67’s eliminated after 3-2 regulation loss

After a disappointing game 4 loss at home, the Ottawa 67’s found themselves in a hole looking at a 3-1 series deficit.  A deficit they were able to overcome in round 2, but this time it was against a team that was relatively healthy and could roll a full four lines no problem.

It was not the start Ottawa wanted.  With Dalton Smith in the box for boarding, Freddie Hamilton set up Ryan Strome in the high slot and wired it past Petr Mrazek at the 2:02 mark of the first period to end his 6 game goalless drought.

Ottawa would respond with just over one minute later on the powerplay.  Mark Visentin made a huge save off a Mike Cajkovsky point shot, but let out a big rebound.  Sean Monahan was right in front and redirected the rebound into the back of the net.

The fans at the Gatorade Garden City Complex were treated to a nearly 20 minute delay well before the halfway mark of the game with a malfunctioning penalty box door.  Perhaps the IceDogs may have caught a break, as the 67’s were starting to get back into the game with a sense of urgency.  Play resumed for the 14 minute mark and Mrazek came up big stopping 17 of 19 shots fired his way in the first period as Niagara dominated the last half of the period.  Freddie Hamilton added a late goal after the 67’s got caught flatfooted creating a clean breakaway and Hamilton slid the puck through the fivehole on Mrazek.

The 67’s would come out for the second period until they ran into some penalty trouble.  Just as the powerplay expired, Alex Friesen would give the IceDogs a two-goal lead after tipping in a Dougie Hamilton shot from the short side.  Mrazek and Visentin were solid the rest of the period.

A powerplay midway through the third period would give the 67’s some life.  Tyler Toffoli fed Jake Cardwell who was all alone out front and made no mistake to tap it into a wide open net.

The 67’s caught another break as Freddie Hamilton took a bad penalty in the last two minutes.  The 67’s fired everything they could at Visentin, but despite two extra attackers and the scrambles out front – the buzzer horned signalling the end of the game. The end of the series and the end of junior hockey careers for Marc Zanetti, Daniel Broussard and Mike Cazzola.

The 67’s fell 3-2 to the Ice Dogs in regulation and fall 4 games to 1 in the series.  The Ice Dogs advance to the OHL Finals vs the London Knights for the first time in their club history.

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.

What you may have missed… Pre-game 5: Bulls @ 67’s

What you may have missed….

Suspension

After a spearing incident before game 2, Marc Zanetti’s OHL playoff fate was finally decided on Tuesday afternoon.  He was slapped with a 5 game suspension and won’t be available until game 7 if this current series goes that long.  Interesting to note, there was no video explanation for Zanetti’s suspension. I have attached a link to a video of the incident captured by from my phone.

Video here: http://www.twitvid.com/PD53R
Official word here: http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/article/ohl-announces-disciplinary-action/119767

Game 3

It was 3-1 going into the third period and it appeared the 67’s would take a 3-0 stranglehold on the series; however, the Bulls had other plans. Michael Curtis, Jake Worrad and the Bulls clawed their way back to tie the game to force overtime.  With momentum now in the Bulls favour, it took all of 14 seconds into the extra frame to decide the fate of the game.  Off the faceoff, Adam Payerl chipped a puck past rookie d-man Sean Callaghan creating a two-on-one rush. Jordan Mayer fired the puck top-shelf past Petr Mrazek to give the Bulls the overtime win and life in the playoff series.  The 67’s would now lead 2-1.

Game Summary: http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/schedule/show/game/61437

Game 4

After a heart-breaking overtime loss, one would think the 67’s would come out firing.  Instead, they became quickly frustrated after a series of undisciplined plays causing them to be short-hand for nearly half of the period.  Two quick goals and it was 2-0 Bulls before the 4 minute mark.

After taking 4 more penalties (8 straight), the 67’s began to regrouped in the second period and Petr Mrazek helped keep them in the game stopping all 14 shots in the period.  But Malcolm Subban was the difference as the 67’s had several great chances including a flurry of scoring opportunities late in the period. They were unable to capitalize. The score remained 2-0.

Austen Brassard gave the Bulls a 3-0 lead after he scored half way into the third period.  However, it was all but over.  Something clicked and the 67’s stormed back scoring three goals in a span of 7:15 to tie the game and force overtime.

Brady Austin stole the 67’s thunder after he fired a wrist shot past Mrazek who was screened by Jake Cardwell.  The Bulls tie the series at 2 with game 5 heading back to Ottawa Friday night.

Game summary: http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/schedule/show/game/61447

Thoughts.

Coming into this series, most thought it would be a walk in the park.  However, analyzing the regular season more closely gives you some other thoughts.

