Ottawa 67's 2023-24 Off-Season Thread (Part 1)

[Boss Man Hughes]

67's are garbage. So many stupid players (plays) by Brantford or they win easily.

 

[mianjo]

6-3 en

GOAL
#12 Braeden Kressler (1) scores.EMPTY NET
3rd 19:46

67's win 6-3

SHOTS ON GOAL

Teams	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
OTT	11	12	9	32
BFD	12	8	10	30

 

[ecraigs]

67's are garbage. So many stupid players (plays) by Brantford or they win easily.

Thank you for your insightful comments and obvious hockey knowledge. Har, har.

 

[Race Dawg]

Nice win to tie series.
6-3 67's
Good luck back in Ottawa Tuesday..

 

[NoQuit67s]

There is still hope.

Macker had a solid game and bailed the team out with key saves after several bonehead giveaways in the first and 2nd. We will need more of that. And Brantford's second goal was caused by a unfortunate bounce off the glass. What a weird rink... The glass is mostly seamless, except for a few areas where there are metal stantions... WTF?

We will need more of the Stonehouse from tonight too.

Good on Mayich to be willing to get pummeled by Xhekaj.

Also looks like the 67s adjusted well to Brantford's 3 man press at our blue line.
67s zone exits were much more effective today (except for the few aforementioned bonehead giveaways.

Unfortunately, weekday playoff games don't sell in Ottawa, so crowd support won't be strong. But at least we get to play in our home rink away from the weird Brantford ice,

 

[Race Dawg]

67's are garbage. So many stupid players (plays) by Brantford or they win easily.

Brilliant analysis. I think I'll finally be able to get caught up on some much needed

Unfortunately, weekday playoff games don't sell in Ottawa, so crowd support won't be strong. But at least we get to play in our home rink away from the weird Brantford ice,

1.5 million area population - that rink better be packed lol

 

[ecraigs]

Two periods in the books. I’d be happy to be wrong tonight!

The odd part is the 67s are winning while playing Brantford’s game. They still aren’t playing their game. They are beating Brantford at their game. Odd but I will take it.

67s taking better advantage of the few opportunities they are getting. Hopefully they have a confident 3rd.

I’d like to see another replay of the hit on Stonehouse but at first glance, that really looked like a bad hit, total headhunter hit. If that is how I initially saw it, that’s intent to injure. There was no need for the player to take that route and it looked like he raised his shoulder to hit Stonehouse in the head from the blind side and there was no puck anywhere near Stonehouse. Looked super dirty. That’s suspension territory.

I have to say that I went back and watched the replay. Is that the one with 4:28 left in the second? I still have no idea what Sherk did. He did interfere, but the Brantford telecast is terrible for replays. Then "Suitcase" Okitundu picks up a Misconduct. He got another Misconduct at the end of the game for firing the puck at Stonehouse. Maybe Stonehouse is finding his way to get under the skin of the opposition again.

 

[OMG67]

I have to say that I went back and watched the replay. Is that the one with 4:28 left in the second? I still have no idea what Sherk did. He did interfere, but the Brantford telecast is terrible for replays. Then "Suitcase" Okitundu picks up a Misconduct. He got another Misconduct at the end of the game for firing the puck at Stonehouse. Maybe Stonehouse is finding his way to get under the skin of the opposition again.

I had to wait until the game was over before I could go back to view the replay on the hit.

Clearly, Sherk skated in front of Stonehouse. He didn’t need to take that line, nor did that line make any sense at all. He did intentionally try to make contact. But, Stonehouse had his head down and he was skating hard to get back and didn’t see Sherk coming. So, when Sherk skated to cut off Stonehouse, it looked like Stonehouse wasn’t able to react at all which resulted in Sherk catching Stonehouse with the shoulder to the chin blindside. Sherk didn’t throw the shoulder at him though which was what I thought I saw at first glance.

I am not sue how the League will see that hit. IT is a blindside hit to the head. That is clear. But, I am not sure it was meant to be malicious. I think it was just stupid and reckless which in my book is different than malicious. I am not sure that warrants a playoff suspension when there was clearly no injury. I wouldn’t suspend it. But, I would note it and if anything else questionable happens, that play becomes a factor in a future decision this series if it were to come to that.

 

[beastintheeast]

,
give credit where it is due.

