Madferret
4-17-05, 6:35 PM
OHL: 67's eliminate Wolves
Canadian Press
4/17/2005
OTTAWA (CP) - The Ottawa 67's secured a berth in the Ontario Hockey League's Eastern Conference final with a 7-4 win over the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday. Mark Mancari scored three goals and added an assist to lead the 67's, who won the best-of-seven semifinal series 4-2.
Ottawa will face the Peterborough Petes in the best-of-seven conference final, which begins Thursday in Peterborough. The Western Conference final between the London Knights, host of this year's Memorial Cup, and Kitchener Rangers opens Thursday in London.
Mancari cashed in a couple of second-period breakaway chances, including one while short-handed, and another in the third to help the 67's avoid a Game 7 in Sudbury on Monday night. ''I wasn't having a great series, so I knew I had to step it up,'' said Mancari, who drew a lot of attention earlier in the series for being on the receiving end of a sucker-punch from Kyle Musselman, who was then banned from the OHL.
The Petes have been awaiting an opponent since dispatching the Toronto St. Michael's Majors in five games in the other Eastern Conference semifinal. Lukas Kaspar and Brad Bonello, a former Pete, each had a goal and two assists, Jeremy Akeson had a goal and an assist and Chris Hulit also scored for Ottawa. Bonello and Hulit's goals came on the power play.
Ottawa Goaltender Danny Battochio rebounded from giving up all six goals in a 6-2 loss in Friday's Game 5 to make 38 saves. Kevin Baker scored two goals for Sudbury and Benoit Pouliot and Ryan McDonough had the others.
Kaspar scored 15 seconds after Baker had tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal in the first period and the 67's took off from there. They chased Wolves starting goaltender Kevin Beech with four goals on 15 shots. Patrick Ehelechner made 19 saves on 22 shots the rest of the way.
''We came out of the first round kind of unscathed with injuries and head into the second round and lose some key guys,'' Sudbury coach and general manager Mike Foligno said. His team lost regular defenceman Adam McQuaid and Tomas Sample earlier in the series to injuries.
''But we came, battled through to the end and I think we gave Ottawa all they could handle right through to the end,'' he said. ''They capitalized on the opportunities that they had and they got some breaks through our own mistakes, some mistakes of youth. But hopefully we'll benefit down the road.''
Canadian Press
4/17/2005
OTTAWA (CP) - The Ottawa 67's secured a berth in the Ontario Hockey League's Eastern Conference final with a 7-4 win over the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday. Mark Mancari scored three goals and added an assist to lead the 67's, who won the best-of-seven semifinal series 4-2.
Ottawa will face the Peterborough Petes in the best-of-seven conference final, which begins Thursday in Peterborough. The Western Conference final between the London Knights, host of this year's Memorial Cup, and Kitchener Rangers opens Thursday in London.
Mancari cashed in a couple of second-period breakaway chances, including one while short-handed, and another in the third to help the 67's avoid a Game 7 in Sudbury on Monday night. ''I wasn't having a great series, so I knew I had to step it up,'' said Mancari, who drew a lot of attention earlier in the series for being on the receiving end of a sucker-punch from Kyle Musselman, who was then banned from the OHL.
The Petes have been awaiting an opponent since dispatching the Toronto St. Michael's Majors in five games in the other Eastern Conference semifinal. Lukas Kaspar and Brad Bonello, a former Pete, each had a goal and two assists, Jeremy Akeson had a goal and an assist and Chris Hulit also scored for Ottawa. Bonello and Hulit's goals came on the power play.
Ottawa Goaltender Danny Battochio rebounded from giving up all six goals in a 6-2 loss in Friday's Game 5 to make 38 saves. Kevin Baker scored two goals for Sudbury and Benoit Pouliot and Ryan McDonough had the others.
Kaspar scored 15 seconds after Baker had tied the game 1-1 with a power-play goal in the first period and the 67's took off from there. They chased Wolves starting goaltender Kevin Beech with four goals on 15 shots. Patrick Ehelechner made 19 saves on 22 shots the rest of the way.
''We came out of the first round kind of unscathed with injuries and head into the second round and lose some key guys,'' Sudbury coach and general manager Mike Foligno said. His team lost regular defenceman Adam McQuaid and Tomas Sample earlier in the series to injuries.
''But we came, battled through to the end and I think we gave Ottawa all they could handle right through to the end,'' he said. ''They capitalized on the opportunities that they had and they got some breaks through our own mistakes, some mistakes of youth. But hopefully we'll benefit down the road.''