It’s season over for the 67’s if they don’t win tonight
It’s either win in Hamilton or pack up the gear for season for Tourigny’s troops
Ottawa 67’s head coach Andre Tourigny makes no bones about it: to have success in the postseason, a team needs opportunities, goaltending and health.
Four games into the Ontario Hockey League Eastern Conference quarter-final with the Hamilton Bulldogs, all the 67’s can say is at least they have health.
On the opportunities front, the most common refrain in Games 3 and 4 from the more vocal fans in lower section 18 and 19 was “shoot” when the 67’s had the puck. Fact is, the Bulldogs are leaving the 67’s little room straight to the net and are forcing them to have 20-plus shots either blocked or fired wide.
When it comes to goaltending, overage Olivier Tremblay sure picked a bad time to slump.
The consummate team player and backbone of the 30-win regular season was yanked in both home playoff games and has given up 11 goals in 40 shots in the last two games over 69 minutes and 12 seconds, leaving his save-percentage at just .700.
For those who don’t study analytics to find out what’s wrong, Tremblay is giving up three goals on every 10 shots and when the 67’s nightly allow the opposition 30-plus shots, the numbers don’t give the 67’s a chance.
Well, at least they’re healthy, though Tremblay has not been himself since Bulldogs Will Bitten ran through his crease 13 minutes into Game 3. Tremblay was pulled 2:03 into the second period after the Bulldogs’ seventh goal in Game 3 and then 7:02 into the second period in Game 4 with Hamilton up 4-1.
Still, there’s no other choice as the team has rolled down Highway 401 and the QEW into Hamilton on Thursday in preparation for Game 5 on Friday night at the First Ontario Centre.
If the 67’s have any chance of bringing the series back to TD Place on Easter Sunday, Tremblay needs to not only be much better, he needs to steal a game and there’s no goaltending controversy with youngster Cedric Andree.
“Olivier has been our starter all year long,” said Tourigny, without a hint of doubting who he has to go with. “He played solid all year. He was the guy we went to almost every game.
“He hasn’t played the way he has wanted to. But he’s our guy. He goes right back in the net.”
On paper, the series was a mismatch eight days ago before it began.
The Bulldogs have championship aspirations. The 67’s merely want to get their feet wet in the playoffs and build on an outstanding final 30 games with a roster that will have very little turnover heading into 2018-19.
The 67’s played as well as they could in losing the series opener 6-3. They were even better in Game 2 and made the most of a little more opportunities in stealing a 5-4 win.
Reality set in for Game 3, however, and the 67’s might have played one of their three worst games of the season in losing 8-1 on home ice.
Then a funny thing happened. The 67’s came out and played possibly their most complete 60 minutes in a long time and still fell short, this time 5-2 in Game 4.
“Fortunately, we have short memories,” said 67’s forward Tye Felhaber, the Foymount native who has resurrected his hockey career this season and figures to return as a 20-year-old next season.
“We knew what we had to do (in Game 4) and maybe we just didn’t get some of the bounces.
“The result didn’t reflect how we played. But I think we made a great jump to come back after losing 8-1.”
How the 67’s rebounded is not lost on the youngsters, either. Kids like 17-year-old Graeme Clarke are getting a first taste of OHL playoff experience. Clarke was the team’s No. 1 pick last spring. Jack Quinn, the team’s No. 2 pick in the same draft, didn’t look out of place after being inserted into the lineup for Game 4 after his Kanata Lasers were eliminated last week in the CCHL playoffs.
Clarke and Quinn are keepers and cornerstones to build on.
“A couple of veterans warned me before Game 1 how much different the playoffs are,” said Clarke, “You find out right away how true that is.
“Hamilton can take control of a game pretty fast. But our job is to try and shut them down.”