WarHero

"I love the habs!"

Ottawa, ON • Canada • 39 Years Old • Male

OHL LIVE BLOG: 67's vs. Otters at 7:30 PM - Feb 11th, 2011

It’s Game Day folks and the playoffs are sure thing! Life is grand for 67′s fans!

In last Sunday’s game, our boys laid a goose egg on the London knights beating them 4 – 0. Petr Mrazek got the shutout for his 4th of the year and the winning goal came off the stick of Julian Luciani. Both teams played a very tight defensive game but Ottawa was able to expose the Knights defense in the 3rd with great passing and speed. I have to give a tonne a credit to the Knights for keeping it close for so long. It was there 3rd game in 3 nights in what was a very long road trip. I was at ice level for that game and got to see just how big the Knights defense corps is … oh man ….some of those kids are huge and STILL growing … wow!

I loved the Smith-Graovac-Carnevale line. That line played a very gritty game and contributed the second goal on Sunday. We will need this kind of play down the stretch as other teams start pouring it on so I hope that Coach Byrne decides to keep this line together for awhile.

Lastly, Our boys provided a solid 60 minute effort. There was no sign of a late game collapse. Instead, our boys kept taking it to the Knights and were perfect on the PK. Have the breakdowns been solved? Let’s hope so!

On to today …. the Errie Otters are in town. They are led offensively by Greg McKegg with 66 points and have been on a hot streak, winning 7 of there last 10 games.. They are currently juggling for a playoff position with London, Guelph, Windsor and Plymouth for the final 5 positions in the western conference. The Otters could really use these points so we should be expecting a tough game. I wouldn’t have it any other way …

Pre-game Notes:

- This is the second, and final, meeting between the clubs this year. Ottawa won 6 – 3 last time.
- Keep your eye on Anthony Luciani, Greg McKegg & Phil Varone for the Otters.
- The 67′s are 6-4-0-0 in their last 10 games. Going back in the right direction.
- Tyler Toffoli leads the OHL in scoring, Shane Prince is only 9 points behind.

Keys to the game for Ottawa:

- Be disciplined! The Otters are the 1oth ranked PP in the league @ 20.7%
- Use our speed to draw penalties. We are ranked 1st on the PP @ 23.4%, let’s use it!
- The penalty kill just keeps getting better. We are ranked 3rd overall in the PK @ 83.5%
- Be aggressive when fore checking in all zones.
- Make smart passes to help gain the 0-zone and break out of the d-zone.
- Spread the offense around. Secondary scoring will be the key to victories down the stretch.

Starting Line-Ups: (I will announce 60 minutes before the game)

Ottawa 67’s:

Forwards: Nesbitt, Lindsay, Monahan
Defense: Cardwell, Gibbons
Nets: Mrazek

Errie Otters:

Forwards: Luciani, Varone, Thompson
Defense: Shields, Holden
Nets: Sadikov
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First Period - 20:00

- Gibbons just misses with a high slapper

- Nice counter attack by Erie

- 6 - 0 for Ottawa in the faceoffs so far ... nice!

- Good hit by Sedlak at the Erie banch

- Wow ... that almost got tipped in

- Terrible offside .... our boys don't look quite right yet .. I can sense something ...

Erie Goal - Brett Thompson (35) - Assists: Varone (34)

First Period - 15:00

- Nice hit by Graovac!

- Terrible give away by Gibbons leads to Mrazek having to make a nice glove save

- Ceci wires right off of Sadikov's chest ..

- The Otters are very agressive on the fore check, causing Ottawa to turn the puck over

- Wow .... that barely missed folks ... Erie is taking it to us .. time to wake up!

- Ottawa's third line showing some jam to generate some pressure

First Period - 10:00

- Nice pad save by Mrazek! To bad it was him that gave it away ...

- Nice hit by Cody Lindsay!

- Amazing save by Mrazek off the Erie one-timer!

- How did we not get a shot on that 2 - 1? Not good enough ...

- Great job by Graovac ... to bad his missed the net

- What's going on with the 1st line? They look way off ...

First Period - 05:00

- That almost went in due to Mrazek not quite catching it

- Did someone spike the 67's water? The Otters are skating circles around us ..

