NHL Prospects at the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup

Host Team:  Red Deer Rebels

#4 Haydn Fleury (CAR)
#6 Nelson Nogier (WPG)
#9 Conner Bleackley (ARZ)
#19 Jake DeBrusk (BOS)
#23 Michael Spacek (WPG)
#25 Adam Musil (STL)
#28 Adam Helewka (SJS)

2016 NHL Draft Eligible
#3 Colton Bobyk
#11 Jeffrey de Wit
#22 Brandon Hagel
#31 Rylan Toth

OHL Champion:  London Knights

#10 Christian Dvorak (ARZ)
#20 Daniel Bernhardt (NYR)
#21 CJ Yakimowicz (STL)
#86 Chris Martenet (DAL)
#89 JJ Piccinich (TOR)
#93 Mitch Marner (TOR)

2016 NHL Draft Eligible
#1 Tyler Parsons
#3 Nicolas Mattinen
#4 Olli Juolevi
#7 Matt Tkachuk
#49 Max Jones
#63 Cliff Pu
#98 Victor Mete

QMJHL Champion:  Rouyn-Noranda Huskies

#5 Jérémy Lauzon (BOS)
#6 Philippe Myers (PHI)
#8 Anthony-John Greer (COL)
#10 Martins Dzierkals (TOR)
#11 Julien Nantel (COL)
#16 Jean-Christophe Beaudin (COL)
#20 Timo Meier (SJ)
#27 Francis Perron (OTT)

2016 NHL Draft Eligible
#3 Jacob Neveu

WHL Champion:  Brandon Wheat Kings

#8 Jayce Hawryluk (FLA)
#9 Ivan Provorov (PHI)
#17 John Quenneville (NJD)
#20 Macoy Erkamps (OTT)
#23 Tim McGauley (WSH)
#27 Reid Duke (MIN)

2016 NHL Draft Eligible
#10 Kale Clague
#16 Tanner Kaspick

NHL prospects in the 3rd round of the OHL Playoffs

Anaheim Ducks = 1
Julius Nattinen – Barrie Colts

Arizona Coyotes = 3
Brendan Perlini – Niagara IceDogs
Dylan Strome – Erie Otters
Christian Dvorak – London Knights

Calgary Flames = 2
Andrew Mangiapane – Barrie Colts
Rasmus Andersson – Barrie Colts

Carolina Hurricanes = 2
Alex Nedeljkovic – Niagara IceDogs
Josh Wesley – Niagara IceDogs

Chicago Blackhawks = 2
Roy Radke – Barrie Colts
Graham Knott – Niagara IceDogs

Columbus Blue Jackets = 2
Blake Siebenaler – Niagara IceDogs
Jordan  Maletta – Niagara IceDogs

Dallas Stars = 2
Aaron Haydon – Niagara IceDogs
Chris Martenet – London Knights

Los Angeles Kings = 1
Jake Marchment – Erie Otters

Minnesota Wild = 1
Pavel Jenys – Niagara IceDogs

New Jersey Devils = 1
Mackenzie Blackwood – Barrie Colts

New York Islanders = 1
Joshua Ho-Sang – Niagara IceDogs

New York Rangers = 2
Ryan Mantha – Niagara IceDogs
Daniel Bernhardt – London Knights

San Jose Sharks = 2
Kevin Labanc – Barrie Colts
Dylan Sadowy – Barrie Colts

St Louis Blues = 2
Vince Dunn – Niagara IceDogs
CJ Yakimowicz – London Knights

Toronto Maple Leafs = 3
JJ Piccinich – London Knights
Mitch Marner – London Knights
Travis Dermott – Erie Otters

Vancouver Canucks = 1
Kyle Pettit – Erie Otters

67’s on the brink of elimination after 5-2 loss

OTTAWA – Petr Mrazek stop 39 shots, but it wasn’t enough as the Niagara IceDogs skated to a 5-2 victory over the host Ottawa 67’s.  The win gives the IceDogs a 3-1 series lead and puts the 67’s in a must win situation Friday night at the Gatorade Garden City Complex.

Despite an early powerplay chance, the Ottawa 67’s didn’t get off to a very good start.  The Niagara IceDogs did a great job of keeping the 67’s to the perimeter and limiting their chances – in fact, the 67’s had no shots and no chances in the first 6 and a half minutes of the game.

