WarHero

"I love the habs!"

Ottawa, ON • Canada • 39 Years Old • Male

OHL LIVE BLOG: 67's vs. Rangers at 2:00 PM - Mar 6th, 2011

It’s Game Day folks! In Friday nights game, the 67′s beat the Barrie Colts by a score of 5 – 2. With the score at 3 – 2 heading into the third, 67's captain Thomas Nesbitt made it 4 - 2 off a sweet pass from Shane Prince. Sean Monahan would later add Ottawa's 5th goal to ice the game. The offense was led by the Sean Monahan (2G,1A) and Shane Prince (2A).

On to today …. Our boys have been on a roll lately. Can they keep it up against the high scoring Rangers?

The Rangers offense is lead by OHL leading scorer Jason Akeson (104 pts). They are 6-3-0-1 over the last 10 games and would get within 1 pt on the Owen Sound Attack for the mid-west division lead with a win today. One of their biggest strengths is the power play. The Rangers can make Ottawa pay dearly if they take to many penalties.

On that same note, a win today would put Ottawa 7 points up on the Generals in the east division. If Oshawa loses to Belleville, that will put Ottawa's magic number at 6. Here's the breakdown:

Ottawa 85 pts (assuming a win today) - 5 games left, 10 more possible pts
Oshawa 78 pts (assuming a loss today) - 6 games left, 12 more possible pts

This means that Oshawa can only hope hope to finish with 90 pts, while Ottawa would only need 6 to get to 91 pts to ensure the division win. Co'mon boys, you can do it!!

Depending on the status of his groin, we should see work horse Petr Mrazek get the start for the 67's and Brandon Maxwell get the start for the Rangers.

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: Tyler Toffoli
Winning Goal Scorer: Tyler Toffoli
Final Score: 4 – 3 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 & Numbers:

- This is the 2nd and final meeting between the clubs this year. Ottawa won 5 – 4 last time.
- Keep your eye on Jason Akeson, Ryan Murphy & Gabriel Landeskog for the Colts.
- The 67′s are 6-3-0-1 in their last 10 games – Is the down swing over?
- Tyler Toffoli is 3rd in OHL scoring, Shane Prince is only 9 points behind.
- Be disciplined! The Rangers have the 3rd ranked PP in the league @ 23.3%
- Powerplay in decline? We have dropped to 4th on the PP @ 22.6%
- 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: Prince, Martindale, Toffoli
Defense: Gibbons, Sedlak
Nets: Campbell

Scratches: Zanetti, Carnevale, Luciani, Janes, Fontana

Kitchener Rangers:

Forwards: Akeson, Ming, Tipoff
Defense: Sol, Jasper
Nets: Maxwell

Scratches – Fanelli, Lorentz, MacLean, Murphy, Marcantuoni
—————

First Period - 20:00

- Close chance there folks .... great pressure game so far by both teams

- Toffoli almost got that pass .. great job by Prince

- Both teams being cautious ... the feel out process

- Nice rush by Ceci, the kid came to play

- Great pad save by Campbell!

First Period - 15:00

- Wow .... Catenacci all alone in front ... but he misses the pass

- An0ther nice save by Campbell ... looks sharp today

- Rangers looking good ... very tight passing

- Thank heavens Sedlak tipped that ... Akeson was all alone in front

- Ottawa's 1st line generating some great chances there

- Penalty (Kit) - Tyler Randell - 2 minutes for check to the head

First Period - 10:00

- Nothing doing on the power play so far ... the Rangers are very aggressive

- Terrible drop pass by Martindale ... leads to a great Rangers chance

- 67's fire blanks on the power play

- Graovac with a great chance in front ... he should have passed it to Gibbons

- Rangers Goal - Tobias Rieder (23), Assists to: D'Amigo, Catenacci

First Period - 05:00

- Prince tees it up but gets no wood on it

- Sedlak makes a nice jumping catch

- That Rangers point shot was almost tipped in ..

