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VIDEO: 67's capitalize on opportunities to beat Greyhounds

The Ottawa 67's showed why they're among the Ontario Hockey League's elite teams

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They entered the game as one of the top teams not just in the Ontario Hockey league but in the country and showed exactly why.

The Ottawa 67’s capitalized on their opportunities as the team scored five times in the second period en route to an 8-2 win over the Soo Greyhounds on Friday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

Ottawa’s five goals in the second period came on just eight shots.

“When you get a couple of bad bounces and a couple of goals against, you start to play a little bit of a different way and lose the team concept,” said Greyhounds Coach John Dean. “Turnovers turn into odd-man rushes the other way and getting outnumbered to the net. We made it difficult on our goaltending.”

For the 67’s, the second period was a point where one of the most potent offences in the OHL took advantage of their chances and made life difficult for the Greyhounds.

“We were opportunistic and committed defensively,” said Ottawa Coach Andre Tourigny. “Even when the Sault had the puck in our zone, the way we played we clogged up the middle and played really well in our zone and made it tough on them. We created a few turnovers off our forecheck and our power play gave us the lead early.”

Tourigny called the turning point when the 67’s took a 2-1 lead with a power play goal early in the second period. At that point, the Greyhounds began to push and the 67’s would take advantage of their opportunities.

“They forced a little bit (after the second goal),” Tourigny said. “It was only eight shots but many of them were off the odd-man rush, so they were quality shots. They had more possession, but we had really high-quality chances.”

It was a disappointing night for the Greyhounds, who were pleased with their start in the game.

“I’m frustrated with the result,” Dean said. “We’ve had a tough six or seven game stretch here. I’m frustrated because we asked our guys to compete exceptionally hard and they did an unbelievable job in the first 20 minutes.”

Mario Peccia got the start in goal for the Greyhounds but was pulled after surrendering three goals on seven shots.

Ethan Taylor finished the night and stopped 12 shots the rest of the way.

“We hung them out to dry on a few of them and we’d like to see a save or two,” Dean said of the Greyhounds goaltending in the loss. “I don’t think this is on the goaltending at all.”

Dean called the 67’s “definitely the most dangerous team we’ve seen all year.”

“You make a mistake and it’s in the back of your net,” Dean added. “They lived up to their record.”

Barrett Hayton and Jordan Sambrook completed the scoring for the Greyhounds, who fall to 12-6-3-1.

Defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer had two goals and an assist for Ottawa while Jack Quinn and Kody Clark added a goal and two assists each for the 67’s. 

Sam Bitten chipped in with a pair of goals for Ottawa. Matthew Maggio and Tye Felhaber also scored.

Sasha Chmelevski assisted on three goals while Kevin Bahl assisted on a pair of goals for the 67’s, who have not gone unbeaten in regulation time in 18 games.

Goaltender Cedrick Andree made 28 saves for Ottawa, who improve to 18-3-3-0.

The Greyhounds wrap up weekend action on Sunday afternoon against the Windsor Spitfires. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 2:07 p.m.

In other action around the OHL on Friday night, in Kingston, Owen Tippett had two goals and an assist as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Kingston Frontenacs 5-1. Alan Lyszczarczyk chipped in with a goal and two assists while Ryan Barbosa also scored twice for Mississauga. Richard Whitaker assisted on three Steelheads goals.

In North Bay, Blake Murray had three goals as the Sudbury Wolves beat the North Bay Battalion 7-1. Nolan Hutcheson had two goals and an assist for the Wolves. David Levin also had three points for Sudbury with a goal and two assists.

In Sarnia, Nando Eggenberger scored three times as the Oshawa Generals beat the Sarnia Sting 7-4. Jack Studnicka chipped in with a goal and three assists for the Generals. Nick Wong added a pair of goals. Ryan McGregor had a goal and two assists for Sarnia. 

In Guelph, Cedric Ralph had two goals and two assists as the Guelph Storm beat the Flint Firebirds 8-2. Barrett Kirwin had two goals and an assist for Guelph. Zach Poirier (one goal, two assists) and Ryan Merkley (three assists) also had big nights for the Storm.

In Kitchener, Riley Damiani had three goals and an assist as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-2. Rickard Hugg added a goal and two assists for the Rangers. 

In London, Alex Formenton scored a pair of goals as the London Knights beat the Peterborough Petes 7-3. Christopher Paquette scored a pair of goals for Peterborough.


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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