Spirit down 67’s

It wasn’t the day the Ottawa 67’s were hoping for on Sunday afternoon, falling 7-2 to the defending Memorial Cup champion Saginaw Spirit.

The special teams units got a workout in the first period for the second straight day, but before the 67’s power play unit could step foot on the ice, they made the most of a pseudo man advantage.

It won’t go down as a power play goal, but with the referee’s arm in the air for a delayed penalty, the Baber Poles sent out the extra attacker, and it paid off, as Frankie Marrelli whistled a seeing-eye shot through traffic, which beat Andrew Oke just underneath his arm.

With momentum tilting the ice in Ottawa’s favour midway through the period, Liam Storch sent a harmless dump-in into the corner, but it took a crazy hop right out to the front of the net, where Sebastien Gervais tapped it in to tie the game.

Five minutes later, the Spirit took the lead on a wicked shot from former Kingston Frontenac Xander Velliaris, and padded it exactly four minutes after that on a funky net-front scramble that broke their way.

The Spirit scored three more times, as part of six unanswered goals with only five minutes left to play in the second. Zayne Parekh scored twice, and Micheal Misa one, with one from each coming on the power play.

The 67’s got one back before the end of the frame, courtesy of a deflection from Will Gerrior, but they were looking at a four-goal deficit to overcome in the third.

Early in the final stanza, Parekh completed his hat trick on the power play.

Box score

Teams	Score	Shots on goal	Power plays
Ottawa	2	27	1/5
Saginaw	7	29	3/4

 

First period

1-0: OTT #8 Frankie Marrelli (2) scores. Assists: #20 Luca Pinelli, #10 Nic Whitehead

1-1: SAG #15 Sebastien Gervais (4) scores. Assists: #21 Liam Storch SHORT HANDED

2-1: SAG #17 Xander Velliaris (1) scores. Assists: #8 Brody Najim, #13 Carson Harmer

3-1: SAG #21 Liam Storch (3) scores. Assists: #42 Jacob Cloutier, #5 Josh Glavin

Second period

4-1: SAG #19 Zayne Parekh (19) scores. Assists: #92 Nic Sima, #71 Dimian Zhilkin

5-1: SAG #19 Zayne Parekh (20) scores. POWER PLAY

6-1: SAG #77 Michael Misa (39) scores. Assists: #19 Zayne Parekh, #13 Carson Harmer POWER PLAY

6-2: OTT #23 Will Gerrior (22) scores. Assists: #19 Kohyn Eshkawkogan, #34 Filip Ekberg POWER PLAY

Third period

7-2: SAG #19 Zayne Parekh (21) scores. Assists: #71 Dimian Zhilkin POWER PLAY

Next up

Ottawa will be back on the road next weekend, playing three games in four days. They’ll kick it off in Barrie, where they’ll meet the Colts on Thursday night at 7.