Once again the Oshawa Generals allowed the opening goal in all three contests, resulting in a 1-2 record in a weekend in where points were extremely crucial, approaching the Christmas break.
The highlight of the 3-in-3 weekend was once again the Friday night opener, where Oshawa was able to get themselves two points closer to the division foe, Ottawa 67’s. Despite allowing the first goal, scored by 67’s Travis Barron, the Generals were able to answer the call 13 seconds later. Domenico Commisso pushed past the blue line letting go a wrister going far side on goaltender Cedrick Andree. The 1st period would come to a close with the 67’s leading 2-1 after Peter Stratis would score his 3rd of the season. The 2nd period has been the best period all season for the Generals, and they proved it once again, starting 4:12 seconds into the frame. Matt Brassard would score his 2nd of the season off of a beautiful toe drag move around the defenseman before shooting past Andree for a 2-2 tie. Just over a minute and a half later, Brassard found the puck on his stick in the high slot, before the puck would find the back of the net for his 2nd of the game and 3rd on the season. Gens now up 3-2, seven minutes into the period. With about five minutes remaining in the 2nd period, the 67’s would manage to tie the game with Noel Hoefenmayer’s 4th on the season. Two minutes into the 3rd the Generals proved they wanted this game more than Ottawa, as Kyle MacLean scored his 5th of the season, the eventual game-winner. After a rough back and forth 3rd period, Brendan Harrogate put the game away with his 1st goal as an Oshawa General into the empty net.
The game in Barrie on Saturday afternoon was all Colts. From the drop of the puck until the final buzzer, Oshawa just could not find their legs in this game. Barrie opened the scoring 3:04 into the game, with Russian import Alexey Lipanov potting his 10th of the season, also bringing down the teddy bears for Barrie’s Teddy Bear Toss. Less than a minute later, leading goal scorer Jason Willms scored his first of the game and 16th of the year, assisted by Zachary Magwood and Lucas Chiodo. The Colts would score two more goals before the end of the 1st, from the same two players. Jason Willms would score his 17th of the season, 1:21 before Alexey Lipanov scored his second of the game and 11th of the season. Barrie would leave the first period up 4-0, leading the shots 17-2. Barrie would end up taking this one by a score of 5-0 as Kyle Heitzner scored his 3rd goal midway through the third. The final shot count also went the way of the Colts, 38-17. If the Generals were to find any positives from this game, it would be that Kyle Keyser returned the net in relief of Cole Ceci, stopping 23/25 shots including a penalty shot. His first game action since November 5th.
The final game of the weekend was also the Generals’ 20th annual Teddy Bear Toss. History seems to be repeating itself as for the 3rd year in a row it was the Saginaw Spirit in town for the event, and for the 3rd year in a row the Spirit leave Oshawa with the win and 2 points. The Spirit opened the scoring about 6 minutes in off a tip goal from Jake Goldowski, his first in the OHL. Kyle Keyser in his first start back from injury was the story as he stopped a total of 35/37 shots, including 18 in the 2nd period to keep the score at 1-0. In the 2nd period, the Spirit believed they had increased their lead to 2-0 but was called no goal after the officials deemed there to be goaltender interference. I believe it was a call that could have gone either way, with reasons on both sides to make the call. In the 3rd period, Kenny Heuther gave the Generals’ crowd of 5209 a reason to be loud, finally scoring Oshawa’s first goal and teddy bear goal of the game. Despite bringing the crowd into it, and asserting some pressure in the Saginaw zone it was the Spirit who were able to break through and retake the lead, of the stick of local boy Marcus Crawford, midway through the third period. Cole Coskey would bring the lead to 3-1 with an empty net goal for his 16 of the season, giving Saginaw the breathing room they needed. Despite the loss, 5604 bears were collected on the night to make thousands of Christmases something to remember for those who are less fortunate.
The Generals still find themselves 5th in the Eastern Division, and 7th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 13-17-2-0, good for 28 points. The Generals play host to 2 games this weekend:
Friday, December 15th vs. Peterborough Petes
Sunday, December 17th vs. Guelph Storm
Below are some photos that were taken by my family who were able to attend the game on Sunday night, in Oshawa.
GENS LENS 