Petes spoil 67’s home opener
On a night where the Ottawa 67’s raised their 2023-24 East Division, and Regular Season Championship banners, they never really got out of the starting gate.
A rusty 67’s team worked hard, as always, but the lack of practice time together showed, in a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Peterborough Petes inside The Arena at TD Place. A three unanswered goal run by the road team was Ottawa’s undoing; with markers from Samuel Mayer in the early second period, and Jonathan Melee, and Braydon McCallum in the early third. A late goal by Chris Barlas made it a game, but McCallum’s second of the night iced things in the form of an empty-netter.
While Head Coach Dave Cameron acknowledged that the lack of practice time as a unit — seven different players spent time at NHL camps in September — he felt they started strong, despite an early Jax Dubois goal, off a turnover. The 67’s had to kill numerous penalties through the first 40 minutes, but on a powerplay late in the first, newly-minted captain Luca Pinelli evened the score at 1-1, with a laser of a wrist shot from the top of the circle.
Early in the second, though, Mayer beat Collin MacKenzie on an odd-man rush, while the Petes again capitalized on turnovers for goals from Melee, and McCallum early in the third. Barlas tipped home an answering goal, but there would be no 67’s rally, this night.
Ottawa will get a chance to enter the win column for the first time on the new season, next weekend, hosting the Sudbury Wolves on Saturday, October 7, at 3:00pm ET.
