WarHero

"I love the habs!"

Ottawa, ON • Canada • 39 Years Old • Male

OHL LIVE BLOG: 67's vs. Colts at 7:30 PM - Mar 4th, 2011

It’s Game Day folks! In Wednesdays game, the 67's beat the Belleville Bulls by a score of 5 - 4. After going up 5 - 2 in the third, Belleville made it interesting by scoring 2 more to get within one but our boys were able to hold them off for the victory. The offense was led by the Sean Monahan (3G) and Thomas Nesbitt (2A).

On to today …. A win tonight will help the 67's get 2 points closer to winning the East Division. Think it's going to be an easy 2 points?

Think again!

The Colts have played very well against our boys this year. I expect them to do so again, but the real question is, what version of the Colts will actually show up? For the most part they have played sub-par hockey but, at times, have shown flashes of the potential that will be unlocked as they continue to develop as a team.

On that same note, can we expect Ottawa to come out firing knowing how close they are to winning the division? Let's hope so. Let's also hope that London can beat the Majors. That would only leave a 7 point margin between us and the Majors with 7 games to go! We can still win the conference!

I feel very confident in saying that we'll see work horse Petr Mrazek (UPDATE: Shayne Campbell to start) get the start for the us and John Chartrand get the start for the Colts.

Pre-Game Predictions:

I am going to try something new this time around and make some pre-game predictions. I'll re-visit these in the post-game blog to see how close, or far away, I came:

Star of the Game: Shane Prince
Winning Goal Scorer: Sean Monahan
Final Score: 4 - 2 Ottawa

What are YOUR pre-game predictions? Leave a comment with your answers.

Keys to the game for Ottawa:

- Be aggressive when fore checking in all zones.
- Make smart passes to help gain the 0-zone and break out of the d-zone.
- Keep spreading the offense around. Secondary scoring will be the key to victories down the stretch.

Pre-game Notes and Numbers:

- This is the 4th and final meeting between the clubs this year. Barrie won 3 – 1 last time.
- Keep your eye on Colin Behenna, Mark Scheifele & Steven Beyers for the Colts.
- The 67′s are 5-5-0-0 in their last 10 games - At least it's .500 hockey
- Tyler Toffoli is 2nd in OHL scoring, Shane Prince is only 10 points behind.
- Penalties? Don't worry! The Colts are the 14th ranked PP in the league @ 20.4%
- Powerplay in decline? We have dropped to 4th on the PP @ 22.5%
- The penalty kill has slipped a bit. We are down to 5th overall in the PK @ 82.6%

Starting Line-Ups:

Ottawa 67’s:

Forwards: Smith, Toffoli, Martindale
Defense: Gibbons, Sedlak
Nets: Campbell

Scratches: Zanetti, Carnevale, Luciani, Janes, Fontana

Barrie Colts:

Forwards: Ezekiel, Scheifele, Behenna
Defense: Devlin, Ashman
Nets: Chartrand

Scratches - Malecki, Beyers, Bursey, Bradford, Hall

Puck drop @ 7:35ish - Check back then for LIVE game blogging!

UPDATE: So ... just got word that Petr Mrazek is not playing due to a pulled groin ...Ouch!!
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First Period - 20:00

- Horrible turnover by Gibbons in the offensive zone

- Lindsay stone on the breakaway

- Penalty (Bar) - Petr Beranek - 2 minutes for hooking

- Not looking good on the power play at all .... no cohesion

First Period - 15:00

- Wow ... that was a close call ... nice pad save by Chartrand

- Great work by the third line ... nice tip attempt from Foglia.

- Soft pass by Prince gets picked off and kills the rush

- Penalty (Bar) - Dylan Smoskowitz - 2 minutes for hooking

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! (PP) Cody Ceci (7) - Assists: Martindale (47) & Toffoli (46) -Nice one-timer!!

- Nice save by Campbell on that point shot

First period - 10:00

- Nice read by Toffoli to intercept the pass .. to bad he could keep the puck

- Nice tic-tac pass by Monahan ...he should have shot

- Great fore-checking by the Ottawa's second line

- Ottawa rush ....

