SCHOOL DAY HEROICS: Ottawa 67's keep rolling with win over Kingston
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Sixteen wins, one loss. Let that sink in: 16-1.
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While the Senators are struggling and the Redblacks won just four times in 18 games, the Ottawa 67’s are the real deal. They may be flying under the radar a bit, but the 67’s are good. Really good.
With a mostly young, energized School Day audience watching (attendance was 13,150) at Canadian Tire Centre early Tuesday, the 67’s kept doing what they’ve been doing plenty so far in the Ontario Hockey League season. The latest conquest: A 7-1 victory over the Kingston Frontenacs. The 67’s do a lot of things right. They pass well, they shoot well, they stop pucks, they’re coachable. And there’s a defensive conscience. It’s all a nice recipe for success.
The best team in the Ontario Hockey League, the 67’s have now scored 86 goals and allowed just 41. It’s no illusion; they’re that good. One of the things that’s setting this team apart is the desire to learn and get better.
“It started the last half of last season,” said 67’s coach Dave Cameron. “We got on a bit of a roll. We were in a division with Kingston, which was a real good team, and Hamilton, which won the league and went to the Memorial Cup. We played them lots and we aspired to get to the level those teams were at. The kids put the work in. It was a huge, huge summer. We’ve got guys who put on 15 or 20 pounds of pure muscle. They’ve picked up right where they left off last year. They’re hard workers and they have a good identity. They put the work in and, obviously, they have some talent.
“We practise at 8 o’clock in the morning so these guys show up at the rink from 6:30 on. My biggest surprise was how good a humour these guys were in at 6:30 in the morning. I remember being a teenager, 6:30 in the morning, I was Joe Grumpy. These guys are unbelievable, it’s a credit to them.”
Thinking about tomorrow and next week and next month and next year is important. But it’s not easy for the young players to ignore the early-season success.
“They’re teenagers, they got caught up it as most teams do when they get on a roll,” said Cameron. “I have a good leadership group. We talk all the time, trust the process and surrender to the outcome. Games are won on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday practices. That’s where we develop good habits. We tell them they’re not going to see anything in the games we haven’t practised. The difference between the clubs at the top and the clubs who are aspiring to be at the top of the league is clubs at the top move quicker. Everybody basically plays the same system, but the teams at the top do it quicker and do it longer and harder.”
The 67’s took a 2-0 first-period lead. Ottawa opened the scoring when Chris Barlas rifled a shot past Ivan Zhigalov. Less than 30 seconds later, the 67’s got a power play when Braden Hache was penalized for hooking. The 67’s made it 2-0 six seconds later when Jack Matier scored on a slapshot from the top of the left faceoff circle.
The 67’s made it 3-0 near the midway point of the second period on a terrific three-way passing play. Luca Pinelli passed to Cooper Foster, who spotted Thomas Sirman cutting to the net. Sirman made no mistake. Soon, it was 4-0 on a Pinelli goal.
After a lengthy review, Kingston’s Thomas Budnick was penalized for cross checking. The 67’s made the Frontenacs pay with Foster wristing a shot into the net with less than a minute left in the period. There was some scrapping at the end of the period, with the 67’s coming out on top of that, too. Steve Laforme knocked Francesco Arcuri to the ice and got some good shots in, with the officials occupied elsewhere.
Maddox Callens got Kingston on the scoreboard 4:13 into the third period. But with four minutes left, Brady Stonehouse made it 6-1 with a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle. Fifty-four seconds later, it was 7-1 on a Foster goal.
Goalie Collin MacKenzie won his sixth game of the season (with a 1.59 goals-against average) and is now 10-0 in his OHL career.
“I don’t know if it’s a thing that’s going to hit me at any point, but I’m just out there having fun and I think that’s showing,” said MacKenzie. “It’s not just me, the guys are having success.”
Asked about playing in front of the loud crowd, MacKenzie said: “It felt crazy. They were so loud, so into it with everything — saves, goals, hits. It really made the experience 100 times better than I could have imagined.”
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