GAME RECAP: 67’s claim Game 1 with 7-4 victory over Frontenacs
The Ottawa 67’s begin their playoff run on a high note, clinching Game 1 with a 7-4 win over Kingston.
“I’ll be honest with you, I thought the way that the game was gonna go,” said head coach Dave Cameron. “Our guys had some nerves, we have got a lot of guys with no playoff experience.”
“You can talk about it all you want, draw it up, and video it, but until they live and experience it,” he said. “So I thought it went like I thought, big win for us.”
“I thought we played a pretty good game tonight,” said Kohyn Eshkawkogan, who had a four assist night in his first OHL playoff game.
“We had a lot of offence going,” said Spencer Bowes. “We could pretty up our d-zone, odd-man rushes.”
Both teams would set the tone physically to start the game. Ottawa would take hold offensively, starting the game with four straight shots before Filip Ekberg would land the first goal of the series.
“I haven’t really been in a playoff game before,” said Filip Ekberg. “To get that first goal so quick, it felt amazing.”
An altercation in the corner would lead to both teams going four-on-four. Spencer Bowes would quickly add to the lead. The offsetting penalties would favour Kingston as the 67’s were called for a major, but Ottawa would kill it off, courtesy of tight defensive work and clutch goaltending from Ryder Fetterolf.
“He played great,” said Bowes of his goaltender. “We gave him some hard chances, and could have helped him out a bit more”.
The 67’s would continue to keep pressure on Kingston, but a defensive zone giveaway would lead to a one-on-one for Frontenacs rookie Nolan Snyder who would bury it for Kingston’s first of the game and series. The Barber Poles would end the period on top with a 2-1 lead on the scoreboards and 14-9 in shots.
The 67’s would begin the second strong with Spencer Bowes setting up Filip Ekberg for his second of the night in the opening minutes of the period. However the Frontenacs would answer back with their own, off of a snipe from Tomas Pobezal. The 67’s would get quite an opportunity with the Frontenacs landing two minor calls, giving Nic Sima the opportunity to bury one to re-take the two-goal lead. However, the Frontenacs would keep things tight with goals from Will Bishop and Riley Clark to tie it up at 4-4.
“We’ve had games this year which were kinda the same thing,” said Cameron of the second period collapse. “Let’s take a breath here, let’s reset, let’s got off our heels and on our toes.”
“Just stick with it,” was Cameron’s words of advice.
“Everybody knew there was a lot of time left,” said Ekberg of that moment. “We were just screaming at each other to keep going.”
Yet, David Bedkowski would hammer a shot past Gavin Betts to re-take the lead going into the third.
“The first two periods, I was a little nervous,” Eshkawkogan said. “Just getting into that feel, that playoff atmosphere, I think that’s something you gotta get used to; I think I did that in the third.”
The third period would begin more structured, with both teams giving less into emotion and less open room. The 67’s would get a break off of a high sticking call, putting them on the powerplay. Cooper Foster would waste no time, setting up in the slot and firing home a one-timer to give them the two-goal lead.
“We worked on our special teams a lot, just cleaning that up a bit,” said Eshkawkogan. “We just focused on ourselves; we know Kingston, we know what they are going to do, we played them eight times.”
Dave Cameron specifically highlighted a positive of the week-long preparation: rest.
“I gave them two days off,” said Cameron. “There was really not a lot of prep, we played them eight times.”
“Come playoff time, as a coach, you’ve had them for sometimes three years, and certainly at least 68 games,” he said. “If I gotta really coach ‘em now, I am in trouble.”
The Frontenacs would pull the goalie to give them the man advantage, but Connor Bewick would work the puck off the Frontenacs defender and fire the puck down the ice for the empty net to secure the 7-4 win.
Bowes finished as the first star of the game with a goal and two assists on the night in his first playoff game.
“It’s a lot of communication,” Bowes said of the pillars of his success. “It’s hard, the game is really quick, so when I get the puck in the corner, I rely on some talk.”
“I think it was the trust in my teammates, our line had a good night tonight,” said Bowes. “Trusting our defense to get the puck out and just doing my thing.”
“They are big impact players over the course of the year,” said Cameron of Spencer Bowes and Kohyn Eshkawkogan. “That’s the great thing about junior players; I’m lucky this year I got a team of a lot of guys with a lot of guys who rise to the occasion; there was nobody this year that was a passenger that didn’t contribute to our success.”
The pushbrack from the Frontenacs wasn’t surprising, it was expected by the group.
“We came into the game knowing it was a hard game,” said Bowes. “It’s a bit of a rivalry.”
Box score
| Teams | Score | Shots on goal | Power plays |
| Ottawa | 7 | 31 | 2/3 |
| Kingston | 4 | 31 | 0/3 |
First period
#34 Filip Ekberg (1) scores. Assists: #8 Frankie Marrelli, #29 Cooper Foster
#12 Spencer Bowes (1) scores. Assists: #19 Kohyn Eshkawkogan, #13 Ondrej Ruml
#74 Nolan Snyder (1) scores. Assists: #13 Robin Kuzma
Second Period
#34 Filip Ekberg (2) scores. Assists: #12 Spencer Bowes, #19 Kohyn Eshkawkogan
#10 Tomas Pobezal (1) scores. Assists: #86 Alex Misiak, #77 Matthew Henderson
#16 Nic Sima (1) scores. Assists:#34 Filip Ekberg, #19 Kohyn Eshkawkogan
#6 Will Bishop (1) scores. Assists: #17 Riley Clark, #14 Matthew Frost
#17 Riley Clark (1) scores. Assists :#22 Nolan Buttar
#38 David Bedkowski (1) scores. Assists: #12 Spencer Bowes, #10 Nic Whitehead
Third Period
#29 Cooper Foster (1) scores. Assists: #10 Nic Whitehead, #19 Kohyn Eshkawkogan
#23 Connor Bewick (1) scores. Assists: #22 Jasper Kuhta
Up next
Both teams will meet at TD Place again for Game 2 of the OHL Playoffs presented by Nissan on Sunday, March 29th at 3 p.m. Fans can buy tickets to the game here.
