67’s weekly: respect your opponent

After their Southern Ontario swing, the Ottawa 67’s enjoyed off days on Monday and Tuesday before hitting the ice for an energetic practice on Wednesday morning, run by Assistant Coaches Norm Milley and Paul Stoykewych.

A pair of shootout losses last weekend marked the only two points added to the Barber Poles’ cache, and they watched themselves drop out of a playoff spot for the time being, currently occupying the ninth seed, though tied at 22 points with the North Bay Battalion.

The weekend began in Sarnia, where the 67’s met the Sting, who have been struggling themselves in 2024-25, but the home side quickly built a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes. Ottawa eventually rallied to force overtime, but the Sting picked up the extra point in the shootout.

“I don’t think we respected them enough, so we came a little flat,” Milley said. “We did find a way to get a point back in that game. That shows we have good character. We have to learn from that to respect our opponents, but give a lot of credit to our guys who battled back.”

In Windsor the next night, the Barber Poles fell 6-3 in a special teams battle. Ottawa went two-for-two on their power play chances, while the Spits went four-for-seven, but Milley was satisfied with the effort against one of the league’s best.

“I thought we stuck with them,” he said. “The score did not reflect the game. A few bad bounces, and a few bad reads, but for the most part, when you look back at the video, we were right there with them. They’re one of the top teams in the league, and we hung right in there.”

Wrapping up in London, the 67’s and Knights played their typical close game they always have against one another.

“We played a solid hockey game,” Milley explained. “Our PK was good, our five-on-five game was good, and we generated some chances on the power play. All the aspects of our game were really good. Playing a team that we know can generate a lot, our goaltending was great, too.”

Some good, some bad — like the shootout, where the 67’s are now 0-4. On the practice ice, they ended Wednesday’s practice with an elimination shootout, which was won by Caden Kelly, who took down Josh Brady in the final round.

The biggest positive, however, was the leadership shown by the veterans after the slow start in Sarnia.

“We have a good leadership group, our older guys have done a great job with handling the room,” Milley said. “After the first game, we didn’t feel down. We learned something. We battled back. Our leadership group wasn’t happy with how we came out and started the game, but the big picture is that we found a way back into the game and got a point.”

In town on Friday night are the 2-16-1-4 Peterborough Petes, who are five points behind the next closest team at the bottom of the standings, and have a minus-46 goal differential before their Thursday night clash with the Knights.

The stats give one impression, but in reality, the Petes are the type of team that will surprise you if you’re not ready for it. Already this season, they have gone beyond regulation with the Oshawa Generals twice, the Brantford Bulldogs, the Niagara IceDogs, and the Kingston Frontenacs, four of the top six teams in the Eastern Conference right now.

In short, there cannot be a repeat of Friday night in Sarnia.

“It really has to come within the locker room,” Milley said. “Hopefully now, our leadership can recognize it, and I think they will adjust. Next time, I think we’ll respect every opponent.”

On Sunday, the 67’s host the Knights for a rematch, but London will likely get some bodies back in the lineup, including Easton Cowan.

About four weeks out from the Christmas break, the 67’s — like every other OHL club — are fighting off the festive ghost that has players looking ahead to seeing their friends and family.

“They can handle it two ways,” Milley explained. “They check out a little bit early and just look for that break, or they can grind. Our leadership group will push to grind to that break, and as a group, we’re going to have to manage that and make sure we look at things the right way, just hammer through it.

“The good thing is, we’re on the road a lot. It’s nice to be on the road, where there are fewer distractions, and we can just focus on hockey.”