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.

Gustavsen scores winner in OT thriller

Brett Gustavsen scored the winning goal at the 2:09 mark in overtime to lead the Ottawa 67’s to a 4-3 victory over the visiting Barrie Colts.

The 67’s came strong out of the gate, dominating the play and outshooting the Colts 6-2 within the first 3 minutes.  However, it was the Colts that drew first blood.  Gregg Sutch muscled Jake Cardwell off the puck skated into opened ice and released a quick wrist shot that zoomed past Petr Mrazek and it to the net.

Continuing to put the physical pressure on the Colts, the 67’s attempted to wear down an already delpleted team.  Coach Chris Byrne commented, “Yeah, that was the idea.  We wanted to finish checks and did a great job of getting pucks low on their [defensemen].”

This resulted in the Colt’s losing forward Ivan Telegin after what seemed to be a harmless low hit from Steven Janes.  Telegin did not return and the Colts certainly missed him.

The play continued at both ends of the ice forcing both goaltenders to make some tough saves.  The 67’s wouldn’t tie it up until the halfway into the second period when Tyler Graovac found an opened Dalton Smith in the slot.  Smith made no mistake and tapped it past Mathias Niederberger.

Coach Byrne praised Smith after the game, “He’s played hard.  He plays the same way every night. It’s nice to see him get rewarded with that goal going to the net.”

Momentum switched and it was all Ottawa for the next twenty minutes.  That was until Josh MacDonald streaked in from the right side and beat Mrazek with long shot that tipped off Cardwell’s stick.  The Colts regained their 1-goal lead and sucked the atmosphere out of the J Benson Cartage Centre.

Just under 4 minutes later, Cody Ceci wired a bullet shot from the point.  The puck hit Steven Janes’ stick and deflected the puck over the pad of Niederberger.  This sparked new life into the 67’s and into the crowd.  Niederberger stood on his head making several key saves to keep his team in it.

The 67’s then got a break.  With 1:05 remaining in a tied game, the Colts were caught with too many men on the ice as Gregg Sutch was sent to serve it.  With 25 seconds left in the third period, Toffoli fed the puck into the slot where Monahan shot it past a screened Neiderberger.

It was all but over.

Something remarkable happened.  With 8.7 seconds left in the period and 16 seconds after the 67’s go-ahead goal, Mark Scheifele bats the puck out of mid-air and Mrazek had no chance.

“It was a tough break, you know.  We got the puck on a stick, it hit the glass in the air and came back up in front of the net.  It was a tough tough break you know,” Coach Byrne commented on the play.

It was now a tied game and headed for overtime.

Both teams came out firing, but it was the 67’s that were the last standing.  Just over two minutes into the extra frame, Brett Gustavsen shoots the puck on the sharp angle and the puck squeaked past Neiderberger for the win.

“There was a shift before too.  Everyone was going to the net, everyone was working hard. And that’s what happens you know, when you get momentum out there you’re going to score goals and that’s what we did,” said Gustavsen commenting on his big game winning goal.

What does Coach Byrne think of the rookie forward?

“There’s no quit to him.  Sometimes it’s to his own detriment, but most of the time it helps us a ton and he had a great first year here.  That’s for sure.”

The 67’s stormed back from a 3-1 series deficit and won the series in 7.  All credit to the 67’s as they slowly took the series game by game, one shift at a time and were rewarded by forcing a game 6 and later a game 7. It was a roller coaster of a series and this game summed it up.

“We got work to do, so we’ll get at it right now for sure … They’re a good team, so we’ll have to be ready for them on Friday night,” comments Coach Byrne regarding the win and facing the Niagara Ice Dogs in the Eastern Conference finals.

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

Hamilton leads IceDogs to a 5-1 win

Freddie Hamilton scored his 6^thgame winning goal at the 19:52 minute mark in the first period to lead the Niagara IceDogs to a 5-1 victory over the Ottawa 67’s.

It was a highly anticipated battle for first place in the Eastern Conference.  The Ottawa 67’s were hosting the red hot Niagara IceDogs – a team that has only lost 3 games in their last 26 games since the new year.  Instead of coming out firing, the 67’s allowed themselves to get caught up in lost momentum from an early double highsticking minor and set the tone for the remainder of the game.

The 67’s successfully killed off the 4 minutes against the league leading IceDogs’ powerplay but the IceDog’s momentum continued.  The Niagara IceDogs drew first blood after Freddie Hamilton scored right off the faceoff just under 7 minutes into the game.  The 67’s would get their first shot on net only 7:28 into the first.

After some decent chances, the 67’s would finally respond when Shane Prince grabbed a Tyler Graovac drop pass and fired it past Mark Visentin to tie the game at 1.  With 4 minutes left in the first, it appeared the two teams would head to intermission in a tie.  However, F Hamilton had other plans.  He notched his second of the game with 7 seconds left to give the IceDogs a 2-1 lead going into the second period.

The 67’s never seemed to recover from the early momentum changing penalty.   Niagara continued to beat Ottawa to the loose pucks, the battles in the corners, quality chances and most importantly on the scoreboard.  Mrazek made a couple highlight reel saves on Alex Friesen but was beat moments later.  Ryan Strome stole the puck away from Jake Cardwell creating a 2-on-1 rush the opposite way.  He fed the puck to F Hamiliton who made no mistake to tap it past Mrazek for his hattrick goal.