They played a really good game. Definitely a great game for Mack

It will be interesting to see if they can keep the momentum up for the 3rd game.

I agree although there is a huge population it will be about 3-4k at the game.

 

[OMG67]

I will be the Vegas odds maker today. The Under/Over for attendance in Game 3 is set at 1800.

 

[ScoutLife4]

I will be the Vegas odds maker today. The Under/Over for attendance in Game 3 is set at 1800.

I will take the over for another 100$

 

[OMG67]

I will take the over for another 100$

It might be close. Last year with a first place team in the league, they only had 2068 on a Thursday! It was in Hull but I don’t think that matters very much. I think 1800 is a pretty solid under/over for a Tuesday night. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were slightly over 2000 but I sure wouldn’t be surprised if it were only 1600.

Any talk of 3000-4000 is probably crazy.

Wednesday December 6, 2023 vs Oshawa had attendance of 1743 and they would have had an opportunity to pre-sell some small groups for that game. The 67’s have always had a horrible time selling playoff tickets to the corporate season ticket holders.

 

[ecraigs]

give credit where it is due.

They played a really good game. Definitely a great game for Mack

It will be interesting to see if they can keep the momentum up for the 3rd game.

I agree although there is a huge population it will be about 3-4k at the game.

The 67s did play a better game, except for the odd brain fart, such as on the second Brantford goal. The law of averages also came through to bite the Bulldogs. Their season PP success rate was about 19%, so the 0/6 last night was to be expected.

As for attendance, weekday games have always been a problem. That's why the team started focusing on Saturday/Sunday afternoons after a Friday night game. However, you don't get much choice by finishing 6th.

 

[ScoutLife4]

It might be close. Last year with a first place team in the league, they only had 2068 on a Thursday! It was in Hull but I don’t think that matters very much. I think 1800 is a pretty solid under/over for a Tuesday night. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were slightly over 2000 but I sure wouldn’t be surprised if it were only 1600.

Any talk of 3000-4000 is probably crazy.

Wednesday December 6, 2023 vs Oshawa had attendance of 1743 and they would have had an opportunity to pre-sell some small groups for that game. The 67’s have always had a horrible time selling playoff tickets to the corporate season ticket holders.

,

 

[Race Dawg]

It might be close. Last year with a first place team in the league, they only had 2068 on a Thursday! It was in Hull but I don’t think that matters very much. I think 1800 is a pretty solid under/over for a Tuesday night. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were slightly over 2000 but I sure wouldn’t be surprised if it were only 1600.

Any talk of 3000-4000 is probably crazy.

Wednesday December 6, 2023 vs Oshawa had attendance of 1743 and they would have had an opportunity to pre-sell some small groups for that game. The 67’s have always had a horrible time selling playoff tickets to the corporate season ticket holders.

Back in the 80's 90's this Tuesday's game 3 would be a very solid 5-6K for an opening gane at the Civic Centre. Perhaps even more if it were the Generals, Royals or Bulls. By game 7 even still in the first round there'd be 10,000 hanging from the rafters. And that's with the old Civic Centre capacity (pre-Sens) of 9,355.

Hopefully given the multitude of the current economic situation they get a good sizeable crowd.

 

[OMG67]

Back in the 80's 90's this Tuesday's game 3 would be a very solid 5-6K for an opening gane at the Civic Centre. Perhaps even more if it were the Generals, Royals or Bulls. By game 7 even still in the first round there'd be 10,000 hanging from the rafters. And that's with the old Civic Centre capacity (pre-Sens) of 9,355.

Hopefully given the multitude of the current economic situation they get a good sizeable crowd.

Maybe in the 80’s but definitely not the 90’s. I started around ‘93. Back then 3500 was a solid gate at any time. Sunday afternoons were rarely 2000 people. That lasted all the way through until Jeff Hunt bought the team in ‘98-‘99.

Leading up to Kilrea’s first departure in 1985, I would agree the attendance was likely crazy. I’m not sure it ever consistently was in the neighbourhood of where Hunt got it to after 1895.

 

[ecraigs]

Maybe in the 80’s but definitely not the 90’s. I started around ‘93. Back then 3500 was a solid gate at any time. Sunday afternoons were rarely 2000 people. That lasted all the way through until Jeff Hunt bought the team in ‘98-‘99.

