Petti and Cramarossa ready for Game 7. Again

There’s something that sets Niki Petti and Michael Cramarossa apart from their teammates.

They’ve been here — Game 7 — before.

Rewind four years to when the two were OHL rookies and the Belleville Bulls were facing the Barrie Colts in the Eastern Conference final.

The Bulls — now the Hamilton Bulldogs — were trailing 3-1 in the series and rebounded to force a seventh game. They even managed to score the first goal before the Colts, led by future NHLers Aaron Ekblad and Mark Sheifele, came storming back to win.

Petti and Cramarossa agree it was the worst moment of their junior hockey careers.

“We had so many older guys and so many guys moving on the following year,” Petti said in a recent interview. “It was just so upsetting because it was for those guys and there were so many guys who wanted it.”

“We made it so far,” Cramarossa lamented.

The two Bulldogs forwards are now in another winner-take-all scenario in the conference quarter-final against the Kingston Frontenacs. Only this time around, they’re the older guys.

“Straight up, it’s do or die,” said Petti. “There’s no tomorrow after Tuesday unless it’s a win.”

The best-of-seven series, which will be decided in Kingston Tuesday night, has been won and lost in spurts. The Bulldogs, who missed out on home-ice advantage by a point, took the first two games on the road before the Frontenacs replied with three straight wins. Then, trailing 2-1 and facing elimination, they exploded for three goals in

five minutes to come back and take Game 6.

In the wake of that win Sunday, head coach John Gruden smiled and said the pressure is now “back on them.” The Frontenacs “are on their home ice” and “we’ve just got to do what we just did.

“It’s not rocket science,” he added. What that means is focusing on defence first, moving the puck quickly, firing as many shots as possible, and creating traffic in front of goalie Jeremy Helvig, who, at times in the series, has been outstanding. “That’s it,” Gruden said. If the pressure is back on the Frontenacs, they appear to be handling it well. Going into Tuesday’s game, forward Cody Caron — who has played like 20-grit against the Bulldogs — said he feels confident and grateful to have the opportunity at all.

“We were down 2-0, and if someone would have said we’re going to Game 7, we would have took it. So that’s what we’re looking forward to in our home barn, and it’s going to be good.”

If you’re not in Kingston, you can listen to the game on TSN 1150, watch it on Cable 14 or stream it on OHL Live. The puck drops at 7 p.m.