End Of Flu Season, Start Of Easy Schedule For Ottawa 67’s
Ontario’s new provincial Family Day doesn’t offer much for OHL players in terms of spending time with those that they grew up with, and even for one Ottawa 67 who had the chance to do just that, it wasn’t meant to be.
Travis Konecny, who was set to spend Family Day dueling close childhood friend Lawson Crouse for a second consecutive day, came down with the flu before the latter of the two games and missed out on the opportunity.
The star’s ailment, however, might be the final obstacle in a flu outbreak that hit the Barberpoles as of late.
Pushing For Third
The 67’s have somehow put themselves in a position where they could surpass the powerhouse North Bay Battalion and make a real push for third in the East.
Looking at the two teams on paper and their likelihood to win out the majority of their schedule, the Battalion with their two-point lead and one game in hand should wrap up the third spot, but they’ll need to steal points in their two games against West-leading Sault Ste. Marie or their matchup with Erie; the tougher schedule for North Bay certainly has Ottawa hopeful.
Coach Still Not Impressed
Head coach Jeff Brown certainly isn’t allowing five consecutive wins get to his head.
His post-game quotes after a 3-2 win over Belleville on Friday and a 3-0 win over Kingston on Sunday were almost a carbon copy; “we were terrible.”
On Friday, a game delayed over an hour by a leaking roof, Brown saw no excuses for a team that found itself in an early hole, despite a late comeback sealed by Connor Graham’s third-period game winner.
“Not playing the right way, it’s going to catch up to us. I guess we should be happy about the win, but it’s just bad decisions.”
On Sunday, it was more of the same, allowing a short-staffed Kingston team to run up the shot count to 13-3 in the first period.
Clearly his message got through for the final 40; the 67’s allowed three shots in the second and none in the third.
Fifth Consecutive Win
A day after holding the Fronts to no shots in the third, they did the polar opposite and held on for dear life the following afternoon in Kingston.
Liam Herbst, who only had to stop two dribblers from center ice in the third period on Sunday, had to make 18 saves in the final frame on Monday.
Brendan Bell had the winner for the Barberpoles in the second before their rope-a-dope style took over.
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The 67’s have one of their easiest stretches coming up.
Sunday’s matchup in Oshawa is the outlier; in the next nine days they play ninth-place Mississauga, bottom-feeder Plymouth, and three games against the teams battling for the last playoff spot in the West, twice against Saginaw and once against Windsor.
Playing ‘spoiler’ is usually a term accompanied with last-place teams, but it’s entirely possible the playoff-bound 67’s play that exact role this upcoming week.
Photo courtesy of Valerie Wutti