Leading up to Kilrea’s first departure in 1985, I would agree the attendance was likely crazy. I’m not sure it ever consistently was in the neighbourhood of where Hunt got it to after 1895.

In the late 90s, crowds may have been announced at 1500, but rarely were there more than 800 in the rink for Sunday or Tuesday night. Up to 1984, attendance was decent and really high for playoffs and special events, like Peter Lee night. After Hunt took over (1998?), the team aggressively sold group and corporate packages and tried to standardize on Friday night / Sunday afternoon. Playoffs were lower because those groups had not been sold.

The TD Place work cost a lot of subscribers, plus closing off the suites and putting the press booth in upper section 19/20, reducing parking, adding back in Mon-Thurs games. Maybe TD Phase II will help, or maybe make it worse. We shall see.

 

[beastintheeast]

Killer had an easy time getting fri sat sun sched. because he had Kington Cornwall Belleville and, to a certain extent, Peterborough.

Back in the good old days (980- 90), students still had to attend classes. Therefore, unless it was a quick trip, teams played road games on the weekend.

A team never made a trip to Ottawa unless they Usually played Peterborough on Thursday, Ottawa/Kington on Fri Hellville on Saturday and Kingston or Ottawa on Sunday afternoon.

That was one of the reasons that Agnew got involved teams stayed at his hotel. LOL

Friday night was the game that we tried to sell out and usually there were a few freebies but a lot of groups because minor hockey does not play friday night

Saturday was great while the Sens were at the Civic Center as they could promote 67/ Sens game tickets. Or the day of Santa parade they would do someothing special. If not then attendance sucked.

Sunday depended on who was coming to town when the NFL season had started and the weather. Right now it is spring so attendance will SUCK on a Sunday no matter what they do

The other issue the team had, and it probably has not changed, is a lack of exposure to the community. Earl did nothing unless it involved CHEO or a couple of sponsors that he liked.

 

[Race Dawg]

Earl had nothing to do with skating with the players or anything like that those deals were made with Killer directly.

All Earl basically did (after Howard opted out) was basically open the front door. That method work wonders through the early 80's until Killer left cause the 67's were the only real deal I town.

All playoff games would average around 7K and sellouts were very common.

I can go back to the mid-70's as a kid going to the games when Joly, Higgins and Smith were around. Sure I wouldn't remember too much about attendance numbers but in the early 90's I went back to the Ottawa Public library and researched the hell out of the 67's playoff runs from 1967 to about 1984. No wonder Oshawa hated us. An upstart Ottawa team beat and upset the big bad Generals in 72 under Bill Long.

When Kilrea took over in 74 he already had acquired the nasty rivaly between the 67s and Gens. Things didn't get much better than seeing Paul Therault lose his shit across the ice from Killer. Lol. Theriault would have this stick that he'd firmly grip along the bench. Man those were some fierce battles.

Still remember the 3-0 Oshawa lead in 88. Things looked bleak in Oshawa for game 4 on the road. They had us beat in the third with a few moments to go and the Gennies fans thought about celebrating a sweep until Matt Smyth scored in overtine to send the series back to Ottawa for game 5 even with the 67s being 33 seconds away from elimination. I remember going to Oshawa for game 6 on the booster bus.

The next night Ottawa forced a 7th game and while I was school my Dad the lineup for tickets. I remember him telling me the lineup was out the front door and around the corner on Bank Street. Had to be the greatest comeback in CHL history with over 10,000 in the old barn. Good times....

 

[OMG67]

All Earl basically did (after Howard opted out) was basically open the front door. That method work wonders through the early 80's until Killer left cause the 67's were the only real deal I town.

All playoff games would average around 7K and sellouts were very common.

I can go back to the mid-70's as a kid going to the games when Joly, Higgins and Smith were around. Sure I wouldn't remember too much about attendance numbers but in the early 90's I went back to the Ottawa Public library and researched the hell out of the 67's playoff runs from 1967 to about 1984. No wonder Oshawa hated us. An upstart Ottawa team beat and upset the big bad Generals in 72 under Bill Long.

When Kilrea took over in 74 he already had acquired the nasty rivaly between the 67s and Gens. Things didn't get much better than seeing Paul Therault lose his shit across the ice from Killer. Lol. Theriault would have this stick that he'd firmly grip along the bench. Man those were some fierce battles.