- Great save by Mrazek!

- Well ... theres a couple nice chances .. finally!

- Not good enough Zanetti, terrible turnover!

- Wow ... McKegg allowed to walk right to the net ... thank god he missed

End of First Period - Otters lead, 1 - 0
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Second Period - 20:00

- I have never seen our boys so sloppy this year ... props to Erie

- We look totally off our game due to Erie's aggressiveness

- Good solid hit by Fielding

- Terrible give away leads to that Erie chance

- What that a shot by us ... comon boys!!

- Prince gets absolutely robbed in front off Ottawa's best chance of the game

- Nice hit by Monahan!!

Second Period - 15:00

- Couple great chance for Ottawa's second line

- Carnevale takes out his on the boards

- Great chance for Ottawa ... but the play is whistled down prematurely .. thanks Ref!

- Prince fans on a great pass in front from Martindale

- The Otters transition game is on tonight folks .. ours .. not so much!

- Shot from the point almost fools Sadikov

- Carnevale with a good chance off the 3 on 1 but shoots it right into the numbers

Second period - 10:00

- On man .... sure goal in front for Shane Prince but he can't finish it

- Sedlak rips it from the points and Sadikov gets the glove on it

- Great job by Cardwell to take out his man in the d-zone

- The third line is dishing out the hits everywhere! Nice!

- Toffolis first gets blocked .. the second gets saved ...

- Wow ... Toffoli just misses on the one-timer

Second Period - 05:00

- How did we not score on that entire sequence?

- Ottawa steals the puck back

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Jon Carnevale (5) - Assists: Sedlak (10)

- Martindale rode hard into the boards

- Nice pad save by Mrazek

- Juicy rebound for the 67's but no one there to get it

- Toffoli skates gingerly to the box ... interesting ..

End of Second Period - 67's tie it up, 1 - 1
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Third period - 20:00

- Ottawa shot goes right through the crease

- Penalty (Ott) - Cody Lindsay - 2 minutes for high sticking

- Penalty (Ott) - Marc Zanetti - 2 minutes for delay of game, Erie 5 - 3

- Otters Goal - Szydlowski (30) - On on the power play - Score 2 - 1 Otters

- Great pad save by Mrazek!

- Nice play by Mrazek to clear that puck!

Third Period - 15:00

- Sweet hit by Gibbons

- Oh my ... nice wrap around!

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Shane Prince (23) - Assists: Graovac (8) - Score: 2 - 2

- Otters breakaway ..

- Otters Goal - Mike Cazzola (13) - Assists: Cook (7)

- Why is Toffoli waiting at center? We could use more help on D!

- Not much to say folks ... Erie wants it more

- Oh man ..... Lindsay comes sooooo close to tying it up

Third Period - 10:00

- Coming close boys ... keep on pushing!!

- We need some shots from the points and for the forwards to crash the net

- Terrible give away by Martindale leads to a chance for the Otters

- So ... I guess the Otters don't get penalties

- Big hit there folks!

- Penalty (Eri) - Brett Appio - 2 minutes for hooking

- Erie comes close to getting a shorty

Third Period - 05:00

- Ottawa give and go .....

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! (PP) Tyler Toffoli (45) - Assists: Martindale (39) & Ceci (20)

Ottawa rush ...

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Dalton Smith (9) - Assists: Carnevale (4)

- Otters shot from the point ... Mrazek makes the save

- HUGE pad save by Mrazek off the face off!!

- Big face off win there for Martindale

- Erie pulls the goalie

- Wow ... Otters just miss on the high slapper

- There's the win!

End of Third Period - Final Score: 4 - 3 Ottawa
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3 Stars:

1 – Jon Carnevale (Ott)

2 –Ryan Martindale (Ott)

3 – Phil Varone (Eri)

That was a close on folks! The Otters showed up to play and almost took home the victory. However, our heart showed in the third and allowed to fight back and get the win!

67’s Next Game: Feb 12th, 2011

Opponent: Barrie Colts
Game Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Barrie

Until next time, If you can’t be a player, be a fan!!

Anthony Brown

Follow me on twitter: @ABrownHockey