuries but are expected to make a return Thursday night when the 67’s travel to Peterborough … Tyler Toffoli added 1 assist and has 12 points in 6 games vs the Fronts … The 67’s wore blue barberpole jerseys which are up for auction (here: http://prostatecancercanada.dojiggy.com/).  The full proceeds will go to Prostate Cancer research.