–Home ice advantage. The atmosphere plays a huge part, but in this series the ice surface has played a bigger part.  On the Olympic-sized ice, the 67’s struggle with part of their game.  The 67’s outscored the Bulls 24-4 in Ottawa, but only 17-14 in Belleville.  During the regular season, all the games were close 1-goal games with the exception to one 2-goal game.  The ice surface encourages speed and reduces physical play which has led to many 67’s wins this season.

–Lack of discipline.  The 67’s were the third least penalized team during the regular season, but they are now at the middle of the pack.  Good news is that the 67’s penalty kill is top in the playoffs at 95.5% success rate, but the undisciplined play has more importantly affected the momentum shifts during the games.  Their getting away from their game plan and getting caught in Belleville’s.

–The 67’s best players have not their best players this series. Generally speaking, Tyler Toffoli has been the only veteran to step up.  Petr Mrazek has shown flashes of brilliance, but no one has come close to what they showed in the regular season.  Toffoli needs to continue his good play, but the likes of Shane Prince, Dalton Smith, Cody Ceci and Sean Monahan need to find a spark to get them going again.

–Mrazek mediocre.  While Mrazek’s season hasn’t been as flashy as last season or his time during the 2012 World Junior Championships, his game has not been up to par.  He has been making some outstanding saves, but he also has let in some weak ones that he wishes he could have back.  Defense has to improve, but Mrazek needs to be there as well.

Bulls seeing red as 67’s take a 2-0 series lead

The Ottawa 67’s faced off against the Belleville Bulls for the 12^th time this season in front of a home crowd of 8,958.  There was no love lost between these two teams tonight.  After several minutes of chirping at centre ice lots of pushing and shoving broke out during the pre-game warm ups.  It was quickly broken up by the officials and Marc Zanetti was assessed a 5-minute match penalty for spearing and thus thrown from the game before it even started.

This set the tone.

Fired up after last night’s overtime thriller and tonight’s pre-game incident, both teams came out of the gate flying.  The 67’s started to throw the body around more and made an impact on the pace of the game.

Brett Gustavsen made a great effort to get the 67’s on the board.  He recovered from a collision in the corner, skated straight to the net, grabbed a rebound from Remy Giftopolous’ shot and fired it past Malcolm Subban for the early 1-0 lead.

Three minutes later, the Bulls respond as Sean Callaghan couldn’t hold the puck in at the blueline causing to a two-on-one break the opposite way.  After a great first stop from Petr Mrazek, the puck flew into mid-air and Michael Curtis tapped it in for a high rebound.

Sean Monahan would regain the 67’s lead after jumping on a big rebound and shooting it into the open net after the powerplay expired.  Subban made a great first stop, but with no defenseman covering the right side and Subban now out of position, the net was wide opened and 67’s capitalized.

Rough play started early, but the game’s first fight did not come until the 14 minute mark.  After making an extra shot at Mrazek after the whistle, Tyler Graovac took exception and attempted to drop the gloves with Joseph Cramarossa.  It wasn’t much of a fight since the linesmen jumped right in with Cramarossa still managing to get a couple extra shots.  Three minutes later, Dalton Smith and Adam Payerl continued what they started in the warmup.  Smith took Payerl to the ice with four shots.

Time expired for the first 20 minutes.  Unlike last game where the teams took their turns dominating the play, both teams skated away with an even effort.

They did, however take their turns with undisciplined play after the first and into the second period.  After killing off a lengthy 67’s two-man advantage, the Bulls were stopped on a lengthy two-man advantage for themselves.  There were several great chances and great goaltending on both ends as the teams were scoreless in the second.  Sean Monahan must have had 3 great chances but was unable to bury them.

Early in the third, Monahan jumped on a bouncing puck, grabbed his own rebound and made no mistake to fire it past Subban for the eventual game winner.

Cramarossa would respond for the Bulls and finally solved Mrazek again after some hard work from his line. It appeared that the puck re-directed off of Steven Janes, but it was Cramarossa original bullet shot that got past Mrazek.  The intensity just cranked up higher for the final 10 minutes of the third with the 67’s holding on to a thin one-goal lead.  After pulling the goaltender for an extra attacker, Prince rounded out the scoring on an empty net for his first goal of the playoffs.  Subban was solid with 29 saves, but Mrazek stole the show after stopping 44 shots fired his way,

The 67’s now hold a 2-0 series lead over the Bulls.  Both teams have a time to recoup before heading to Belleville for games 3 & 4 on Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night from the Yardmen Arena.

Three Stars
1. Petr Mrazek, Ottawa
2. Sean Monahan, Ottawa
3. Joseph Cramarossa, Belleville