Big response earns 67’s a 3-1 series lead in Oshawa
In need of a response, the Ottawa 67’s came out flying on Thursday night, pushing the eight-seed Oshawa Generals to the brink of elimination, with a 9-0 win.
Facing the threat of heading back “home” in a deadlock, the Barber Poles spoke of needing to bounce back immediately in order to restore their stranglehold in their Eastern Conference Quarter Finals series. Early and often, the 67’s beat both Jacob Oster and Carter Bickle in the Generals’ goal, running roughshod throughout the game.
As far as responses to adversity go, Game 4 was about as good as you’ll ever get.
“I don’t think we could [script a better game],” said 67’s Assistant Coach, Martin Dagenais. “We turned the page on Game 3, and Thursday was a new day. We wanted to get off to a great start, and we did, and then things escalated in the second, in a good way.”
Still, unlike the scoreline would suggest, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for the Barber Poles. Not only did they once again on the wrong side of a video review, wiping away a goal in the first period with the play being offside, but they also found themselves the recipients of a pair of penalties in the same stoppage.
Sending the Generals’ power play – a unit that has been pacing along at 25 percent ahead of Game 4 – to a five-on-three advantage was exceptionally dangerous, but the 67’s penalty killers found a way, and immediately after, Ottawa cemented their grip on the game, with Logan Morrison getting his first of the game, making the score 4-0.
“We have character,” Dagenais said of his group. “We have found ways to defy the odds all year long. Every time we need something to happen, [we find a way], and it shows the character of this group.”
Dagenais called the win a “complete team effort,” from the forwards who put up nine goals, to the defence who kept the Generals to the outside all night, Max Donoso who earned his first playoff shutout, and even Collin MacKenzie, who shared some valuable scouting reports with Morrison before the game.
Donoso, playing in his first game since suffering an upper-body injury on the final weekend of the regular season, stood tall early in the game, settling into a groove quickly.
His absence from the starter’s crease was eased by his family, who made the trip to Ottawa. The Windsor native stayed with his parents for a couple of days, and took his mind off hockey after a busy season, where he won 30 games in 47 appearances. His return, however, was a welcome sense of normality.
“You take a lot of things for granted when you’re playing all the time,” Donoso said. “I got to take a step back and get some rest, but I was so happy to be back in the net. I loved every second of it.”
His stellar performance continued well into the final minutes of the game, stopping an almost sure goal in the final five minutes of the contest, with the 67’s already up by eight goals. He says you can’t ever take a second for granted in the postseason, and any chance to shut down the opposition, even if it has no bearing on the outcome of the game, is worthwhile.
“In the playoffs, you have to, it’s not like a regular season game where you won’t see them for two months,” Donoso explained. “There’s carryover, so we have to keep pushing for the next game. You hope that discourages them more, and they come into Game 5 with no confidence.”
Not only was Game 4 the exact response the Barber Poles needed, but Donoso says that it’s a statement victory to hang on the mantle.
“We showed not only Oshawa what we’re made of, but the league,” he said. “It was a statement game for us, and we want to continue that same thing into Saturday.”
A potential series-deciding Game 5 gets underway on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET, from Centre Slush Puppie in Gatineau.