Still remember the 3-0 Oshawa lead in 88. Things looked bleak in Oshawa for game 4 on the road. They had us beat in the third with a few moments to go and the Gennies fans thought about celebrating a sweep until Matt Smyth scored in overtine to send the series back to Ottawa for game 5 even with the 67s being 33 seconds away from elimination. I remember going to Oshawa for game 6 on the booster bus.

The next night Ottawa forced a 7th game and while I was school my Dad the lineup for tickets. I remember him telling me the lineup was out the front door and around the corner on Bank Street. Had to be the greatest comeback in CHL history with over 10,000 in the old barn. Good times....

RIP Paul Therriault. He died last year. He proved that when you pickle things, they last longer…..

 

[Race Dawg]

RIP Paul Therriault. He died last year. He proved that when you pickle things, they last longer…..

Yes I remember reading that he had passed on this past January. My condolences to his family and Paul. The rivalry was never the same after he left the Generals. RIP

 

[NordiquesForeva]

My guess is between 1,700 and 2,000 in attendance this evening; I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if it was above 2k. The 67s simply don't have much buzz around them this year, and will need to prove that they can go on a bit of a run before people start coming out. Also, families that normally bring their kids probably won't bring them to an evening game on a weeknight.

If there is a game 6 on Sunday in Ottawa, its at 7pm in the evening and that crowd will be dead as well. Not sure why they didn't schedule the game for the afternoon at 2pm as fans are accustomed to on Sunday.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

As to the team's performance, the 67s have demonstrated they can carry the play and win games against quality opponents. Why they are so inconsistent in doing so, and why they more or less stopped doing so down the stretch starting with the Erie game (not counting games vs. Peterborough, Barrie, Niagara), can be a result of several factors but personally I think that stretch of play was ultimately unsustainable due to not having the "right" personnel, and coaching decisions.

I think the 67s are a good team, but they are outmanned in terms of depth at F and D against stronger top to bottom teams like Brantford, particularly in terms of roster construction for a playoff run. The 67s lack size and physicality in their top 9. The smallish, speedy guys are able to pressure the puck and cause turnovers, but when push comes to shove they are inconsistent in their ability to get to the net and generate scoring opportunities from the prime areas. The desire is there for the most part from Pinelli, Kressler and Gerrior, so I'm not faulting that...but at some point its simply a size and strength issue.

In terms of coaching, I'm not going to speculate on whether DC has "lost the room" or not, as I/we may never know one way or another. However, I do see a fairly poor PK and PP down the stretch, lack of discipline from the leadership group, inconsistency in terms of effort, and some questionable D pairings, forward lines and allocation of playing time. @OMG67 mentions above that Mayer is able to play 30-35 minutes/game. I certainly don't disagree, but when Ottawa's backs were against the wall last year vs. Peterborough, DC continued rolling out three D pairings (including a Mews/Marrelli pairing - both 16/17 year-olds) when he had Jack Matier and Pavel f*****g Mintyukov available, so I don't think he is going to suddenly decide to shorten his bench. I just don't see it. #2 on D plays a ton at ES and on the PK and consistently gets walked or caught out of position in the d-zone. Why is he playing so much? That one I can't understand.

The special teams play, lack of discipline, inconsistent effort, and line/D pairing construction and allocation of playing time falls on the head coach, and in my personal view he shouldn't a passing grade at this point. Note that all of these issues are possible even in a scenario where DC still commands the respect of his players (or in a scenario where he does not). I just don't see this team as being as good as the sum of its parts, and it turns out the parts probably weren't good enough to make a run anyway.

Regardless, Ottawa isn't exactly in a bad position at this point. MacKenzie may be in a groove, which will make things difficult for Brantford. We'll see what this evening brings with a probable dead crowd.

 

[Babs716]

If there is a game 6 on Sunday in Ottawa, its at 7pm in the evening and that crowd will be dead as well. Not sure why they didn't schedule the game for the afternoon at 2pm as fans are accustomed to on Sunday.

Probably because they play in Brantford the night before and a 2 pm game would be less than 24hrs after…

 

[NordiquesForeva]

Probably because they play in Brantford the night before and a 2 pm game would be less than 24hrs after…

Ah, fair enough.