The 67 ‘boxed in’ fall short against Frontenacs

Article content

Frontenacs 4, 67’s 3

Article content

From being canceled in preseason as a rebuild to jumping up to the honorable mention category in the Canadian Hockey League’s top 10 rankings last week, the Ottawa 67 came close to doing the improbable and reaching the top. 10. Nationally, only 10 games in the season.

The only thing that stood in their way was a series of penalties that ultimately caught them in the home half of back-to-back contests against the 10th-ranked Kingston Frontenacs.

The 67, not to mention the majority of the 2,676 in the Arena at TD Place, were left scratching their heads after umpires handed the Frontenacs eight power plays on Saturday. Kingston overcame a 2-0 deficit after 20 minutes, then scored the winning goal just over five minutes in the third in Martin Chromiak’s second of the Ontario Hockey League game.

Article content

The 67 penalty shootout resulted in three power play goals from Kingston in the two games, half of their offensive outing, as the Frontenacs went three of 14 with the men’s lead. Meanwhile, all 67 were left empty in six attempts in total, including 0 of 4 in Saturday’s loss.

Kingston’s power play produced the game-changing goal that cut the 67 lead in half early in the second period, scored by Paul Ludwinski just four seconds behind the men’s lead.

Somehow the 67 managed to beat the Frontenacs 32-23 in the afternoon.

“I don’t think we’re an undisciplined team,” went as far as 67 head coach Dave Cameron dared about the huge discrepancy in power play opportunities.

“We took too many penalties in two games to maintain the kind of speed that we wanted to maintain against (Kingston),” added Cameron. “And all you can do is try to kill them.”

Article content

Saturday’s loss came on the heels of a thrilling 67 3-2 comeback win at Kingston on Friday night. Newcomer Vsevolod Gaidamak sealed things 1:29 into overtime with his fifth of the season and second of the game after the 67 rallied from a 2-0 deficit and finally tied on a Jack Beck goal at 1 : 48 for playing in the third period.

The goal was Beck’s ninth of the season, just one behind the league lead.

The 67 picked up on Saturday where they left off on Friday, scoring their fourth and fifth consecutive goals against Kingston, one each from Dylan Robinson and Cameron Tolnai, on a penalty shot, to jump to a 2-0 lead.

Ludwinski put Kingston on the board before the 67 had a goal called back on a kicking motion six minutes later.

Article content

Defender Teddy Sawyer brought the 67 up 3-1, but Kingston cut that lead again with a Chromiak goal before scoring the tying goal from sensational Shane Wright.

Still, the 67 reached the 10-game post with six wins. Few would have imagined such a promising start.

“We have a chip on our shoulders,” said Tolnai, who goes head-to-head against the stars of the opposition night after night. “Everyone thinks we are rebuilding, but this is a good start for many young people.

“We shot ourselves in the foot, taking so many penalties against one of the best power games in the league. But we played (the Frontenacs) 12 times and we are 2-2 against a very good team ”.