Sportsnet CHL Saturday Showcase: Oshawa at Ottawa
This week’s edition of the Sportsnet CHL Saturday Showcase will see two squads from the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference meet when the Oshawa Generals (40-19-4-0) and Ottawa 67’s (47-11-3-2) face off at 3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT on Sportsnet.
Entering Friday, both sides have sat idle since last weekend. The Generals are coming off a 5-4 loss on Saturday to the Sudbury Wolves in which they were unable to mount a comeback after the opposition held a 4-0 lead midway through the middle frame. Captain Kyle MacLean, the son of longtime NHLer and former Generals forward John MacLean, led the way for his club with a pair of assists in the losing effort. The loss also snapped a 13-game streak for the Generals in which they went unbeaten in regulation after posting an 11-0-2-0 mark. That output helped Oshawa clinch a playoff berth for the ninth-straight season.
Meanwhile, it has been a dominant season in Ottawa, where the junior club has already locked down first place in the East Division. The team is currently riding a modest two-game win streak, with its most recent victory coming Sunday in a 3-0 defeat over the Mississauga Steelheads. Right-wing Kody Clark, a second-round pick by the Washington Capitals last year, Ottawa native and 2019 NHL Draft hopeful Graeme Clarke, and OHL leading goal-scorer Ty Felhaber, who has amassed 56 goals in just 62 games, provided the offense for the 67’s. Felhaber, 20, inked an entry-level contract with the Dallas Stars earlier this month.
Against the Steelheads, netminder Michael DiPietro notched a shutout as he turned aside 22 shots to record his 22nd win on the season, and 11th victory since joining the 67’s following a December trade from the Windsor Spitfires. A third-round pick by the Vancouver Canucks in 2017, DiPietro made his NHL debut in early February as an emergency call-up.
On Saturday, the Generals and 67’s will meet up for the seventh time this season, the first in a home-and-home weekend series before the two sides travel to Oshawa for another showdown the following night. Ottawa carries a 4-0-1-1 lead in the season series, including the most recent meetup in late January in which the 67’s came away with a 4-0 victory, a tidier affair after they also took the first game of the weekend series with a 9-6 win in Oshawa.
Catch all of the action in the latest match between the Generals and 67’s when the two sides square off Saturday on Sportsnet at 3:30pm ET/12:30pm PT.
