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It was a very, very long night Friday for the Ottawa 67 in their long-awaited return to regular season action.
The Kingston Frontenacs broke in early in the 67s and didn’t stop en route to an 8-1 break in OHL’s season opener in Kingston.
Within four minutes, the Frontenacs were leading 3-0. Along the way, the Frontenacs also chased down 67-year-old starting goalkeeper Will Cranley, who stopped 19 of 25 shots before being replaced by backup Collin MacKenzie. The only goal of 67 came from Dylan Robinson on a power play.
Lucas Edmonds led the offensive damage with a pair of goals for Kingston. Shane Wright, the consensus pick as the top overall pick in next June’s NHL draft, had one goal and one assist, with Martin Chromiak, Francesco Arcuri, Paul Ludwinski, Lucas Peric and Paul Hughes also scoring for Kingston. Frontenacs goalkeeper Leevi Merilainen, a prospect for the Ottawa Senators, stopped 14 of 15 shots at Kingston’s net.
Heading into the season, 67’s manager Dave Cameron was expecting some growing pains from his young team, which has been completely revamped since the club last took to the ice for regular season action in March 2020. .
With nine 67s playing in his first OHL game, it didn’t take long to learn some tough lessons.
The 67 will get another shot at the Frontenacs in the first home game at TD Place on Sunday afternoon, followed by a Thanksgiving Monday matinee against the Oshawa Generals.
Reference-ottawasun.com