However the momentum started to change once they finally got their first shot – and it was a great chance that Mark Visentin had to be ready for.  The 67’s started to produce more scoring chances with help from another 2 straight powerplay opportunity.  On each end of the rink, the goaltenders were solid. 

It wasn’t until the 10 minute mark of the first period that the 67’s would open the scoring.  With Remy Giftopolous in the box serving a too many men on the ice penaltiy, Tyler Graovac bounced the puck of the boards in the neutral zone and beat Dougie Hamilton to the net.  Dalton Smith grabbed the loose puck in the slot and wired it top shelf past Visentin.

After 20 minutes, the IceDogs outshot the 67’s 15-12.

The 67’s started to get into a bit of penalty trouble in the second period and took 3 penalties in the first 8 minutes.  The Ice Dogs continued to fire shot after shot and Petr Mrazek had to come up big on several flurry of shots.  While Mrazek stood on his head, the team in front of him started to collapse.  After a big initial save, the puck took a weird bounce onto Andrew Agozzino’s stick.  He made no mistake a tapped it in effortlessly into the opened Ottawa net.

After 40 minutes, the IceDogs outshot the 67’s 17-11 for a total of 32-23 IceDogs.

Focusing at the period at hand, the Ottawa 67’s regrouped in the 3^rd period and started to look like they did in the first period.  Off a great individual effort, Tyler Toffoli netted his 1^st goal in 4 games.  He deked out Jesse Graham, went backhand to forehand, and then slid it past Visentin to give the 67’s the go-ahead goal.

The IceDogs would respond.  With only one man back, Alex Friesen catches a wide open Andrew Agozzino in the slot who makes a beautiful stickhandling move to get the puck past Mrazek.  That was Agozzino’s second of the night.

Less than a minute later, the IceDogs would get their first lead of the game.  From a defensive breakdown off the faceoff, Ottawa native David Pacan grabbed a hold of his rebound as it squeezed under Mrazek’s pads.  This ultimately led to the 67’s collapse.                   

David Pacan would tally his second of the game on the powerplay beating Mrazek on a sharp angle – a goal he would like to have back.

The IceDogs would round out the scoring with an empty net goal from Freddie Hamilton.  His first in 5 games since his breakout 5 point night earlier this month.

The 67’s fall 5-2 and will try to force a game 6 in Niagara Friday night.  You can catch the action on the Team 1200 or Rogers Cable 22.

Round 2 Preview: Ottawa 67’s (2) vs Barrie Colts (3)

REGULAR SEASON

Ottawa 67’s 1-1-1-1
Barrie Colts 3-1-0-0

This was a very close battle all season long.  All four games were decided by 1 goal with the exception to the third game of the regular season series where Ottawa netted a late insurance goal for a 2 goal win.

Nov 18/11 Barrie 6 @ Ottawa 5, OT
Dec 17/11 Ottawa 6 @ Barrie 4
Jan 28/12 Ottawa 1 @ Barrie 2
Feb 24/12 Barrie 5 @ Ottawa 4, SO

The two teams match up very well from top to bottom including goal differential.  Both have great firepower, but lack the same level of talent on the blueline.  Ottawa’s depth at scoring could become a determining factor.

OTTAWA                              POST-SEASON
Goals For- 268                   Goals For- 16
Goals Against- 216           Goals Against- 16

BARRIE                                 POST-SEASON
Goals For- 248                   Goals For- 16
Goals Against- 210           Goals Against- 16

The top performers during the regular season between these two clubs are as follows.  With Tanner Pearson out with an injury, the Colts will look to Telegin, Behenna and Sheifele to fill Pearson’s vacant role.  Toffoli has performed well so far in these playoffs, but the likes of Shane Prince and Dalton Smith have a lot of room to improve.

• Tanner Pearson- 3 goals, 7 points in 3 games
• Ivan Telegin- 4 goals, 5 points in 4 games
• Colin Behenna- 3 goals, 5 points in 4 games
• Mark Sheifele-1 goal, 5 points in 3 games

• Tyler Toffoli- 4 goals, 7 points in 4 games
• Shane Prince-3 goals, 4 points in 3 games
• Dalton Smith- 2 goals, 4 points in 4 games

 

LINEUP CHANGES

Barrie’s Tanner Pearson will likely miss the remainder of the playoffs after breaking his fibula early in the final game of the regular season.  The Colts are also unsure about centre Zach Hall who has been out with a concussion since game 2 vs Mississauga.