The IceDogs would add two more early in the third period.  Andrew Agozzino got his 39^th of the season than 30 seconds later Joel Wigle would add his 9^th.  Visentin was not tested much, but helped keep him team in the game.

The 67’s remain in the second spot in the Eastern Conference while the IceDogs go up 3 points remaining in the first spot.  The IceDogs also clinch their division with the convincing win.  Ottawa will look for redemption on March 17^th when they travel to Niagara for their final meeting of the season.

Meanwhile, the 67’s will prepare for their other three remaining games in the regular season vs Majors, Wolves & Battalion and will try to gain ground on the IceDogs.  The 67’s host the Mississauga St.  Michael’s Majors Sunday afternoon at 2pm.

THREE STARS
1. Freddie Hamilton
2. Andrew Agozzino
3. Mark Visentin

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.

67’s spank Gens 8-3

OTTAWA – After steamrolling over the Peterborough Petes 9-4 just the night before, the 67’s didn’t seem to want to let up.  Steven Janes had a pair of goals and an assist enroute to lead the Ottawa 67’s to an 8-3 victory over the Oshawa Generals Friday night.

However, it wasn’t like that all game.  The early first period, the Gens were all over the 67’s with Petr Mrazek standing tall in net.  It wasn’t until after two fights broke out that we would see the first goal scored in the game.  With the Generals killing a penalty in the final minute, Boone Jenner breaks away with Nicklas Jensen and sets him up to beat Mrazek shorthanded sending the 67’s away with a one goal deficit after the first.

The 67’s regrouped during the first intermission and came out of the gate flying scoring two quick goals within 44 seconds.  With a powerplay extended over into the second, Marc Zanetti fired a shot from the point that made its way through the traffic and past Nepean native Daniel Altshuller.  Next, John McFarland sneaks in and shoots it top shelf and in.

The Gens would respond.  Off a great feed from Lucas Lessio, Nicklas Jensen tips it the puck past Mrazek to tie the game up at 2.  Cody Ceci regained the 67’s lead after sending a bullet shot from the point into the back of the net.  Less than 40 seconds later, Steven Janes would give the 67’s the go ahead goal after catching a big rebound.  The 67’s wouldn’t stop there.  Jake Cardwell scored Ottawa’s 3^rd powerplay goal of the period increasing their lead to 3 goals chasing Altshuller from nets after the second.

Kevin Bailie would replace Altshuller at the beginning of the 3^rd period.  Just over a minute in, Tyler Toffoli notches his 35^th goal of the season after the bouncing puck hit Julian Melchiori and in the net.  Sebastian Uvira cut the 67’s lead in half after taping a puck trickling past Mrazek.  The Gens fired 12 more shots his way, but couldn’t solve Mrazek.  Dalton Smith and Steven Janes would round out the scoring to add to the 12 different 67’s players that touched the scoresheet.

NEXT UP:

The Ottawa 67’s will host the Kitchener Rangers in a Sunday afternoon matchup at 2pm.  The Oshawa Generals host the Kingston Frontenacs Saturday night at 7:05pm.  The Fronts just came off a 9-1 romping of the Kitchener Rangers Friday night.

Toffoli nets 300th point as 67’s stomp 6-1 over Bulls

OTTAWA – After a disappointing effort Friday night, the 67’s stormed out of the gates and bounced back quickly.  Petr Mrazek stopped 37 of 38 shots while Jake Cardwell led the way in scoring with 2 goals and an assist.

The Ottawa 67’s struck first.  Shane Prince made a nice feed to Cardwell who was sitting on the doorstep and tapped it past Charlie Graham in the Bulls net.  This opened the flood gates.  Less than 4 minutes later Tyler Toffoli would score his league leading 34^th goal of the season and his 300^th OHL career point.  Just over a minute later, Shane Prince would give the 67’s a 3-goal lead.  Off an outstanding individual effort, he went forehand to backhand putting the puck in the back of the net after catching Graham in bad positioning.

Head coach George Burnett quickly called a timeout to gather his troops.  The Bulls tightened up defensively and did not allow any more goals in the 1^st period.

After some great saves by Graham, the 67’s would crack him again.  Dalton Smith tipped his 12^th goal of the season off a Cody Ceci point shot.  Deja-vu for the Bulls when Cardwell would score his second of the game 51 seconds later off a great play by Tyler Graovac.

The Bulls finally responded when Joseph Cramarossa would get a hold of a big rebound from Brendan Gaunce’s original shot breaking Mrazek’s shutout bid.  But that didn’t silence the 67’s, newly acquired Mike Cazzola went top shelf to regain the 67’s 5-goal lead and round out the scoring.

The 67’s and Bulls went scoreless in the 3^rd period, but it wasn’t for a lack of shooting.  Each team saw some big saves on both sides of the ice with the shots ending 40-38 in favour of the 67’s.

NEXT UP:

The Ottawa 67’s travel to Peterborough to face the Petes on Thursday night at 7:05pm & return to Ottawa on Friday night hosting the Oshawa Generals at 7:30pm.
The Belleville Bulls host the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors on Wednesday night at 7:05pm.