OHL Oshawa Generals

Generals Open Season with Decisive Road Victory

September 23, 2011 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Oshawa Generals News Release


Kingston, ON - The Oshawa Generals began their 75th Anniversary season in style Friday night defeating their Eastern Conference rival, the Kingston Frontenacs, 5-1 before a crowd of 2,931 at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston. JP Labardo and Mark Petaccio had multiple point performances in the Generals' first win of the 2011-2012 season. Their efforts were critical to a line up depleted due to key contributors being away at NHL camps.

The Generals played the game without Nicklas Jensen (Vancouver), Scott Valentine (Nashville), Christian Thomas (New York Rangers), and Andy Andreoff (LA Kings) who were all still away at NHL camps.

Oshawa was also without Lucas Lessio and Cody Payne who were both serving suspensions, while Kevin Bailie remains out of the lineup with a lower body injury.

In the first, both teams seemed tentative. The period was mostly a full strength affair, neither side wanted to concede the first mistake. The Generals had trouble generating traffic in front of the opposition's net, and this resulted in long range shots easily handled by netminder Igor Bobcov. Generals' goaltender Dan Altshuller was tested much more frequently than his counterpart and made a solid save on a streaking Derek Froats who tried to beat him short side.

Kingston right winger Petr Beranek finally opened the scoring at 14:13 of the first period. After a Generals' defensive turnover in the corner, Cody Alcock fed a completely open and undetected Beranek who tapped the puck into a yawning cage.

The situation appeared to go from bad to worse when Frontenacs' Captain Tyler Brown seemingly put the Frontenacs up 2-0 on a beautiful pass from line mate Dylan Staples. Oshawa caught a break when the Officials determined that the puck didn't cross the goal line.

Fresh off the heels of good fortune, the Generals evened the score with Captain Boone Jenner taking a shot from the wing just outside the hash marks. Bobcov made the initial stop, but JP Labardo drove to the net and buried the rebound. Outshot 16-8 in the first, the Generals managed to escape the period tied at 1.

Second period action was much more entertaining as Oshawa's speed, quick puck movement and strong forecheck opened up laneways and forced Kingston to take penalties. The Generals power play converted on their first opportunity when Mark Petaccio beat Bobcov on a second rebound attempt after a perfect point shot from JP Labardo. Labardo continued to hold a hot hand late in the period when he was sprung free courtesy of Scott Laughton who had just received a tape to tape pass from defenseman Daniel Maggio. At the end of the frame, the Generals had narrowed the shot gap to 1, but more importantly, they were up 3-1 on the scoreboard.

By the third, Oshawa's offense was firing on all cylinders. Petaccio scored his second goal of the night by exploiting Bobcov's inability to control a rebound after the Fronts' goalie was unable to freeze a shot from the point. Emerson Clark showed his velvet pre-season hands were for real, roofing a wrist shot over Bobcov's glove hand perfectly picking the top right corner of the net. Even a Frontenacs' five minute power play after a Scott Sabourin check to the head couldn't spark the Kingston offence and get the Fronts back into the game. The Gens penalty kill kept Kingston's attack to the perimeter allowing a confident Dan Altshuller to see everything on his way to a 32 save performance, who earned his first career OHL win.

Oshawa's JP Labardo and Dan Altshuller garnered first and second star honours, while former General Cody Alcock picked up the third star selection for Kingston in a losing cause. The Generals outshot Kingston 38-33.

The Generals play their first home game of the 2011-2012 season this Sunday September 25th at the General Motors Centre against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Puck drops at 6:05 PM.

Don't forget to come down early to the General Motors Centre to take in the pre-game festivities early. The Tailgate Party gets underway beginning at 3pm with tons of great food, drinks and music.

Check out the Oshawa Generals Statistics



Ontario Hockey League Stories from September 23, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central