After sitting 5 games for a pre-game spearing incident, Ottawa Captain Marc Zanetti is eligible return for game 1 of this series.  Joining Zanetti will be Daniel Broussard who was sitting the full first round series with an injury.  These two additions will help solidify the Ottawa defense back to how it was this regular season.

 

SPECIALTY TEAMS

The 67’s powerplay has suffered, but they are still up 5% from the regular season.  Their penalty continues to be strong up 1.4% from the regular season.  Meanwhile the Colts stats have gone down from their series with the Mississauga Majors – down from 22.7% on the powerplay and 75.0% on the penalty kill.
Ottawa                 Barrie

PP- 25.0%            PP- 17.6%
PK- 82.4%            PK- 75.0%

 

FORWARDS

With Pearson out, the Colts will rely on the other three big guns to fill the void left by him.  Overage captain Colin Behenna was paired with World Junior and Winnipeg Jet standout Mark Scheifele.  The two players complement each other.  Behenna’s hard work and Scheifele’s hockey sense and playmaking skills have helped them become solid forces to beat on the Colts.  Ivan Telegin is another Colt that had an impressive regular season.  He represented Russia in the World Juniors and is also a prospect of the Winnipeg Jets. He started off slow, but really turned things around once he returned from the tournament finishing 64 points in 46 games.

Tyler Toffoli, Shane Prince and Sean Monahan were the three top standouts in terms of offensive production for the 67’s.  While Prince and Monahan have shown some flashes of brilliance, Toffoli has stolen the show with 9 points in 6 games.  Monahan has some great moves, but has not been able to finish.  It seems as if the loss of newly acquired centreman John McFarland has added some extra pressure on Monahan’s role.  If Prince and Monahan can find their game, they will be hard to beat.  Add in Dalton Smith and Tyler Graovac (two players who have put up the points before) and the depth is just that much stronger than the Colts.

The skill and speed of the forwards are interchangeable on both sides.

 

DEFENCEMAN

It is a young defense on the Colts that have been taken advantage of in the past.  Aaron Ekblad has arguably been one of Barrie’s best defenseman.  This young underaged player has logged high minutes and been put in important situations (PP & PK) by his coach. He needs to work on his consistency to stay effective in this series.  His d-parter, Reid McNeill has also been a standout this season.  He has also been places in key situations and has more importantly been a mentor for Ekblad.

The 67’s blueline is relatively young and inexperienced like the Colts.  The team really suffered when the lost both Zanetti and Broussard for the first round.  The 67’s relied heavily on Cody Ceci, Jake Cardwell and Sean Callaghan.  Cody Ceci has had an outstanding year.  This draft prospect has rose to the challenge and has a key role with quarterbacking the powerplay.  Jake Cardwell has also shown some great skill and work ethic.

The two teams match up well with defense… as long as they can both stay healthy.

 

GOALTENDING

Mathias Niederberger was the early favorite for starting goaltender after a strong camp.  Alike the rest of his club, but started to struggle in late October.  After appearing in the recent World Juniors (Division 1-A) and being awarded the tournament’s best goaltender, things started to turn around.  He hasn’t been outstanding in the playoffs but has played well enough to win.

Petr Mrazek been coasting most of the season.  A few bad games, a few great game – but ultimately gave Ottawa a chance to win on any given night.  He struggled with the Barrie Colts this season losing both games – one in OT and one in a SO.  His play in the post-season has been mediocre to great.  He started to come back to form in the last two games after helping Ottawa close out their first round series in 6 games.

Because of Mrazek’s previous experience with OHL playoffs and the World Juniors – the difference in this series could come down to goaltending & Mrazek could potentially steal this series.

 

COACHING

Chris Byrne has been with the 67’s since the 2006-07 OHL season.  Byrne took over as head coach in 2009.  He has consistently coach his team to a top spot in the OHL Eastern Conference standings.  Unfortunately, playoffs have not been the strongest point.  Of the five years with the 67’s, this is only the second time the 67’s have made it past the first round.

