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| Monday, February 08, 2010 |
Surging Storm tops 67's
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By AEDAN HELMER, Ottawa Sun
The Ottawa 67’s found themselves on the wrong side of a few bad bounces and a few suspect calls Sunday in a 4-3 loss to the suddenly surging Guelph Storm.
Guelph, once left for dead in the Western Conference basement, has gone 7-2-1 in its last 10 games and now finds itself only four points out of the eighth and final playoff spot.
“Tough day at the office,” said 67’s coach Chris Byrne. “We didn’t do our job. We didn’t play well enough to win. It’s not always going to go your way, but good teams find a way to win. (Guelph) did that (Sunday), and we’ve got to get back to that.”
Anthony Nigro, who came to Ottawa with Travis Gibbons in the November 2008 deal that sent Michael Latta to Guelph, had his game-tying goal waved off as referees blew the play dead just as the puck crossed the line with four minutes left in the third.
Officials apparently lost sight of the puck during a furious goal-mouth scramble.
The 67’s didn’t do themselves any favours, getting into penalty trouble early in the game and squandering a 1-0 lead built on Gibbons’ sixth of the season, scored on the game’s second shot at 1:41.
With Tyler Toffoli in the box for tripping, Tyler Cuma took a holding penalty that handed the Storm a two-man advantage.
Adam Comrie, with his first of two power-play markers, capitalized just 22 seconds into the 5-on-3, wiring a wrist shot from the point that went right past Petr Mrazek.
Comrie rang another shot off the crossbar a minute later, and had his arms in the air in celebration when the puck bounced off the bar and landed right back on his stick.
Comrie made no mistake on his second goal at 18:06 of the first, another power-play marker, this time with Nigro in the box for tripping.
“We really wanted to come in and play a simple game,” said Ottawa native Comrie, who was named the game’s first star.
“I wanted to stay simple and get shots off when I could, worry about my own zone and let the game come to me.”
Mrazek pulled
Comrie’s second goal spelled the end of the day for Mrazek, who was replaced by Chris Perugini, and the move paid some immediate dividends for the 67’s.
Andrew Merrett pounced on the rebound of a Dalton Smith shot and snuck it under Storm goalie Brandon Foote 20 seconds after the goaltending change.
The teams traded goals in the second period, with Connor Tresham scoring for Guelph and Shane Prince responding for Ottawa.
But the 67’s couldn’t find a way to get another one past Foote, despite outshooting the Storm 10-5 in the final period and 37-26 overall.
The 67’s travel to Belleville for a date with the Bulls Wednesday, then host the powerhouse Barrie Colts on Friday and the Kingston Frontenacs Sunday afternoon at Urbandale Centre.
Notes
Comrie was the subject of some controversy at the end of the game. With the 67’s buzzing behind the Storm net, Comrie fell in a heap clutching his face, and the play was called dead. When no apparent injury was detected, Comrie was assessed a 10-minute misconduct ... Storm backup goalie Drew Pegrum’s OHL debut lasted only 53 seconds. Starter Brandon Foote had an equipment problem after giving up the game’s first goal and was briefly replaced by Pegrum, who became a minor Youtube celebrity when he scored an empty-net goal on Jan. 17, playing for the Junior B Guelph Hurricanes. With No. 1 goalie Cody St. Jacques on the shelf, possibly for the rest of the season, with serious back problems, Foote started his 13th straight game and ran his record to 8-4-1 ... With his third-period assist in Saturday’s win over Niagara, Windsor Spitfires star Taylor Hall ran his league-high point streak to 17 games. That dethroned Ottawa’s Ryan Martindale, who previously held the season-long streak with 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) scored in 16 straight games from Sept. 25 to Nov. 6.
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