67’s weekly: this is big
The old cliché says every game matters, but sometimes, some games feel like they matter just a little bit more.
The next six days will be absolutely critical for the Ottawa 67’s fight for the postseason, with a pair of matchups against the Peterborough Petes on Wednesday and Thursday, and a crucial meeting with the North Bay Battalion on Family Day Monday.
Currently in the Eastern Conference, the Battalion occupy the eighth and final playoff spot by virtue of owning a better points percentage. Ottawa, tied with 40 points, is in ninth, while the Petes bring up the rear with 35 points, rounding out a tight race.
Focusing on their home-and-home with Peterborough, simple math outlines in clear, urgent detail how important those two games are in the standings. A pair of wins moves the Barber Poles nine points clear of their East Division foes, but a pair of losses would have the Petes one point behind them, practically biting their heels.
Monday also figures to go a long way in helping decide who finishes where in the standings, and internally, the Barber Poles are making no bones about this stretch of games.
“You don’t want to say, but the next four games or so could be the season,” Assistant Coach Norm Milley said bluntly. “It could put us in a good position to go forward and start climbing the ladder, or it can put us deeper in the hole. We know what’s at stake here. We know we have to take it one game at a time, but we have to be desperate.”
Mixed in on Sunday is a matchup with the Western Conference’s third-place team, the Kitchener Rangers, who make their lone trip to the nation’s capital this season.
It’s a strange schedule by OHL standards, mirroring something more akin to what NHL players go through — minus the private air travel and luxurious hotel accommodations — but Milley believes it’s something his team should be up for, considering their convention to prepare like professionals.
“We’ll be prepared,” Milley said. “We’ve been running short-staffed here and we can’t say enough about the player’s compete. They’ve given everything they’ve got. They’re human beings, they run out energy, but the biggest thing for our players is the belief. We just have to really focus on our details, energy, being smart and playing shorter shifts.”
Over the course of the weekend, the 67’s know they’ll have at least one addition to their lineup in the form of Luca Pinelli, who will serve the final game of a four-game suspension on Wednesday night.
Still, the roster isn’t full strength, and it’s just something they’ll have to live with.
Nothing in particular is going to change, Milley says, but there will be an augmented focus on what goes on away from the rink.
“It’s just managing the off-ice,” Milley explained. “Eating properly, stretching properly, recoveries, all that off-ice stuff is probably more important than what you do on the ice. If you take care of your body off the ice, you’ll do the right things on it. At this time of year, there’s no excuses, we’ve got all the resources we need.”
Given the circumstances they find themselves in, Milley says there’s more than enough to be positive about.
“No one thought this was going to happen at the start of the year, but it is,” Milley said, referencing both the injuries and position in the standings. “So let’s move forward. How are we going to develop from it? How are we going to get better from it? How are we going to win? How are we going to compete? We’ll have to change our structure and the way we play, because we’re short numbered. But it’s an opportunity for our guys to learn how to change and adapt their games.”
“We can’t be a team right now that can go up and down the ice and play shiny hockey and hope for a 6-5 win. We have to tighten up our details, tighten up our structure, learn to play that game, and then we’ll give ourselves the best chance to win. It’s a great opportunity for us.”