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Tyler Graovac (10) - Assists: Dubois (4) & Lindsay (26)

- Campbell makes a nice looking glove save off the Barrie point shot

First Period - 05:00

- Giftopoulos gets taken out by Mitch Bennett ... nice hit!

- Barrie gets the puck back on a turnover ...

- Barrie Goal - Tanner Pearson (15) - Score: 2 - 1 Ottawa

- Ottawa almost had the 2 on 1 - Nice try by Martindale

- Great work on the boards by Ottawa ot get that puck back

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Sean Monahan (15) - Assists: Prince (61) & Gustavsen (3)

End of First Period - Score: 3 - 1
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Second Period - 20:00

- Sorry folks ... got stuck in the drink line ... never again will that happen

Second period - 15:00

- Poor discipline by Ottawa leads to that 5 on 3

- Barrie Goal (PP) - Pter Beranek (9) - Score: 3 - 2

- Graovac gets absolutely robbed on that chance from the slot ... wow ..

- Nice play by Toffoli to intercept that pass ..

- Smith gets a breakaway but can't get the shot off, great work by the Barrie defender

- Toffoli with a good shot from the side boards ... Smith almost bangs home the rebound

- Sloppy passing by Barrie almost leads to an Ottawa break

Second Period - 10:00

- Is it just me or did Prince forget how to pass? Put some power in it man!!

- Smith bowls over a Barrie forward in the Ottawa d-zone

- Well ... a passer Dalton Smith is not ..

- Foglia just misses high ... good try

- Penalty (Ott) - Taylor Fielding - 2 minutes for holding

- Nice try on the tip by Barrie forward Smoskowitz

- Wow .... Ottawa shorthanded 2 on 1 ... so close off the shot and rebound

- Penalty (Ott) - Cody Ceci - 2 minutes for slashing the stick

Second Period - 05:00

- Nice chance by Toffoli ... shot right into the pads though

- Penalty (Bar) - Tanner Pearson - 2 minutes for hooking

- Ping!!! Ottawa bangs one right off the post

- Wow .... Lindsay finds Martindale in the open ... was a gimme ... got no wood on the shot

- Amazing shift for Ottawa there ... lots of shots ... lots of saves

End of Second Period - Score: 3 - 2 Ottawa
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Third Period - 20:00

- So far, so good .. both teams playing cautious

- Penalty (Ott) - Jake Cardwell - 2 minutes for elbowing

- Ottawa 2 on 1, Smith can't get the shot to go

- Wow ..... Ping!! Right off the post ... Was that ever close

- Barrie all over Ottawa right now

Third Period - 15:00

- Prince gets taken out in the Barrie end ... fans want a penalty ... Refs not giving a thing

- Campbell makes a nice pad save off the one-timer

- Smith gets the puck in the neutral zone, gets a break and fires it high ... D'oh!!

- Barrie turnover .... Ottawa shot ...

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Thomas Nesbitt (30) - Unassisted - Score 4 - 2

Third Period - 10:00

- Barrie looking hungry ... is it to little to late?

- Lots of back and forth .... end to end

- Ottawa rush ....

- OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Sean Monahan (16) - Assists: Nesbitt (32)

Third Period - 05:00

- Foglia with a nice read ... steals the pass and starts the rush

- Penalty (Bar) - Matt Ashman - 2 minutes for high sticking

- That was a brutal pass by Sedlak

- Penalty (Ott) - Adam Sedlak - 2 minutes for interference

- Are the ref's watching this game or what?

End of Game - Final Score: 5 - 3 Ottawa
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3 Stars:

1 – Sean Monahan (Ott)

2 –Shane Prince (Ott)

3 – Tanner Pearson (Bar)

The Colts looked like they showed up to play and got it close. Great win by our boys! Those 2 points are huge!

67’s Next Game: March 6th, 2011

Opponent: Kitchener Rangers
Game Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Ottawa (Rona Center)

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

Anthony Brown

Follow me on twitter: @ABrownHockey

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