67’S TARGETING CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT SEASON
Given their druthers, the Ottawa 67’s would have much preferred spending Tuesday at the First Ontario Centre in Hamilton preparing for a winner-take-all Game 7 against the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Instead, they spent the day doing exit interviews with management and the coaching staff, cleaning out their belongings in the dressing room and saying goodbye for the summer while listening to the band Brit Floyd do sound checks in The Arena at TD Place.
The 67’s have not won a playoff series in the last five seasons in a league where the good teams play into late April and even May.
The club’s last playoff games each of the last three seasons have been April 1, 2016, April 2, 2017, and March 30 of this year.
“It sucks being out this early,” said three-year veteran Noel Hoefenmayer, who has known just four playoff wins against 12 losses in his time as a 67. “The worst part of it is having to watch all the other teams keep playing.
“I think it makes you want it even more and the good thing is most of us are coming back next year. We’ll be looking to make a good playoff run for sure.”
Fortunately, Hoefenmayer is one of four 67’s who may have some more hockey left to play as he will join the American Hockey League Pacific Division pennantwinning Tucson Roadrunners, the top farm team of the Arizona Coyotes, who selected Hoefenmayer in the fourth round.
He joins 67’s captain Travis Barron and leading-scorer Sasha Chmelevski in the AHL playoffs. Barron has joined the San Antonio Rampage, the top farm team of the Colorado Avalanche, and Chmelevski the San Jose Barracudas, the top farm team to the San Jose Sharks.
As well, 31-goal scorer Tye Felhaber has joined the Laval Rocket, the Montreal Canadiens’ affiliate, on a tryout contract.
All but Barron will return next fall to the 67’s and the expectations are going to be much higher than this year’s eighth-place finish in the Eastern Conference.
“It still doesn’t feel right going home this early,” said three-year veteran Austen Keating, who along with Hoefenmayer and Chmelevski will be entrusted with the leadership responsibilities from Barron. “We’re going to use it to fuel the fire next year.
“Go up and down our roster and we have an elite group of forwards and a D -group that is very strong already. With all our experience, I really believe we can have a team that can go all the way.”
Keating could be guilty of being a little overly optimistic unless the team can land a franchise goaltender and a star forward. Still, the 2018-19 67’s should not be fighting for a playoff spot down the stretch as they were this season.
“We were a young team,” said winger Kody Clark of the secondyoungest roster in the OHL. “But we are a close-knit bunch and if you have that, you think you can do anything.
“For sure, we will have the opportunity to really do something next year.”
In the days since the Bulldogs eliminated the 67’s, head coach and vice-president of hockey operations Andre Tourigny and general manager James Boyd have seen more of each other than they have their respective families.
The OHL draft is Saturday and then a trading window for veteran players opens in June.
At some point, the 67’s figure to be players in the trade market.
But there has to be deletions from the returning group to make way for this spring ’s top draft picks as well as others from last year who will report to training camp in September.
“Wewanttobeateamthat will challenge for both a division title and a conference title,” said Boyd. “We expect to be a solid top-four team in the (Eastern) Conference.”
The basis for Boyd’s prediction is that the many returnees will be just that much better for the valuable experience they gained as first- and second-year players.
“As a coach, you always want to end a season with a win and we didn’t do that,” said Tourigny. “But I am proud of our young players for the way they battled. We never backed down.”