On the other end, Dale Hawerchuk is only entering his second OHL season.  Barrie did not make the playoffs last season and has since rebuilt into a contender this season.  His first OHL playoff experience is now.

Fronts fail to hang on to 4-0 lead over 67’s

The game looked innocent for both team in the opening minutes.  That’s until Kingston netted their first goal of the game. David Mazurek jumped on a turnover and fed the puck to Petr Beranek whose shot slid over the shoulder of Karsten Pankhurst and in.  Pankhurst continued to have trouble stopping the pucks up high allowing goals by Darcy Greenaway and Cody Alcock.  Jean Dupuy got the Fronts fourth straight goal with the clock ticking down for the end of the first period.

It wasn’t looking good for the Ottawa 67’s as they found themselves down 4-0 after 20 minutes.  That was until Sean Monahan’s goal in the second period lit a fire under the 67’s.  The Fronts had trouble hanging on to the puck in their own zone.  Ryan Van Stralen took advantage of it and got Ottawa’s second goal of the game.

The Ottawa 67’s continued to put on the pressure in the third period.  Nick Foglia got the first goal while Cody Ceci got the tying goal – scoring with only 2:55 minutes left in the game.

The Fronts failed to take advantage off a 5-on-3 opportunity in the final seconds of the game.  As there is no overtime or shootouts in the OHL pre-season, the game ended in a 4-4 tie.

NEXT GAME:
Belleville Bulls @ Ottawa 67’s – 7:30pm

NEWS AND NOTES:
Due to NHL camps, injuries and a couple suspensions, both teams played with 15 skaters … The Fronts were down to four dmen in the last half of the game after Alex Gudbranson left with an undisclosed injury … Blake Richards and Craig Wood share goaltending duties in tonight’s game.  The Fronts are hoping to determine who will become Igor Bobkov’s backup when he returns … Shayne Campbell is expected to return from Philadelphia Flyers camp soon … Shane Prince made the Senators main camp that will start later this week.

AROUND THE ‘O:
Belleville Bulls 6, Oshawa Generals 5

Majors muzzle Ice Dogs in series opener

MISSISSAUGA – It all caught the Niagara Ice Dogs by surprise as the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors skated to a 3-0 victory to lead the Eastern Conference Final series 1-0.  The win marks the Majors’ 19^th straight victory starting from a 6-1 regular season win over the Belleville Bulls back on February 27^th.  JP Anderson was solid in nets and picked up his 4^th shutout of the season by setting aside all 23 shots fired his way.

The Majors opened the scoring 48 seconds in to the first period as Jordan Mayer got the puck past Mark Visentin.  Standout European import, Maxim Kitsyn made a great individual effort on the play obtaining control of the puck in front of the net before passing it back to Mayer.  Devante Smith-Pelley made it 2-0 for the Majors after scoring on the sharp angle with 6 minutes remaining in the opening frame.

The quick opening goal and 2-0 lead deflated the Ice Dogs.  They were not able to recover against the defensive-minded Majors team.  The Majors dominated the play for the majority of the game outskating the young Ice Dogs defense and winning the battles in front of the net.

Halfway through the second period Jamie Wise gets a hold of a rebound and shoots the puck short side and in past Visentin to put the Majors up by a score of 3-0.

Despite having the #1 ranked powerplay in the OHL playoffs, the Ice Dogs were unable to capitalize on their 5 powerplay chances. The Majors defensive core did a great job of shutting down the Ice Dogs’ usual powerplay point leaders Andrew Agozzino and Freddie Hamilton.   This did not come to a surprise to the Majors’ faithful as the team has been ranked #1 on the penalty kill for the OHL playoffs.

In an effort to spark a fire under his team, Ryan Strome – an unlikely candidate – dropped the mitts with Dylan DeMelo late in the second period.  The Ice Dogs showed some life in the third period creating a ton of chances even strength, but were unable to finish.  JP Anderson continued his dominance improving his record to 6-0 and 4 goals against vs the Niagara Ice Dogs.

Game 2 is Thursday night when the Ice Dogs will look to even up the series in front of a home crowd at the Gatorade Garden City Complex in Niagara. Puck drops at 7:05pm.