67’s weekly: Opportunity
There’s no question that the early portion of 2025 has been tough on the Ottawa 67’s, who are 0-7-1-0 since the turn of the calendar.
The sledding began tough, with the OHL-high nine-game road trip coming to a close, and has only become tougher to navigate, as injuries have begun stacking up. Cooper Foster, Filip Ekberg, Nathan Amidovski, Jack Dever, Zach Houben and Ryan White — who is yet to make his 67’s debut — are all sidelined at the moment.
Over the weekend, the Barber Poles dropped a pair of games, first 4-1 to the Erie Otters on Friday night, before the Soo Greyhounds sniffed out a 3-0 win. The games, however, were closer than the scoreline would suggest.
“We’re right in the games,” said Assistant Coach Norm Milley. “Look at the Soo game, our analytics were better than theirs. On paper, we should have won the game.”
Undermanned, but not outplayed in Milley’s assessment, the 67’s have reason for optimism as they look to snap their losing skid on Wednesday in Kingston.
“We’ve done a lot of good things, now it’s just coming down to some of the smaller details,” Milley said. “A lot of guys, young guys, are getting a lot of minutes, and so it’s a real development stage for us right now. The results aren’t there, but if we continue to focus on those small areas where we continue getting better, the bounces will come and we’ll turn this thing around.”
Without this many important pieces — and key contributors on special teams, no less — others have been asked to fill those boots. The Barber Poles have called up the likes of Shaan Kingwell, Spencer Bowes, and Theo Avila at various points, the latter two of whom remain unsigned affiliates.
Of course, it’s not as easy as a one-to-one swap; it takes some time for everything to come together, but Milley is happy with the progress he’s seen as these modified units begin to take shape.
“It’s tough, but it’s a great opportunity,” Milley explained. “A lot of guys are playing a lot of minutes they normally wouldn’t be playing right now. They’ve done a good job. We haven’t given up a lot of quality chances against, and we’re cutting back on our odd-man rushes against.
Defensively, things have looked steady as usual despite all of the changes, and the penalty kill is starting to figure it out. At the other end of the rink, it has been a grind, as goals continue to come at a premium.
Milley wishes there was a secret button he could press that would magically remedy the issue, but if it exists, no one has found it yet. Instead, they’ve continued to work at practice to drive home some offensive principles conducive to creating more goals.
“We’ve generated some drills where it’s all about the offence, having the puck and making plays,” Milley said. “When they get over the blue line, they’re holding onto the puck instead of throwing away and going on the forecheck. It’s a lot more fun playing with the puck, so we want them to have some puck poise.”
With 26 games left in the season, the Barber Poles are currently holding onto the eighth and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference, a single point ahead of the North Bay Battalion, who have a game in hand.
A glance at the standings only shows how much is there to fight for, as the 67’s share an optimistic view on their postseason prospects.
“We control what we do today,” Milley said. “If we worry about our business, what we do, things will take care of themselves.”
Back-to-back meetings with the Kingston Frontenacs on Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon at home predate the final meeting of the season with the Saginaw Spirit inside The Arena at TD Place on Sunday, three games which have similar gameplans for Milley’s side.
“We just got to limit the mistakes we make, especially through the neutral zone,” he said. “Both teams are real good in transition games, and they had a lot of skill. If we clean up our game, have good puck management and don’t feed them offence, we’ll stick around, and the puck will go in for us.”