Bradford Returns, Ottawa 67’s Have Chance To Steal Six Points

The Cody Ceci trade has finally come full circle.

For the second time in three seasons, a matchup with the Owen Sound Attack brings 67’s fans an emotional side-story.

The Ottawa 67’s that rarely sold or bought big for years made an unfortunate choice that they were essentially forced to make, trading Ceci, one of the best defencemen in team history, to Owen Sound for a package that included Joseph Blandisi.

A year later, Blandisi, was traded to Barrie for Erik Bradford.

One week ago, the Attack finished the cycle where it started, once again overpaying for a rental player from Ottawa and acquiring Bradford.

Tonight, Bradford returns to Ottawa.

Chance to pull away

Ottawa has the choice to kick divisional rival Peterborough while they’re down, but it’s not a home-and-home to take for granted.

Last time they split a two-game series with Peterborough, giving up three of a possible four points to the Petes.

The Petes, just usurped out of the playoff picture by Niagara, still give an easy target for the Barberpoles to pull away from the other teams pushing for home ice.

New faces leaving impression

Adam Craievich:  Not to surround a player with too much hype, especially for someone who has struggled with consistency in his young career, but sophomore Craievich looks a lot like Tyler Toffoli when he was a rookie; not always the most physical, but the offensive creativity is certainly there.

The only problem is that Craievich has a little less time in his OHL career to work out the kinks, but he could be an exciting piece moving forward.

Curtis Meighan:  He won’t be the replacement for Bradford, he’ll never produce offence the same way, but he brings a checking line mentality, the type of player they’ll need in a seven-game series with Belleville or Kingston.

David Pearce:  Pearce likely won’t see a lot of ice time to finish the season in the OHL but when he does, he has little flashes of promise.

Playing on the third line, Pearce hasn’t had a lot of offensive-zone chances, but has shown how good of a stickhandler he can be in traffic, and added his first OHL goal last weekend.

*Erik Bradford Photo Courtesy of Valerie Wutti/Blitzen Photography