67’S FLUNK SCHOOL DAY TEST VERSUS FRONTENACS
One of the first major changes Andre Tourigny instituted as the new head coach of the Ottawa 67’s was to make attending school mandatory for all players and not just for the high schoolaged 67’s.
Tourigny never counted on the Kingston Frontenacs doing the schooling in handing his club a valuable lesson in the annual School Day promotion at the Canadian Tire Centre.
The previously struggling Frontenacs, with three wins in their last 10 games, jumped all over the 67’s in the opening minutes, scoring twice in a 12-second span before the game was four minutes’ old, to turn back the 67’s Thursday morning before 13,567 rambunctious kids, who took a pass on Take Our Kids to Work Day to spend it at the rink with teachers.
“This was a wake-up call for sure,” said Tourigny, whose club began the morning four points up on the last-place Frontenacs in the Ontario Hockey League’s tight East Division where five points separate first and fifth. “I think we got a little bit too excited.
“We were a little bit like the crowd. We were excited and full of energy, but not necessarily focused on the right things. The guys mean well, but they were a little light on details.”
The Frontenacs blitzed the 67’s before many of the school kids even had a chance to find their sections, let alone their seats, with the two quick goals, including the eventual game-winner just 3:56 in.
Linus Nyman started things by picking up an errant back-pass by a 67’s forward and skating in all alone to beat 67’s netminder Olivier Lafreniere at 3:44.
Twelve seconds later, Sergey Popov tapped one past Lafreniere and Tourigny gave his goalie the quick hook only to send him back almost as quickly.
“I just tried to stop the momentum,” said Tourigny. “It wasn’t (Lafreniere’s) fault. I told him you’re going right back in next whistle. Except the next whistle was like 10 seconds. So I said, ‘OK, second whistle.’”
The move hardly changed anything as the Frontenacs kept coming and Ted Nichol made it 3-0 at the seven-minute mark, making it three goals in just 3:16.
The highlight for the school kids was seeing 67’s captain Travis Barron exchange blows with Kingston’s six-foot-three, 208-pound defenceman Jacob Paquette, the teachers incapable of telling their students to turn away until it was over. The screaming kids loved every punch they threw. Back to hockey, Kingston stretched the lead to four just past the midway point of the second period on a shot from the slot by Jakob Brahaney.
Ottawa rookie Lucas Peric finally brought the kids on their feet by putting the 67’s on the board with a blast from the point almost 12 minutes into the second.
But Kingston’s Jason Robertson ended all hopes of a 67’s comeback by scoring the game’s final goal with just 24 seconds to play in the second.
These division and geographic rivals will get to know each other well with two more meetings this month as they work through eight regular season matchups.
The three with Kingston are part of an 11-game November for the 67’s that resumes Friday night back at TD Place against the Barrie Colts.
“I have a lot of respect for Kingston,” said Tourigny. “We had our moments, but they played better than us.
“I think we saw how good Kingston can be. But I don’t think they saw how good we can be.”