67’s score eight times, defeat Sarnia to extend point streak to 21 games
The Ottawa 67’s would score eight goals in front of a packed crowd inside the Arena at TD Place on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Sarnia Sting 8-4. Tye Felhaber, Merrick Rippon, Sam Bitten and Sasha Chmelevski all found the back of the net for Ottawa, while Kody Clark and Austen Keating both scored twice in a winning effort. Sean Josling, Anthony Salinitri, Franco Sproviero, Hugo Leufvenius answered back for Sarnia.
The Sting struck early in the first period, opening the score at 1:04 into the game, thanks to a Sean Josling goal. The Sarnia forward only had to jam a rebound in to beat rookie goaltender Will Cranley. The 67’s needed a goal to tie things up and they got it at 11:11 of the first period when Kody Clark finished a nice passing play set up by Sasha Chmelevski, who increased his point streak to 6 straight games. Chmelevski would get right back on the scoresheet about five minutes later when he picked up a secondary assist on Austen Keating’s power-play go ahead goal. It was a very chippy period that saw a lot of confrontation between both sides, making things promising for the remaining 40 minutes.
Tye Felhaber would give the Barber Poles a 3-1 lead early in the second frame with his 25th of the year before Anthony Salinitri made it a one goal game a few minutes later. Both teams would head back to the locker rooms with a score of 3-2 in favor of the hosts. Once again, the period was ended with a scrum that saw penalties given out to both sides. Cooler heads would prevail, but the 67’s were about to come out extremely hungry for the third period.
Merrick Rippon and Austen Keating would both score early into the third to give Ottawa a 5-2 lead, both scoring within the first minute of the third period. The start to the final third of the game would get even crazier, as Franco Sproviero made it 5-3 before Sam Bitten and Kody Clark both scored in under two minutes to make it 7-3. Sasha Chmelevski and Hugo Leufvenius each scored for their respective teams before the end of the game, ending this offensive festival with a final score of 8-4 Ottawa.
Will Cranley made 23 saves in what was his third OHL win, while rookie defenseman Alec Bélanger had his first two points in the OHL, with two assists, on top of his first OHL fight coming late in the third. Bélanger showed no fear dropping the mitts against overager Franco Sproviero.
What they’re saying
André Tourigny
‘’We weren’t happy about our last game and our last few weeks. We were playing well enough to win, but not well enough to our standards, but I feel today’s game was a step in the right direction. We want to score 8 goals every game, but we never want to give 4, we’re that selfish. I feel tonight was a good game, maybe except for our second period.’’
Sasha Chmelevski
‘’The first and second period were definitely even and maybe not our best periods, but I feel that in the third we game out aggressive and we had a structure to our game that allowed us to be successful.’’
‘’I feel that the guys are now playing for each other, we’re playing for this city, for this organization and there’s a lot to be happy about and to look forward to because we have each other’s backs.’’
When asked about the Grey Cup, Sasha obviously predicted a REDBLACKS win.
Game Notes
- Sasha Chmelevski combined 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points. He is now on an active 6-game point streak where he has put up 15 points during those 6 games.
- Austen Keating and Sam Bitten both had 3-point nights, while Kody Clark scored his 8th and 9th goals of the year.
- Ottawa out shot Sarnia 41-27, while also beating them in the faceoff circle, winning 32 and losing 27.
- Ever since being put in a top 6 role, Sam Bitten has put up 14 points in his last 10 games. Prior to that, the Gloucester native had only had one point all season.
- With his 25th goal of the year tonight, Felhaber now has a two-goal edge in the OHL goalscoring race. Felhaber is the first player in all three CHL leagues to reach 25.
