Pre-game makes world of difference
Video of Canada’s junior championship win pumps up 67’s in win over Gatineau
About 90 minutes before puck drop, the Ottawa 67’s huddled in their tiny quarters inside the Robert Guertin Arena and watched a motivational video capped by the gold-medal-winning goal of a week ago by Tyler Steenbergen to give Canada the world junior championship in Buffalo, N.Y.
Naturally, the room exploded in applause at the goal, then watched Steenbergen explain how he “blacked out” scoring it.
The game-winning and medalwinning celebration could not have been lost on 67’s sophomore Samuel Bitten.
After scoring five goals in his first 53 games as a 67, Bitten enjoyed far and away his biggest night in the Ontario Hockey League, scoring the eventual game-winner, then the back-breaking third goal as the 67’s rolled over the Gatineau Olympiques 5-0 to avenge last month’s 4-1 loss to Gatineau in the Outdoor Classic at TD Place.
Bitten counted his fourth of the season 12:39 into the opening frame and that was all 67’s goaltender Olivier Tremblay needed in recording a quiet 20-save shutout.
“The coaches keep breaking down video for me and the first 30 games I just wasn’t going to the net enough,” said Bitten, smiling ear to ear. “Then, for both my goals, I drove to the net, so there must be something there. That’s where goals come from.
“We were just so disappointed losing in front of our fans. We wanted this one for our fans and we kept our cool and went out and did the job.”
The 67’s face a tough road to the post-season, but stringing wins together is something they just have to do.
Two months ago, they were fighting for the division lead. Now they’re fighting to stay out of the basement.
“It’s tough to say right now, but I think we’re a better team than we were,” said 67’s head coach Andre Tourigny. “We want to be in the playoffs and we want to be tougher to play against every game.
“I think we’re at the point where we’re playing better. We’ve added depth (in recent trades) and we have more grit. But it’s tough to get confidence without winning. Just winning a few (in a row) would give everybody more confidence.”
The 67’s have outshot their opponent in nine of their last 12 games, including Gatineau. Yet their record is just two wins against eight losses, one each in a shootout and in overtime.
And their only two wins over that span came against the Petes, who they face Saturday in Peterborough in the middle game of an arduous three games in three days with a long bus ride home ahead before Sunday afternoon’s contest against the Guelph Storm at TD Place.
Bitten and Austen Keating staked the 67’s to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Bitten was at it again 7:37 into the second and Mitchell Hoelscher padded the lead two minutes later.
Second-year defenceman Carter Robertson appeared to make it 5-0 for Ottawa eight minutes into the third on the power play, though video review reversed it, showing the 67’s offside at the Gatineau blue-line.
Kody Clark made it 5-0 with less than three minutes to play.
In defence of the Olympiques, the club is really just a shadow of what they were a month ago, having dealt no less than six veterans away as part of a major teardown and rebuild.
Those no longer with Gatineau include the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s third- and 14thleading scorers in Vitalii Abramov and Mitchell Balmas as the franchise looks to build a contender before moving into a new arena.
In reality, construction of their new home may go smoother than the rebuild of the roster.