The 67’s did everything right but simply couldn’t get the job done against the Oshawa Generals.
“I couldn’t have asked for better people to grind with and be beside.” said a teary eyed Toronto Maple Leafs prospect and 67’s forward Braeden Kressler after his team was swept by the Generals on Thursday marking the last game of his junior career.
The second round of the OHL playoffs started on April 12 in Oshawa. The 67’s had to deal with the loss of Matthew Mayich for games one and two as the St. Louis Blues defensive prospect was serving a suspension handed to him in the first round against Brantford.
Game 1 saw defenceman Thomas Sirman score the first goal of the series for the 67’s. However after a goal from New York Rangers prospect Dylan Roobroeck, Ottawa would not see a lead for the rest of the game as it ended in a 4-3 win for Oshawa.
Game 2 would see the Generals dominate in a 6-1 win despite 67’s forward Chris Barlas opening the scoring in the first half of the first period.
Back in Ottawa for Game 3, the crowd at TD Place Arena was treated to an extremely close contest. The game required 17 minutes of overtime, ended by Ottawa native, Connor Lockhart to give Oshawa the 4-3 win.
The Vancouver Canucks prospect’s second goal of the game came right after a scary injury to his teammate, Minnesota Wild prospect Rasmus Kumpulainen who ran into the open door of the 67’s bench at full speed. He returned for Game 4.
Game 4 saw 67’s forward Charlie Hilton make his OHL playoff debut. In his first shift he laid a big hit on Oshawa defenceman Ben Danford and in his second shift, dropped the gloves against Roobroeck after the 6 ‘7” Oshawa forward made contact with Barlas’s head.
“I saw [Barlas] go down and I just couldn’t let [Roobroeck] get away with it.” said the 6’5’’ 195 pound forward.
The game took a turn for the worse for the 67’s however as Oshawa rolled them on their way to a 6-1 win to end the 67’s season, much to the disappointment of the fans in the arena.
Oshawa’s top line of Roobroeck, NHL draft eligible Beckett Sennecke and Colorado Avalanche first round pick Callum Ritchie have a combined 17 goals and 44 points in 10 games so far in the playoffs.
Ottawa Head Coach Dave Cameron described the trio as “lights out.”
After the last game of the series 67’s captain Luca Pinelli took a long time to get out of his gear because of the overwhelming emotion of the loss.
“It’s tough,” said the Columbus Blue Jackets prospect. “We won’t play for another five months and it was the last time with this great group of guys.” He feels his team could not have played any better and “the bounces just didn’t go our way.”
“I’m definitely going to miss the guys that are leaving but we’re going to stay connected I’m sure. We’re a really tight group.”
Defenceman Samuel Mayer ended up leading the 67’s with 11 points in 10 playoff games while Kressler led his team in goals with six.
Six 67’s players will be considered overagers next season while OHL rules only allow a team to have three on their roster so many changes will be coming before next season.
