67’s alumni: the U SPORTS report & solid professional goaltending
There is so much going on in the hockey world right now. The World U17 Challenge is live and ongoing, the OHL season is hitting its stride, the NHL is ramping up, and the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off is garnering a lot of attention.
Simply, there’s too much to keep an eye on everything, but the good news is, we have you covered when it comes to Ottawa 67’s alumni.
Jacob Maillet
In his first season of U SPORTS hockey, Jacob Maillet hasn’t looked an iota out of place with the St. Francis Xavier X-Men. Just 10 games into his tenure, he has scooped up 11 points, including four goals.
In his very first U SPORTS game, Maillet scored in a game against the Saint Mary’s Huskies, following it up with his first assist in the very next game. A few weeks later, he had his first multi-goal game, scoring a pair against the Huskies, once again.
On Friday night, Maillet solidified his status as a thorn in the Huskies’ side, notching another three points in a 4-3 win over Saint Mary’s.
Acquired at the trade deadline a season ago by the 67’s, Maillet suited up in 32 regular season games, scoring 26 points, before adding another seven in 10 playoff games.
Alex Johnston
Now into his third U SPORTS season, Alex Johnston is really finding his stride with the Carleton Ravens. Nine games into the year, the Ottawa native is on a point-per-game pace, but impressively, he has scored a point in all but one game.
Thus far, Johnston stands in second on the Ravens in scoring, behind only Reese Belton. Already, he’s halfway to his U SPORTS career-high in points, needing only nine more to tie his 2022-23 total.
Johnston was a member of the 67’s for one season in 2021-22, after being signed as a free agent in his overage year. In 42 games with his hometown team, he scored nine goals, and assisted on an additional 13.
Cam Tolnai
Things are also starting to slow down for Cam Tolnai in his second year at Queen’s, as he’s up to six points in nine games for the Gaels. There haven’t been any of the massively explosive games resulting in heaps of points for Tolnai as of yet, but he’s been consistently putting his name on the scoresheet game over game.
Last season, the Oakville native scored 17 points in 28 games, putting himself on pace to set a new single-season high at the U SPORTS level this year.
The sixth overall pick in the 2018 OHL Priority Selection, Tolnai spent four seasons wearing the barber pole, playing 241 games in the process. He scored 45 goals, and another 107 assists in regular season play.
Will Cranley
The season is only two games old for Peterborough native, Will Cranley, but he’s off the line quickly. Now between the pipes for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades, Cranley has won both of his decisions, posting a goals-against average of 1.49, and a save percentage of .953.
On October 26th against the Atlanta Gladiators, Cranley’s first start of the season, he secured a 26-save shutout, before stopping another 35 a week later against the South Carolina Stingrays in an overtime victory.
Across two campaigns, Cranley has played in 35 ECHL games, the bulk of which came with the Utah Grizzlies a season ago. In that time, he has a goals-against average of 3.64. The co-recipient of the 2019-20 Dave Pinkney Trophy played 117 games OHL games, 73 of which came with the Barber Poles.
Michael DiPietro
Like Cranley, Michael DiPietro has been white hot to start the season, just with a bigger sample size. In five games with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, the Windsor native has allowed only eight goals, boasting a .940 save percentage.
Facing the Springfield Thunderbirds in late October, DiPietro claimed first-star honours, stopping all 23 shots directed his way for his sixth-career AHL shutout.
DiPietro was only a 67 for a couple of months, but it was highlighted by an excellent run in the 2019 J. Ross Robertson Cup playoffs. In 14 games, he had a .914 save percentage, and won 13 games, before suffering an injury that ended his season.
