Rye Stops 41 in Shutout Win Over 67’s
By: Gabriel Rowland Renaud
On Thursday, March 5, the Peterborough Petes hosted the Ottawa 67’s at the Peterborough Memorial Centre in front of their 21st sell-out of the season. The game was presented by Real Canadian Superstore (RCSS).
The Petes wore their winning design for the annual RCSS CHL Jersey Contest during the game. The jerseys were designed by Lochlan Pherrill and are being auctioned off online with all proceeds in support of the Presidents Choice Children’s Charity. To date, the Real Canadian Superstore jersey contests have collectively raised over $864,900 to help feed one million kids each year. Fans can access the auction by visiting clicking here. The auction runs until Sunday, March 8 at 8:00 p.m.
After a goalie battle sent the game to overtime with zeros on the board, Brennan Faulkner broke the deadlock in the extra frame, winning the game for Peterborough by a score 1-0. Easton Rye led the way for the Petes, securing the shutout and his league leading 34th win of the season. Rye’s 41 saves are the most by any OHL goaltender in a shutout this season.
GAME STORY:
Three and a half minutes into tonight’s home game versus the Ottawa 67’s, Easton Rye set the tone. Keeping square to Ottawa’s Shaan Kingwell, Rye burst across the top of the crease to make a spectacular save. Rye would expend significantly less effort challenging David Bedkowski on the following shot. In the subsequent minutes, the visitors would commit two infractions. The first, a roughing minor assessed to Connor Bewick; the second, a slashing minor assessed to Bedkowski. The Petes would direct four shots the way of Ottawa netminder Jaeden Nelson, but were ultimately unable to solve him. Over the final five minutes of the opening frame, the Petes and 67’s traded shots (three and four respectively), but neither were able to find twine.
The second and third periods were largely uneventful except for a handful of quality stops from both netminders. Two minutes into the middle frame, Nelson mirrored Rye’s earlier save, bursting across the crease from right to left to deny Kieron Walton on a breakaway. Later into the second, Rye made a series of snappy saves to negate an Ottawa power play. The middle frame drew on with neither team managing to gain the upper hand.
Early into the third period, Nelson robbed Matthew Soto, stretching to jam his left pad to the post. Seconds later, Rye dropped into the butterfly on his left post to answer a pair of sharp-angle shots from Carolina Hurricanes prospect Filip Ekberg. As the clock ticked down, Rye made another spectacular save, this time on Kohyn Eshkawkogan’s backhander, flashing the leather to take the game beyond regulation.
It only took seventeen seconds into overtime for Ekberg to fire a shot toward the Peterborough net. However, Rye stood tall atop the crease, cutting the angle to deny the Swede. As the puck ricocheted out, Ottawa’s Frankie Marrelli collected and unloaded from the top of the left circle, but Rye was equal to the task. Next up was Nic Whitehead who tried to beat Rye on a sharp angle shot, but was denied. Finally, after a seemingly eternal two minutes, the Petes got hold of the puck, and were perfect in transition to enter the offensive zone. Aiden Young distributed the puck up right wing to Carson Cameron who held for a moment, then made a crisp pass onto the tape of Brennan Faulkner in the slot. Faulkner caught and fired the puck in one buttery smooth motion, and it was golden! The Petes would break gridlock in overtime to earn their thirty-fifth win of the season.
Game Recap:
First Period:
- No Score
Second Period:
- No Score
Third Period:
- No Score
Overtime Period:
- Peterborough Goal (2:18) – Brennan Faulkner (23), Assists – Carson Cameron (12), Aiden Young (31)
The Petes are back in action on Friday, March 6, when they travel to St. Catharines to take on the Niagara IceDogs. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Meridian Centre. Fans can catch the game live on YourTV Peterborough, Freq 90.5, and FloHockey.
