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The 67’s have been getting it done all season long in tight contests. They topped both of this weekend’s opponents, the London Knights and Sudbury Wolves, in overtime at TD Place. Ottawa is now 4-1 in overtime contests this season and leads the OHL with 12 victories.
The 67’s battled the London Knights to a 2-1 victory Saturday night. Ottawa’s top assist-man, Austen Keating, won it with less than a second remaining in overtime. Keating was shot up centre ice with a nice feed from Jack Quinn and was just able to sneak the puck by the London netminder to prevent the game from going to a shootout.
“I got on the ice, unbelievable play by ‘Quinner’ to get that pass on my tape and after that I kind of blacked out, so I guess I got a bit lucky,” said Keating.
Quinn finished with two points and was the only 67 on the ice for both Ottawa goals.
The 67’s outshot London 27-19 but the Knights were able to stay in the game thanks to their defense and goaltending. Their performance should not be surprising given their season long track record. The Knights have allowed the least goals in the OHL.
Number one goaltender Jordan Kooy has been the primary facilitator of that mark (first in individual goals against average and second in save percentage), but backup Joseph Raaymakers played well against Ottawa in his fifth start of the season. Andree was not tested as often as Raaymakers but came up with more than a few big saves on favorable London opportunities.
The two teams were held scoreless in the first period but both broke through in the second. Adam Boqvist scored his first of the season for the Knights while Quinn answered with his second. After another scoreless period in the third, the teams headed to the extra frame.
“I think the guys stood up to the challenge every time we played against top opponents this year,” said 67’s head coach Andre Tourigny after the game.
The 67’s faced another playoff-caliber opponent on Sunday afternoon: the Sudbury Wolves.
Ottawa dug itself a hole early as the Wolves scored the first two goals of the game, courtesy of Macauley Carson and David Levin.
Graeme Clark answered at the end of the first period off a feed from Sasha Chmelevski to bring the deficit to one, but Levin scored his second of the game to reestablish the two-goal Sudbury lead.
After being held without a point in the game against London, star forward Tye Felhaber broke through with a goal in the second period. Felhaber circled in front of the net and tipped a Hoefenmayer shot past the Sudbury goaltender. That marker was followed by Merrick Rippon’s first goal of the season in the third period to draw Ottawa even.
Kody Clark sent the TD Place faithful home happy with a slap shot goal setup by Marco Rossi on the power play in overtime. Clark was fresh off signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Washington Capitals earlier in the week.
Sudbury’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, one of the league’s top goaltenders, was brilliant against the 67’s. Luukkonen recorded 45 saves and robbed Keating on a penalty shot attempt in the first period.
Cedrick Andree was in net for both wins this week and has now won nine straight starts. He leads the OHL with 10 wins. Felhaber and Keating remain ever-present on the league leader boards as well. Felhaber is tied for first in goals and third in points, while Keating leads the OHL with 21 assists.
16-year-old defenseman Alec Belanger played his first career OHL game for the 67’s on Sunday.
The 67’s are back on the road this week to take on the Windsor Spitfires (Thursday), Flint Firebirds (Saturday) and Saginaw Spirit (Sunday).
