67’s weekly: trust the process
The Ottawa 67’s 3-4-1-1 record isn’t exactly what they would like it to be early in the 2024-25 season, but the belief around the team is that they’ve deserved better.
They’ve dropped their last five games, but their most recent three have been exceptionally close. They began last weekend with a trip to Niagara, where the IceDogs put together a late comeback to dig themselves out of a three-goal hole, before winning in overtime. Then, the Barber Poles fell in Brampton to the Steelheads in the shootout, before dropping a 5-3 decision to the Barrie Colts on Sunday.
Perhaps heartbreaking is the correct term for the swing.
What makes it all the harder to swallow is the internal assessment of their own play. Aside from a handful of minutes in St. Catharines on Thursday, the Barber Poles played some of their best hockey of the season, and only earned only a pair of points to show for it.
“Not the results we wanted, but the organization always talks about the process,” said 67’s Assistant Coach, Norm Milley. “I thought we did a lot of good things in all three games, and the games could have gone either way. I think if we take the process into consideration, we’re going the right way.”
One thing you won’t see at practice is anger or frustration. The 67’s have done a good job at moving forward, and keeping their heads held high, which Milley says is one of the top priorities for the coaching staff.
“The biggest thing right now is for our players not to get discouraged in a time where we’re playing good hockey three games in a row, but we don’t get rewarded with a win,” he said. “I think the players recognize that, and it’s just a matter of time. We’ve just got to find a way to stick with it, and we’ll come out the other side of it.”
Part of being a good coach is knowing when your players need a pick-me-up, and when you need to be hard on them, and the veteran staff in Ottawa has a good grasp of that concept.
“We’re doing a lot of positive video, and being positive on the ice,” Milley said. “You know, the coaches are the first people players see in the morning, so we need to have good energy. They’re going to feed off of that.”
If positivity truly is that radiant, the 67’s have plenty to be uplifted for. Whether it was Nic Whitehead putting together a four-game point streak to kickstart his season, Chase Yanni scoring his first goal of the year, or Kohyn Eshkawkogan potting his first career goal, there was more than enough in the good vibes department to get the room going.
If nothing else, it’s a jolt of confidence to take forward.
The Barber Poles are hoping to gain some extra confidence by isolating the success they’ve seen with their power play. After going one-of-eight on opening weekend, the 67’s have since owned one of the OHL’s top units, clicking along at a strong 26.3 percent, the fourth-best mark in the league.
Milley details that the secret sauce isn’t so secret after all. Not too much has changed, there was no magic potion, and there wasn’t some kind of epiphany that altered everything. The pieces were already in place, and they believe that to be the case in a handful of other areas, as well.
“On the penalty kill, for example, I think we do a great job for a minute and 45 seconds, but then we have a breakdown, and then it seems to be in the back of our net,” Milley said. “When we come out of this, you’ll ask Paul [Stoykewych] or Dave [Cameron] what we changed, and they’ll tell you it wasn’t much. It’s just sticking to it.”
“Maybe we’ll get a bounce there, maybe win one more battle here, but not much is going to change. We will come out of this for the penalty kill.”
This weekend, the 67’s will enjoy their annual Northern Ontario road trip, where they’ll take on the North Bay Battalion on Thursday, the Soo Greyhounds on Friday, and the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday.
They’ve clashed with the Troops and Wolves once already this year, beating North Bay, but there is a bad taste stuck in their teeth after a performance they called “disappointing” when they lost to Sudbury a couple of weeks back.
“They just out-competed us,” Milley admitted. “There’s no structure, no systems, nothing works if you’re not competing.”
The meeting with Sault Ste. Marie is the first of two this year, and comes just days after the Hounds announced the additions of a pair of Utah Hockey Club prospects; Ottawa native Owen Allard, and the 44th overall pick in the 2022 CHL Import Draft, Noel Nordh.
Being aware of those names is obviously important, but the 67’s aren’t going to be bending over backwards to change their gameplan to counter them.
“We are still going to play our system,” Milley said. “We still do a bit of prep on them and be aware of them, but not a whole lot for us changes. We still have to do what we have to do. We have to get better in certain areas, and we’ll focus mostly on that. We’ll be aware of some of their tendencies, but it’s basically on us.”
