Mets may have strong base to build on
Fort Erie can return as many as 20 players after finishing junior B season one game under .500
The Fort Erie Meteors, unlike their celestial namesakes, aren’t likely to burn up any time soon.
After a banner season in which they finished fifth in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference, only a gave under .500, the junior B team is bringing back Todd Clayton as head coach and can return as many as 20 players.
“Every year is different, you can’t expect to be the top four,” Clayton said. “You can only look at who shows up to camp and go from there.
“Same expectations as last year: come along as a hockey team and come along as players.”
The second-year coach expects the majority of players come back. If that turns out to be case, Clayton expects to build on last year’s success.
“I believe there’s a couple of players who should be in the OHL,” Clayton said. “I’m expecting 17 to come back.
“I haven’t heard that they aren’t, but until they step on the ice, I can’t count on anybody.
Fort Erie, 24-26 in league play and one of the late-charging team heading into the players, lost to the fourth-seeded Ancaster Avalanche in the opening round of the playoffs.
Clayton said if the team can keep a full lineup intact over the course of the season, next year’s playoffs might not end so quickly.
“Last year we played many game where we were under the 20-man limits, and I think that cost us some two points,” he said.
“I’m not making any excuses, but I think it would have helped us if we had a full lineup for the whole season.”
Meteors general manager Tony Passero said financial considerations limit recruiting, so a finish in the top half of the standings may not always be in the cards for teams in the same boat.
“I really don’t know if we can crack the top four,” Passero said. “Bringing better players in comes with a cost. I’m all about developing kids and getting them to the next level.
“Not that I don’t want to win, but I’m definitely not going to spend the money that other teams do to win the Golden Horseshoe.
“It’s not that I don’t want to place in the top four, I just don’t think I can. When your budget is a quarter of what the other ones are, it’s pretty hard to place one or two.”
Passero said that his program in Fort Erie is set up for the success of the players and not that of the team.
“We always have a big turnover,” he said. “With the turnover of players we have, every year at the beginning is a struggle to see what you got.
“One place we don’t want to finish is last. If you ask me where I want to finish, I would love to finish top four. But I’m happy with finishing four, five or six.”