Camp opens with optimism
The road back to respectability is going to be long, winding and occasionally painful for the Ottawa 67’s, but OHL teams have been known to bounce back unexpectedly
As it turns out, not even an inordinately long off-season — one that will see the Ottawa 67’s go slightly more than six months between meaningful games — was enough to erase the memories of the second-worst season in franchise history.
It seems only yesterday that the 67’s were winding up the season on St. Patrick’s Day in Kingston with a 5-1 loss, their 46th defeat in 68 games. The 67’s had just a single win in their final 15 games, were shut out six times all season and recorded just six wins on home ice (half the number of the next lowest team). They also allowed seven goals or more in a game 11 times, 10 or more five times. Their longest win streak maxed out at two, the biggest monthly win total was just three and they were outscored 159-86 in 30 games after New Year’s.
It would be a little too easy to say there’s nowhere to go but up for the 2013-14 edition of the 67’s, which hits the ice Wednesday for training camp. There will be 51 players on hand, 22 of whom wore a 67’s jersey at one time or another during the season to forget.
The road back to respectability is still going to be long and winding and often painful for a club that dropped an amazing 50 points and 24 wins in the standings from 2011-12 and likely won’t have its best player and team leader Sean Monahan in the lineup anytime soon — if at all.
“We would like to be one of the most improved teams in the league and push for a playoff spot,” said 67’s architect Chris Byrne, who in his first three seasons as head coach won three divisional pennants and averaged 40 wins and a winning percentage of over .600 until hitting the skids and plummeting to just .279 last year. That led to a massive rebuild through trades and drafting that left the 67’s with the youngest roster in the league.
“We sold off last year, and we will still be in that rebuild mode where we have to be patient with our guys,” said Byrne. “We are still going to be a very young team.
“Obviously, we are not a championship-calibre team, and these things don’t happen overnight. We are going to have to continue to develop our young guys and go from there.”
Just being the most improved team in the Ontario Hockey League would represent leaps and bounds of improvement.
The Belleville Bulls led the way last season with a 25-point jump that netted them first overall in the Eastern Conference and the East Division. Naturally, Ottawa’s fall from grace helped the Bulls’ ascent, as it did the respective 19- and 14-point improvements by fellow East Division rivals the Oshawa Generals and Kingston Frontenacs.
Overall, the Owen Sound Attack was 23 points better than the season before, while the Erie Otters improved 21 points and still only beat the 67’s by nine points.
Should the 67’s do the unexpected and improve by as many as 25 points, a playoff spot would surely be theirs, based on the 2012-13 totals.
At the very minimum, the 67’s would have to jump 20-plus points to be in the mix down the stretch, an improvement that would serve them well heading back to Bank Street in 2014-15.
“We are going to have competition for jobs at camp that we just didn’t have last year,” said Byrne. “We’re going to have some tough choices to make, and that’s a great thing to have.
“There will be guys from last year’s team that don’t make it. It’s going to be a very competitive camp.”
The 67’s test and practice on Day 1, then play two-aday scrimmages Thursday though Saturday as the roster begins to take shape.
‘We’re going to have some tough choices to make, and that’s a great thing to have. … It’s going to be a very competitive camp.’
CHRIS BYRNE
Ottawa 67’s GM, head coach
By Sunday, they move into a routine of regular practice sessions, with four exhibition games on the horizon (beginning next Tuesday in Kemptville against Kingston). They follow with a home-and-home with the Gatineau Olympiques Friday in Rockland and Saturday in Gatineau.
The pre-season winds up Sept. 11 in Smiths Falls against the Bulls, with the season-opener nine days later at the Canadian Tire Centre against the same team.
The good news is the camp won’t be interrupted by a steady stream of exits by veterans to NHL camps.
Monahan is only a maybe to show up in Ottawa due to a special NHLPA camp before the Calgary Flames open up shop, while winger Joseph Blandisi (sixth-round pick in 2012) will be off to the Colorado Avalanche rookie camp.