67’s blow-out Bulldogs, claim first in league

With clinching the top position at stake, the Ottawa 67’s gave it their all, pummelling the Brantford Bulldogs 6-0, to extend the team’s win streak to six ahead of Christmas break.

The 67’s came out of the gate a little nervous on the puck, but quickly settled in after Brantford defenseman Owen Protz got called for a blindside hit, and the 67’s were sent to the power play. While they wouldn’t capitalize, the 67’s would begin the game on the right side of the puck. Defensively, they’d stifle Brantford’s speedy counter-attack and rush chances, keeping them to the outside. Ryder Fetterolf would face his first bit of action on the penalty kill, stopping 5 consecutive pucks to kill it off. At even strength, the team’s resembled trench warfare, with neither team giving much of an inch. However, the 67’s seemed to have had a bit of an edge, preventing the Bulldogs from registering a single shot at even strength for the first 15 minutes of the game. The 67’s would draw a penalty to end the period, but ultimately end the period tied 0-0.

The Bulldogs would kill off the penalty to start the second, however, not before the 67’s were able to get a couple of chances off. The Bulldogs would give up ground even-strength, with the 67’s finally able to set up in the zone. The 67’s would get called with an interference call, which should’ve been the death knell against one of the top power plays in the league. However, the 67’s would turn the tables twice, with short-handed goals from Spencer Bowes and Jack Dever. “It’s huge,” said forward Spencer Bowes of the impact of their penalty kill tonight. “I got a lucky bounce and Devs (Dever) with the great stick, and we got a couple of goals pretty quick that would shut a team down.”

From that point onward, the Bulldogs played more passively, and Leender’s seemed more reactionary. Nathan Amidovski and Shaan Kingwell would add two more, to bring the game to 4-0 going into the third.

Ahead of the third period, the game had gotten away from the Bulldogs. Outshot 26-13, they had to come out ahead. However, the 67’s knew this just as much, with Nic Whitehead connecting from behind the net to Filip Ekberg for the Swede’s third goal in two games. Later, Jaxon Williams would net his first career goal to cap the game at 6-0. “It was just a complete relief,” said the rookie forward. “I am just super glad to get that first, and hopefully there’ll be more to come.”

The defensive effort was standout, keeping the Bulldogs to just 19 shots. Williams credits that grind to their success tonight. “Towards the end of the game, they didn’t want to play anymore,” he said. “They were just all down, and trying to hit; that’s Ottawa 67’s hockey.”

Alongside Bowes’ goal earlier in the game, he also helped set up Williams’ first career goal and had plenty to say about the American forward. “He’s a super positive guy, everybody loves the guy,” Bowes said of his teammate. “You could tell everybody (on the team) was fired up… it felt like I scored.”

The team remained sharp throughout the game, with defenseman Connor Bewick citing the heightened stakes and the chance to secure the top position heading into the holiday break. Heading into the game, the added stakes proved to add fuel to Ottawa’s fire. “We found out last night it was going to be a battle for first place in the league, so that was the main focus,” said defenseman Connor Bewick. “We knew we were going to come in and have a push.”

 

Box score

Teams	Score	Shots on goal	Power plays
Ottawa	6	40	0/6
Brantford	0	19	0/2

 

First period

Second Period

#12 Spencer Bowes (8) scores. Assist: #4 Kaleb Dietsch

#18 Jack Dever (6) scores. Unassisted.

#26 Nathan Amidovski (7) scores. Assists: #23 Connor Bewick, #8 Frank Marrelli

#11 Shaan Kingwell (9) scores. Assists: #18 Jack Dever

Third Period

#34 Filip Ekberg (9) scores. Assists: #10 Nic Whitehead

#16 Jaxon Williams (1) scores. Assists: #9 Brayden Krawczyk, #12 Spencer Bowes

 

Up next

After a holiday reset, the 67’s will return to TD Place to battle the Kingston Frontenacs, Sunday, Dec. 28th at 3 PM. Fans can buy tickets to the game here.

 

Jacob Titus

Writer, Ottawa 67’s