67’s show signs of life

Team earns three of four possible points over the weekend

While a pair of weekend games for the Ottawa 67’s did nothing to revive any hopes of a playoff berth this season, hope for the future was certainly renewed.

Joseph Blandisi scored the shootout winner Friday as the 67’s were 5-4 winners over the Frontenacs in Kingston. Sean Callaghan, Sean Monahan, John Urbanic and Nevin Guy scored in regulation for the 67’s in a game that halted a six-game slide for Chris Byrne’s club.

Sunday afternoon in Mississauga, the 67’s got a pair of goals from Dante Salituro and singles from Blandisi and Sergey Kuptsov, but fell 5-4 to the Steelheads in a shootout.

All in all, three out of four points is a pretty good weekend for a club coming off an embarrassing 11-1 loss to the London Knights at Scotiabank Place Thursday.

“We got off to a great start and scored early. They came on in the second and I thought we played real solid in the third period and overtime before winning in a shootout,” Byrne said about Friday as the 67’s let a 4-1 lead slip away in the second period.

“Our guys played hard (Sunday). We outshot them and outchanced them. It’s not easy to win on the road but we had a good solid effort.”

The 67’s remain last in the Ontario Hockey League with a 13-33-4 record and are 14 points back of the Frontenacs for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

“For our guys there are lots of points still on the board. The message for our guys is that we have to go out and win some games. They did a great job of getting three of four points on the road, now we’ll go out and have a good week of practice and hopefully get going with a good solid effort on home ice Friday,” Byrne said.

Friday, they host the Sarnia Sting in the first of seven straight on home ice. That may not be such a good thing, however, as the 67’s are a league-worst 4-17-2 at “home” in the first of two seasons at Scotiabank Place while their real home at Lansdowne is being redeveloped.

“We have to find a way to win on home ice. We haven’t been able to do that consistently this season, so we’ve got seven games here where we’ve got to make some hay at home and have a good stretch,” Byrne said.

“Obviously on some nights, everything goes in (against) and you don’t get any kind of puck luck or bounces, and we got outworked and outplayed in our own rink.

“I thought the guys bounced back with a good solid effort Friday and another one (Sunday).”

That’s a start toward a brighter future.