Ottawa 67’s have a high-low profile

By Randy Russon
March 17, 2016
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It is a time-honoured Ontario Hockey League franchise with an iconic logo that is highly visible yet the Ottawa 67’s remain somewhat concealed in the nation’s capital.

A recent visit to Ottawa for the Brier men’s curling championships sparked a memory-bank flashback to the days when gentleman superstar centre Bobby Smith was captain of the 67’s — he edged out Wayne Gretzky of the Soo Greyhounds for the OHL scoring crown in 1977-1978 — and the legendary Brian Kilrea was coaching his hometown team over parts of four decades.

Of fascination is the fact that in the almost 50 years that they have been a part of the OHL, ownership of the 67’s has not changed all that much.

The late Howard Darwin — one of the nicest and most down-to-earth men I have met in 40 years of covering the OHL — co-founded the 67’s in 1967 before selling it to current co-owner Jeff Hunt in 1998.

Hunt, a self-made man who was only 20-years old when he started a global cleaning business and just 34-years old when he bought the 67’s, has since partnered with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group. Besides the 67’s, OSEG owns the successful Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League and Ottawa Fury of the North American Soccer League.

At any rate, being in Ottawa for the 2016 Brier meant watching the curling action at TD Place, home of the 67’s and part of the complex that houses the CFL Redblacks and NASL Fury.

Being a scribe who primarily writes about hockey, I made it a point to mention the 67’s to people who I interacted with from curling fans at TD Place to across-the-street, restaurant-bar patrons and servers at the very-popular Joey Lansdowne establishment.

Just about everyone who I talked to who were from Ottawa knew of the 67’s, though except for Hunt and coach-general manager Jeff Brown, no one could name a member of the team off the top of their head.

And it’s not as though the 67’s lack prominent visibility in the nation’s capital.

Flags and pennants bearing the 67’s logo hang from street poles throughout town. A sports store that I visited with the intention of buying 67’s merchandise had hoodies displayed on a rack just inside the doors.

But of the people who I talked to regarding the 67’s, all who knew who the team was and followed it to some degree mentioned the lack of consistent and in-depth print media coverage of the Ottawa OHLers.

So while the 67’s certainly appear to be well-marketed — as I said, their logo is prominently displayed around town — the lack of player recognition among those who I talked to was surprisingly evident.

It should be noted that in the years before Hunt took over as owner in 1998, the 67’s generally averaged about 2,500 fans a game despite boasting powerhouse teams and stars such as the aforementioned Smith and the likes of fellow prominent future National Hockey Leaguers Denis Potvin, Doug Wilson, Peter Lee, Steve Payne, Tim Higgins, Jim Fox and Ed (Boxcar) Hospodar.

Since Hunt took over as an owner in Ottawa, the 67’s have had seasons in which they led the OHL in attendance, including a per-game average of more than 9,200 in 2004-2005 despite playing in the shadow of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators.

But since 2005, attendance at 67’s games has declined every year and while the team is still averaging a more-than-respectable 3,400 this season, those numbers have Ottawa in the bottom half of the 20-team OHL.

Still, the history of the 67’s is not only lengthy but illustrious.

The 67’s have appeared in the Memorial Cup tournament five times, winning twice. They have also won fourteen division titles, which is the most in the OHL.

And under Brown as coach-general manager, the 67’s have become more competitive the past two seasons after back-to-back years of missing the playoffs.

SOO SIDE TO THE 67’S

Over the years, a number of players from Sault Ste. Marie have played in the OHL for Ottawa.

Most notably, goalies Jim Ralph and Seamus Kotyk both spent their entire OHL careers in Ottawa as two of the best puck-stoppers to ever wear a 67’s uniform.

As a 16-year old minor midget in 1978, Ralph was a first-round draft pick of the 67’s and went on to play four full seasons in Ottawa, the last three as a starting standout.

The now 53-year old Ralph has since gone on to a very-successful career as a broadcaster for Sportsnet and TSN in Toronto.

Kotyk, now 35-years old, holds the distinction of helping to back-stop the 67’s to the 1999 Memorial Cup championship.

And Wawa native Chris Simon, a goal-scoring enforcer who began his OHL career in Ottawa before being traded to the Soo Greyhounds, went on to play in more than 800 NHL games from 1992 until 2008 as a hard-nosed left winger.