67’s head into holidays after rally falls short in Mississauga

The Ottawa 67’s may have deserved a better fate, Sunday afternoon, but they’ll head into the holiday break on the heels of a 3-1 road loss to the Mississauga Steelheads, with whom they share the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

After falling into a 2-0 hole in the second period, Charlie Hilton made it a game late in the contest, but the Trout were able to hang on and win, despite being outshot 36-28.

Collin MacKenzie was stellar in net for the Barber Poles, turning aside 26 shots.

Things were tight-checking, and physical from the jump, with no scoring in the opening frame, despite chances by both teams.

As the tension grew in the second period, it was the Steelheads breaking through, with a pair of quick goals. In the span of a minute and 36 seconds, Jack Van Volsen ripped a one-timer past Collin MacKenzie, and Mason Zebeski banked a puck in off of an Ottawa defender, very quickly giving the home team a 2-0 lead.

The physicality continued by way of Hilton dropping the gloves with MacGregor Richmond, though the 67’s trailed heading into the final period.

Despite some solid play, things didn’t improve for the 67’s, with Cooper Foster being ejected for a called check to the head in the early third, though they were able to kill off the prolonged Steelheads powerplay.

Hilton broke Jack Ivankovic’s shutout bid with just under seven minutes to play, but despite a furious Ottawa rally in the dying moments, it wasn’t enough to close out the pre-holiday schedule with a comeback win, as Zander Veccia sealed things with a late empty-netter.

After a well-earned reprieve, the 67’s are back in action on December 28, visiting the North Bay Battalion at 7:00pm.