Ottawa Senators Top Maple Leafs in Spirited Rookie Tournament Tilt

Sunday in London it proved to be an exciting match between Ottawa and Toronto in a prospects only look into the “Battle of Ontario”.

The Rookie Tournament game started off quick with a tilt between Sens forward Alex Guptill and Toronto prospect Ty Bilcke. Capitalizing soon thereafter on the power play was Toronto forward, Connor Brown with the game’s opening goal. Max McCormick soon tied it with a goal from in front of the crease for the young Sens.

Taking the lead for Ottawa was Matt Puempel who scored on a drive to the net that had resulted from a rebounded shot taken by Curtis Lazar.

Toronto forward Brett Finlay found him self alone in the slot early in the second and took advantage, scoring top shelf past Sens goalie Andrew Hammond. That would be all the offence Toronto would put forth for the night.

"From there on out, it was all Ottawa."

Max McCormick continued his amazing night by giving Ottawa a 3 – 2 lead in the 3rd. Adding to Ottawa’s strong 3rd was camp invitee Matt Murphy, Buddy Robinson, and tough guy Darren Kramer. A final of 6 – 2 sent the message to Toronto.

Max McCormick was definitely the story of the game, showing speed and brilliance with the puck all night, his line-mate; Ryan Dzingel showed very much of the same as he and McCormick were the two fastest players on the ice.

Ben Harpur adding four assists will likely help his cause, and camp invitee Matt Murphy has to feel great about scoring a goal. Defenceman Troy Rutkowski was aggravating to watch at times and was often found out of position on the ice.

Curtis Lazar was the best player on the ice, and he along with Nick Paul and Matt Puempel filled out a solid top line. Nick Paul was playing in big shoes and for the most part succeeded, but he was not as dominating as he has been in past games.

Alex Guptill’s presence was felt as he marked an assist on Matt Murphy’s goal, and was even involved in an early 1st period fight

The Sens lace them up tomorrow in a Rookie Tournament final game vs Chicago