Mississauga 3, Ottawa 1
The 67’s road trip ran into a hot goalie on Sunday against the Mississauga Steelheads. Both teams share identical records — the same amount of wins, losses, and points — atop the Eastern Conference of the OHL.
The first period was a clear display of how evenly matched the two side are.
Jack Ivankovic, the Steelheads’ goalie, made save after save, keeping his team in the game until until deep into the second period when Van Volsen hit a one timer from a cross-ice pass by his teammate Zander Veccia.
Ottawa’s net minder, Collin Makenzie, made 26 saves of his own until a twisted turn of fate what sealed the deal with the second Steelhead goal.
It happened when Mississauga defender Stevie Leskovar fired a shot into a corner of Ottawa’s zone. Teammate, Mason Zebeski, picked up the puck, turned and throw it into the slot where it deflected off 67’s Gavin Ewles and into the net.
Ottawa didn’t give up and made a strong push — notably by Captain Luca Pinelli and Cooper Foster — that would see chances that bouncing off the crossbar or being denied by Ivankovic.
Ivankovic has a 0.921 save percentage this season, and his effort on Sunday proved that stat.
Ottawa finally scored with less than 10 minutes left. Rookie Charlie Hilton would get his second goal of the season after picking up a rebound.
It didn’t help that Foster was ejected in the third period for a head hit. Ottawa killed the penalty, but it wasn’t enough despite intense pressure from the 67’s in the final minutes.
Ivankovic ate up all the last-minute shots from Ottawa, disallowing rebounds and shutting down chances.
The Steelheads picked up an empty net insurance goal with seconds to spare. Credit to Veccia, who had a great game and is having fine season with 26 points in 31 games.
Ottawa’s effort was there in the shots on net with 36 for and 28 against.
Ottawa gets a break returning to action on Dec. 28 in North Bay against the Battalion to finish the five-game road trip.
