Rugged OHL road trip for 67’s
Ottawa 67’s will put more than 1,100 miles on the old bus by the time they play three road games in less 48 hours this weekend.
The rookie-laden 67’s play the Sarnia Sting tonight, the Saginaw Spirit on Saturday evening and the Flint Firebirds in a Sunday matinee before heading back to the nation’s capital.
While they may have bus legs, 67’s coach-general manager Jeff Brown is of the notion that an early-season road trip can mean a lot.
“The kids are excited for their first road trip,” Brown began, in an interview with HockeyNewsNorth.com. “It’ll be tough but we’ll really find out about our team early.
“Sometimes a long trip early in the year really brings a team together,” Brown added.
Off to a 1-1 start to the 2016-2017 Ontario Hockey League season via a 5-3 road win over the Peterborough Petes and a 7-5 loss at home to the Barrie Colts, Ottawa will get a boost in the veteran leadership department this weekend with the return of winger Travis Barron from the National Hockey League camp of the Colorado Avalanche.
“We are excited to have Bear back,” Brown said of the return of Barron to the Ottawa lineup. “We really missed his leadership.”
With 10 goals scored in two games but 10 allowed, Brown addressed the for and against issue.
“I think we will score a lot of goals this year but we need to shut down the other teams defensively,” said the third-year 67’s coach. “It’s a team defense and not only the defensemen’s responsibility. When you consider how young of a team we have, the forwards really need to help. You can’t win without a strong defense and we’ve been working on it all week.”
Through the two games to date, veteran forwards Artur Tyanulin and Drake Rymsha have combined for four goals and nine points to lead the 67’s.
Two rookies, meanwhile, have also contributed offensively.
Defenseman Carter Robertson has four assists in his first two OHL games while forward Kody Clark has netted a pair of goals.
if this is called “hockeynewsnorth”, why are we talking about the 67’s and not enough about the Battalion?
North as in North America, perhaps? Or is that too much for you?
Seems like an appropriate reply, RR, even if we just think in terms of ‘northern North America’. There are countless junior teams (and others) worthy of comments. Each will come up, all in good time, according to newsworthiness. Enough said. (A Battalion fan and supporter.)
There’s gonna be a good article about the 67’s and their Northern Ontario roadie in North Bay, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie.