67’s get huge lift

But Olympiques get the win

Listed at 6-7 and looking more like 6-9, Stepan Falkovsky is the biggest thing on Ottawa ice since Zdeno Chara last patrolled the blue-line for the Ottawa Senators.

The newest member of the Ottawa 67’s arrived late Thursday and went to work at TD Place on Friday night, facing the Gatineau Olympiques as the 67’s kicked off their preseason schedule while the Olympiques wrapped up theirs with a 5-2 victory.

Falkovsky, naturally, caught the attention of everyone, and that was just while trying to navigate his way downstairs at the 67’s home.

The door to the 67’s room is a full cinder block too low for the hulking rearguard to walk through, meaning he has to duck noticeably every time. And that’s in bare feet. On skates, he almost has to take a knee.

The big addition cleared up his visa hurdles and flew from his hometown of Minsk, Belarus, to Ottawa with a stopover in Frankfurt.

Just hours later, he was on the ice Friday morning for a gameday skate with his Ontario Hockey League team. Russian goalie Leo Lazarev served as his primary interpreter and Russian winger Artur Tyanulin also helped make him feel comfortable in his new surroundings.

Falkovsky and the 5-9 Tyanulin look downright comical together.

“I have been training on the ice (in Belarus),” Falkovsky said before the game through Lazarev, who doesn’t qualify as an import, having played his major bantam and minor midget seasons in Canada. “I am ready.”

Ottawa head coach Jeff Brown said he asked Falkovsky if he wanted some time before making his debut.

“He said he wanted to play,” said Brown. “I said, ‘Look, you can wait for another game,’ but no, he wanted to play right away, so there you go.

“The kid is big. No doubt about it. And he wasn’t too bad on the video we saw of him.

“Problem is, he’s grown maybe four or five inches in the last six months and he’s much taller than when we committed to him. It may take some time for him to get comfortable.”

Falkovsky appeared tentative in the first period but relaxed and played solidly in the final two periods, and almost had a power-play goal in the third, though he did finish minus-2 on the night.

As for the 67’s- Olympiques rivalry, let’s just say it’s not as intense as it used to be.

Gatineau head coach Benoît Groulx was recalling his first time coaching against the 67’s when the two teams played a regular season home-in-home series several seasons ago.

Back then, things got rough right from the get-go.

“There was a scrum and everyone jumped in, and our shortest player was under the pile and I couldn’t see him so I sent out another player,” Groulx said with a laugh. “The player said, ‘But coach,’ and I said, ‘Never mind,’ and I pushed him out on the ice.

“Well, he was already into it when our smallest player crawled out from under the pile and it was too late. I got ejected and suspended for two games.

“So my goal (Friday) is to coach all three periods.”

And that he did, as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Olympiques dumped the 67’s, who have been in camp all of three days.