Game Sheets: Weekend Preview – Feb. 6
By: Steve Irving – Ottawa67s.com Staff
Photo: Valerie Wutti – Blitzen Photography
The Ottawa 67’s head into a big weekend at TD Place tonight, looking to move closer to the number 3 spot in the Eastern Conference standings. North Bay solidified its hold on that lofty playoff position with a win in Plymouth last night as the 67’s rested-up for tonight’s match against Peterborough. Ottawa trails the Battalion by 5 points right now and they host North Bay on Sunday, so that deficit could be down to 1 by weekend’s end if all goes well.
Last week, the 67’s earned 5 of a possible 8 points in games against Oshawa, Sarnia, Peterborough and Erie. The Erie game marked the team’s first sell-out in the new Arena at TD Place as 6,200 + came out to see the boys take-on Connor McDavid and company. Erie won it handily after spending the previous day lying in wait as Ottawa travelled to and from Peterborough.
Peterborough Petes
The 67’s have taken 4 of 5 games against the Petes so far this year including last Saturday’s 4-2 victory down Highway 7. The Petes are lead in scoring by Josh Macdonald with 23 goals and 43 points and they’re ranked 13th on powerplay, 16th on penalty kill.
North Bay Battalion
North Bay is a tough team to play against. They’ve given up the fewest number of goals in the League this season, following coach Stan Butler’s “defense first” system in front of goalie Jake Smith and his 2.48 GAA. Butler became the 5th coach in OHL history to reach 600 wins last weekend in the troops 3-2 victory over the Niagara IceDogs.
We’ll likely see a good contingent of Sen’s jerseys in the house on Sunday as their prospect Nick Paul, who helped Canada win gold at the World Junior’s, makes an appearance before his future bosses and fans. Paul is averaging better than a point/game this season and he’s not shy about using his 6’3” 221 lb frame in the corners.
The Sunday game is another Winterlude match-up, which means Queen Elizabeth Drive will be close to traffic on the way in. Fans driving to TD Place with advance parking passes must enter Lansdowne from Bank Street and all fans are advised to come early, have a skate or visit the Farmer’s Market or an on-site restaurant for lunch to avoid the last minute rush. Game time is 2:00 PM.
