It's Finally Over; 67's End Season with 5-1 Loss

Six months and one day after the Ottawa 67’s defeated the Kingston Frontenacs 8-7 to finish the OHL’s pre-season as the only undefeated team, the Fronts handed Ottawa their last loss in a last-place season by a score of 5-1 on Sunday afternoon.

Cody Alcock and Sam Schutt each had a pair of goals for Kingston, who punch their ticket into the playoffs as the seventh-place team. 

The visiting 67's didn’t break Mike Morrison’s shutout bid until midway through the third period when Michal Cajkovsky, playing his last OHL game in the same rink that he played his first game, beat Morrison on the powerplay.

Cajkovsky, the former Frontenac, was the last 67 off the ice as he saluted the fans of his old team.

Billy Jenkins added Kingston’s fifth marker to put the game out of reach.

Clint Windsor appeared between Ottawa’s pipes for three times in as many days and made 43 saves, unable to fully stop the onslaught that was Kingston’s offence.

In three weeks’ time, the 67’s will have the top pick in the OHL’s Priority Draft, likely to acquire the cornerstone of the rebuild.  Then, in June, they will draft second at the CHL import draft.

Ottawa finishes the season with a 16-46-6 record and the worst winning percentage in team history.

 

Game sheet can be found here.

 

Assorted Notes:

• Almost a microcosm of the season, the 67's had small flashes of strong play and a late goal, but it was surrounded by tough breaks and bad plays that ended up in their own net.
• Lots of credit goes to Cajkovsky, not just for his solid game this afternoon, but his play in the second half of the year when he easily could have packed it in or, at the worst, left the team as Richard Mraz did.  It takes a character guy to stick it out and finish a Junior career as a top player on a bottom-feeder.
• Ottawa came out extremely physical and a number of players took exception to a hit from Michael Moffat on Sean Monahan.  Things eventually settled down, although the 67's were forced to kill eight penalties on the afternoon.

The Twitter Reaction:

With this potentially being the last game in a Barberpole uniform for some, a number of players took to Twitter to give a send-off to the organization and the fans with the 67's.

"Words can't describe the way I feel about the Ottawa 67s organization. Truly grateful for being a part such a great group of people." - John Urbanic

"Couldnt thank our fans enough for the endless support this year you guys are really something special, I am so happy to be part of this organization. We are really going to miss big mike.. You are the man." - Sean Monahan

"Very happy I got to become part of the 67 family..Through the ups & downs our fans were there supporting us couldn't of asked for a better group of guys.. Very proud to be a 67 #classyorganization" - Clint Windsor

"Thank you to the fans for sticking it out with us all year! Best fans in the O!" - Daniel Walsh

"Thank you @Ottawa67sHockey for another great season, and being top class . Can't even explain how much ill be missing the lads." - Brett Gustavsen

"Tough but great first season with the 67's! Thanks to all the fans that came out to support us every game!" - Matthieu Desautels