67 interesting facts about the Ottawa 67’s

*Offers and programming valid only for the 2023 Legacy Night Theme Game.

Everywhere you look at the Ottawa 67’s organization, history is oozing out of the walls. Whether it’s the players, coaches, the uniforms, or the arena, the Barber Poles are one of the OHL’s most storied franchises. With the team’s Legacy Game coming up on January 13th, it’s prime time to take a look at some of the most interesting pieces of history.

The beginnings of the franchise

1. On February 16th, 1967, Ottawa was awarded a franchise by the Ontario Hockey Association (now known as the OHL).

2. The original owners of the team were Bill Cowley, Howard Darwin, Bill Touhey, and Alderman Howard Henry, but before the first season, Touhey stepped aside, and Jack Kinsella, an Ottawa sportswriter, joined the ownership group.

3. The name “Ottawa 67’s” was chosen by the ownership group to represent the year the franchise joined the OHA.

4. On October 6th, 1967, the 67’s played their first game, losing 9-0 to the Niagara Falls Flyers. Their first home game came two days later, when they lost 10-5 to the Toronto Marlboroughs.

5. The 67’s won their first game on October 10th, 1967, when they beat the London Nationals 2-1. Pete Laframboise and Pierre Jarry scored the goals.

6. The 67’s first Head Coach was Bill Long, who remained in the role until 1972.

Notable player stats

7. Only three members of the Barber Poles have ever reached the 300 career games played mark. Cody Lindsay and Thomas Nesbitt both played 331 games, all as teammates from 2006-11, and Austen Keating reached 300 games in 2020.

8. The Barber Poles have four retired numbers, however, five players’ names have been honoured with them.

9. Peter Lee is the 67’s all-time leader in OHL scoring, finishing his 280-game career with 444 points.

10. For his efforts, Lee was honoured by having his number 14 raised to the rafters and retired.

11. Lee returned to the Barber Poles for his first coaching job in 1994-95, serving as the team’s Head Coach after Brian Kilrea briefly retired. Lee led the 67’s to a 22-38-6 record, and returned to Germany to resurrect his playing career afterward.

12. The most recent 67’s alumni to have his number retired was Brian Campbell, who helped the 67’s to the 1999 Memorial Cup championship win. Number 44 won’t be worn by another 67.

13. In 1,224 NHL games, Gary Roberts scored 438 goals, leading all 67’s alumni in the category.

14. The most penalized 67 in history is Lance Galbraith, racking up 960 penalty minutes across five seasons, 160 more than anyone else in team history.

15. Other than Peter Lee, only one other 67 has ever reached 400 career OHL points. Brett Seguin scored 405 points, including 102 goals.

16. With 176 games played, Jim Ralph is the 67’s all-time leader for games played as a goaltender.

17. The 67’s all-time leader for points as a goaltender is also Jim Ralph. He has 11 assists in his OHL career.

18. No goaltender in 67’s history has ever recorded a goal.

67’s at the NHL Entry Draft

19. The first 67 to ever be selected in the NHL Draft was Pierre Jarry, who was selected in the 1969 Amateur Draft by the New York Rangers.

20. Jarry played 344 NHL games, with the Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and the Minnesota North Stars. He scored 88 goals, and registered 205 points.

21. Two members of the 67’s have been taken first overall in the NHL Entry Draft. Denis Potvin was the first to do so in 1973, being drafted by the New York Islanders, before Bobby Smith was taken with the first pick by the Minnesota North Stars five years later.

22. Denis Potvin is the 67’s alumni with the most points in the NHL, finishing his illustrious career with 310 goals and 1,052 points in 1,060 games, all with the Islanders.

23. Number seven is retired for both Denis Potvin and Doug Wilson.

24. Bobby Smith, who played with the 67’s from 1975 until 1978 had his number 15 retired.

25. The OHL’s award for the Scholastic Player of the Year is named in Bobby Smith’s honour.

26. Since the inception of the franchise, 15 67’s have gone inside the top 10 in the NHL Entry Draft, with the most recent being Jack Quinn and Marco Rossi in 2020.

27. The most common NHL teams to draft a 67’s player are the Montreal Canadiens, and the Los Angeles Kings, who have both picked 14 Barber Poles.

28. Two other franchises have selected more than 10 67’s players in the draft. The Chicago Blackhawks have done so 13 times, and the Buffalo Sabres have done it 12 times.

29. Minnesota has become a popular destination for 67’s players. Between two franchises (the Wild and the North Stars), 12 Barber Poles have started their NHL careers in green.

Brian Kilrea

30. Brian Kilrea, the 67’s legendary coach, spent 32 seasons as the team’s Head Coach, splitting the time into three different stints.