- Ceci with a shot from the point ... Mazwell makes the save

- Big hit by Cardwell in the Ottawa d-zone

- Penalty (Ott) - Travis Gibbons - 2 minutes for holding

- Great puck movement by the Rangers on the PP

- Rangers get 1 more good chance off the failed fore check by Martindale

End of First Period - Score: 1 - 0 Rangers
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Second Period - 20:00

- Rangers looking even tighter this period .... I wonder what was said in the room

- Bad Ottawa passing and turnovers could be the death of this game

- Pass goes right through the Ottawa crease

Second period - 15:00

- Poor Maxwell, he just got ran over b 2 Ottawa forwards going hard to the net

- Ottawa almost gets the break away ... Great defensive play by Lowry

- Penalty (Kit) - Chad Lowry - 2 minutes for elbowing

- D'Amigo dances around the Ottawa d-men and almost pots one short-handed

- Another short-handed chance for the Rangers

- Great chance for Monahan .... gets stripped on the shot

- Well ... at least they had a chance on that power play

- Dubois gets a break for Ottawa .... can't get the shot off

- Toffoli out there with Smith & Graovac

- Wow ... golden chance for Martindale and he can't cash it

Second Period - 10:00

- Foglia laying the business on a Rangers forward

- Another Ottawa chances end in nothing ... seems to be the theme for today

- Pass to Martindale ... yet again .... no wood on the shot

- WOW! ... great save by Campbell

- Nesbitt takes out the Rangers defender

- Rangers rush ends in another great save by Campbell

Second Period - 05:00

- Oh man ...... Campbell makes 2 more amazing saves .... 3 Rangers alone in front of the net

- Penalty (Kit) - Jonathan Jasper - 2 minutes for tripping

- Oh man ..... another amazing for Martindale and he can't bury it

- Then one for Prince and then one goes off the post ...

- The 67's can't seem to buy a goal ... no breaks

- Shot almost beats Maxwell after it deflects off the Rangers d-man

End of Second Period - Score: 1 - 0 Rangers
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Third Period - 20:00

- Great steal by Martindale ... to bad Toffoli lost the puck

- Refs missed a trip on Prince

- Prince to Cardwell .... can't believe he shot wide

- Terrible give away by Shipley ... leads to a few good chances by the Rangers

- Rangers looking good attacking the zone

- Sedlak with a terrible give away .... the Rangers get a great shot ... miss high

Third Period - 15:00

- Rangers think they have a goal ... puck was kicked in ... Play under review

- No Goal!!!

- Penalty (Ott) - Ryan Shipley - 2 minutes for hooking

- Ottawa with a shorthanded 2 on 1 .... Martindale rings it off the post ... no breaks!

- Good pressure by Ottawa after killing off the penalty

Third Period - 10:00

- Ottawa's first line causing some commotion ... about time!

- Wow .... that stick blade went right over the netting into the Zamboni hole

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Ryan Martindale (34) - Assists: Prince (63)

- Smith almost steals the puck from the Rangers goalie

- OH MOMMA!!!! What an amazing save by Shayne Campbell ...

- Ottawa pressing hard for the second goal ....

- Lindsay pass in front to Smith but he can't handle it ...

Third Period - 05:00

- Landeskog gets a couple great chances in the Ottawa zone .. Campbell denies him

- Campbell makes another great save ... one of many he has made today

- Yet another big save from Campbell ... got lucky on the rebound though

- Net almost falls over on Maxwell ...

- Ottawa 3 on 2 and Toffoli shoots it over the net

- Martindale takes out his man at center

- Rangers with one last chance ... almost ..

End of Third Period - Score: 1 - 1
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Overtime - 05:00

- Nothing dangerous yet ...

- Martindale gets a breakaway .... and he gets robbed!

- Wow ... how was that not a penalty on Sol?

- Campbell makes the save on the point shot ...

- Prince drives to the net but can't cash in

OTTAWA GOAL!!!! Cody Ceci (8) - Assists: Cardwell (10) & Toffoli (47) ... HUGE WIN!!!

End of Overtime - Final Score: 2 - 1 Ottawa
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3 Stars:

1 – Shayne Campbell (Ott)

2 –Brandon Maxwell (Kit)

3 – Cody Ceci (Ott)

The Rangers showed up to play and what a great game it was! Great win by our boys! Those 2 points are huge!

67’s Next Game: March 6th, 2011

Opponent: Kingston Frontenacs
Game Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Kingston

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

Anthony Brown

Follow me on twitter: @ABrownHockey