OHL Kingston Frontenacs

Fronts Fall 5-2 to Bulldogs at FirstOntario Centre

Published on December 14, 2019 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Kingston Frontenacs News Release


After getting back on the winning track last night, the Kingston Frontenacs were on the road for a nationally televised Sportsnet game in Hamilton versus the Bulldogs in an afternoon game. They looked to continue a scratch seeing them as one of the hottest teams in the Ontario Hockey League with an 8-2 record on their last 10 games. Only East Division foes Ottawa and Peterborough have more points in that stretch as the Frontenacs have put themselves back into the OHL playoff picture tied with Mississauga for the 8th and final spot.

Tonight started out great as the Frontenacs got out to an early two-goal lead, but Hamilton would storm back scoring six consecutive goals en route to their first win in four games with Avery Hayes scoring twice and Nathan Staios adding a goal and an assist.

Sitting six points up on Kingston heading into today's game and playing three more games Hamilton was without star forward Jan Jenik (away at World Junior). So it was an important game for Kingston to start to catch Hamilton for 4th in East division standings and 7th in the Conference. Rookie Shane Wright entered the game on a ten-game point streak (10G,6A) and also scored a goal in five consecutive games.

Captain and minute-cruncher Jakob Brahaney sat out the second of his two-game suspension and is expected back in the lineup tomorrow afternoon. Hamilton native Ryan Dugas got the call in net for Kingston giving Christian Propp a well-deserved rest. In his last start, Dugas was stellar over Peterborough at home on Dec 6 making 38 saves in a 7-2 win.

Francesco Arcuri said after last night's game, "We have to work hard, play fast and I think we can come out of this weekend with two wins on the road". Lucas Peric spoke of playing in front of the national TV audience: "It's also a huge divisional game, we know they'll play us hard and a Sportsnet game, so everyone is going to be going even harder, so we just got to come out and play like we can and it will be good."

The first period saw the Frontenacs wither a bit of a storm at the start of the game to get out to a 1-0 lead at 3:47 after Shane Wright scored his 16th. Wright picked up a loose puck after a Maddox Callens rush and was able to rifle home a shot past Marco Constantini extending his goal streak to six games with Lucas Peric also drawing an assist.

It was 2-0 for Kingston at 7:01 when Zayde Wisdom scored his team-leading 17th on a beauty passing play with Francesco Arcuri. After tight roping the blueline with the puck, Wisdom played give-and-go with Arcuri. The rookie made a nice touch pass to set up Wisdom who redirected a backhand into the net giving the Frontenacs their second goal in their first three shots.

Kingston went on the power play at 8:08, but Avery Hayes scored shorthanded 33 seconds into the man-advantage making it 2-1. After a turnover at the Bulldogs blueline, Hayes took a stretch feed from Ryan Winterton and went in on a break shooting high glove on Dugas who was out on top of his crease. It was a good shot for his 12th of the season.

After Kingston failed to score on their second power play of the period, Hamilton took advantage of their first power-play scoring at 17:47 sending the teams squared up 2-2 for the first intermission. Staois took a feed after the Bulldogs won the draw and fired a slap shot past Dugas. Kade Landry and Arthur Kaliyev added assists on Staois' third as Kaliev continues to lead the OHL with 62 points. Hamilton controlled most of the period outshooting the Frontenacs 12-7.

The Frontenacs came out hard in the second period getting five shots on Roy in the period's opening five minutes. But the home team took over not allowing a Kingston shot from the 2:03 mark until 17:39 registering 13 shots themselves in that stretch. At 7:30 Logan Morrison scored Hamilton's third consecutive goal of the game giving them the 3-2 lead after firing a broken shot that Dugas got a piece of but couldn't hold on to. It snuck through his glove with Kaliyev's assist added to his OHL lead (31).

Kingston would kill a too-many-men penalty, but shortly after at 12:34, Hamilton went up by two on a Winterton goal. After a backhand by Staois was blocked by players in the crease, Winterton banged home a loose puck for his seventh giving the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead.

Some momentum was gained with a good power play at the end of the period with three shots including a quick shot by Wisdom off a nice pass by King. Maddox Callens drew the hooking call driving the net in what's becoming a growing trend for the rookie power forward. But Kingston couldn't get one past Constantini and headed to the second intermission down two goals.

The start of the third saw Wisdom with a great chance a minute in driving the net, but Constantini followed him across the crease and made the save. Shortly after, Callens hit the post almost getting the Frontenacs the elusive third goal.

Hamilton bore down for the remainder of the game and almost made it a three-goal lead but Dugas made a potential "save of the year" on midway through the period. After a pass by Jake Gravelle was one-timed towards the net, Dugas stretched his right pad out to stone Lawson Sherk. He made another good stop on Kaliyev a few minutes later trying to hold Kingston close.

Unfortunately, after a Kingston timeout with 2:15 left in the game, Hayes would score his second of the afternoon into an open net ending the scoring 5-2.

The Frontenacs next game is tomorrow afternoon vs Mississauga Steelheads before playing their last game before the holiday break on Thursday, Dec 19 in Niagara. Note the early start time of 2 PM tomorrow in Mississauga.

Frontenacs next home game is following the holiday break on December 28th vs Ottawa 67's at 7 PM. Tickets are available at the Leon's Centre box office or at Ticketmaster.ca.

Check out the Kingston Frontenacs Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from December 14, 2019


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