31. For his OHL coaching career, Killer managed the bench for 2,156 games, winning 1,193 times.

32. Under his leadership, the 67’s won the Memorial Cup twice, and took home the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions three times.

33. During Kilrea’s 67’s tenure, his teams would miss the playoffs just once, coming in 1992-93.

34. Kilrea was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builder’s category in 2003.

35. The CHL’s Coach of the Year Award is named in Kilrea’s honour.

36. Kilrea’s final OHL win came when he returned to the bench in 2014 to celebrate his 80th birthday, as the 67’s beat the Mississauga Steelheads 6-3.

The Memorial Cup

37. The 67’s have been a combatant in the Memorial Cup tournament five times, with their first coming in 1977, and the most recent being 2005.

38. The 67’s first won the Memorial Cup in 1984, defeating the Kitchener Rangers 7-2.

39. For the first time, a 67 won the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy, awarded to the Memorial Cup MVP. Adam Creighton took home the honours.

40. Matt Zultek sealed the 67’s Memorial Cup win in 1999, scoring in overtime to take down the Calgary Hitmen.

41. During an interview on TSN 1200 early in 2022, Dan Tessier confirmed that about eight players, and the Memorial Cup itself, ended up in the Rideau Canal shortly after Zultek’s goal as part of the celebrations. He also claimed that Lance Galbraith was the one who had the idea, adding that he “didn’t know what had gotten into him.”

42. The 67’s hold a 7-4-0 record against Western Hockey League opponents in the Memorial Cup.

Cross-river rivalry

43. The 67’s are a part of the CHL’s only inter-league rivalry, and compete annually against the Gatineau Olympiques to hoist the Alexandria Cup.

44. The Alexandria Cup is awarded using an aggregate goals system for a home-and-home series between the 67’s and the Olympiques.

45. Ottawa has won the Alexandria Cup all three times it has been awarded.

46. Prior to the existence of the Alexandria Cup, there was no trophy awarded. However, using the current system, the Barber Poles would have won three of the four series. In their seven series, the 67’s have lost just once.

47. In 2019, the 67’s stole the show for the Olympiques Teddy Bear Toss game, shutting them out. Fans threw their bears on the ice when Joe Garreffa scored an empty net goal in the dying minutes of Ottawa’s win.

48. The 67’s hosted one of just four outdoor games in the OHL’s history in 2017, hosting the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques.

67’s fashion

49. Before the start of the 2009-10 season, the 67’s were forced to drop their legendary barber pole jersey, as it wasn’t possible to keep the sweater with the new Reebok EDGE jersey.

50. In March 2011, the barber pole made its return, and has served as the team’s dark jersey ever since.

51. Before the start of the 2019-20 season, the 67’s slightly altered their logo, reducing the size of the ‘O’, the white space between the “67” and the ‘O’, and darkening the colour of red.

52. This design change also impacted the jerseys. The logo on the front of the dark jersey no longer inverted the colours of the inset of the ‘O’, and the ‘O’ itself. The darker red was also used throughout the jersey set, and the sleeve numbers were moved to the shoulders. The font for both the name and the numbers was also altered.

53. The last time the 67’s had a full-time alternate jersey was in 2012. The black jersey with red sleeves featured the 67’s 1990s-era “killer puck” logo.

54. The black alternate jersey was the last time the 67’s had a permanent jersey (repeatedly worn, not including theme games) that included the killer puck.

Notable team stats

55. The 67’s have held the first overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection twice.

56. With the first overall pick, the 67’s have taken Alyn McCauley (1993), and Travis Konecny (2013).

57. The 67’s haven’t had a captain since 2018. Travis Barron was the last player to wear the ‘C’.

58. Since their inception, the 67’s have only missed the playoffs seven times, with one of those misses coming in their very first season.

59. Only once have the 67’s missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

60. Since the 2014-15 season, the Barber Poles have made the playoffs every year.

61. In the 2018-19 season, the Barber Poles recorded the most points in franchise history with 106.

62. The 67’s winningest season, however, came in 2019-20, where they finished with a points percentage of .815, during the COVID-19-shortened season.

63. Excluding the 2022-23 season, the 67’s have a record of 1860-1400-210-69-45 (W-L-T-OTL-SOL).

64. Excluding the 2022-23 season, the 67’s have a points percentage of .562 over their history.

65. Excluding the 2022-23 season, the Barber Poles have scored 15,154 goals, while allowing 13,631, good for a plus 1,523 margin.

66. In 2019-20, the 67’s set a franchise record for the longest win streak at 17 games.

67. The best start to a season for the Barber Poles came in 2022-23, when they won their first nine games.

The 67’s are hosting their Legacy Night on Friday, January 13th, when they take on the Hamilton Bulldogs. The team’s history will be honoured, while the current crop of 67’s will be looking to build on it, and write their own chapter, something you won’t want to miss.