At some point in the next few days, it’s expected that Tyler Boucher will switch rinks in Ottawa, moving back to TD Place from Canadian Tire Centre, where the Ottawa Senators have given their 2021 first-round pick a long look at training camp.
Once that shift comes, the Ottawa 67’s will have all their bodies back from National Hockey League training camps, ready to kickstart what they hope will be an extended run that takes them deep into the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.
After travelling to Oshawa for the season opener Friday, the 67’s will take on the Erie Otters in their home opener Sunday at 2 p.m.
“We were a really young team last year, so I’m excited to see who put in the work in the summer and see how we developed,” said towering defenceman Jack Matier, fresh from attending Nashville Predators camp.
Matier, the Predators’ fourth-round pick in the 2021 NHL draft, scored nine goals and 20 assists in 66 games with the 67’s in 2021-22.
Coach Dave Cameron will be relying on Matier to be part of the leadership core for what should be a gritty, highly competitive squad.
“I lead by example mostly, but I definitely push players in practice,” said Matier, who listened attentively to any and all the advice he received in Nashville from former Senators alternate captain Mark Borowiecki. “With the younger guys, you talk to them, you see if they need help. I remember being that young guy. It’s really nice to have older guys you can talk to.”
In addition to Matier, the veteran core will include forwards Cameron Tolnai, Jack Beck, Brady Stonehouse and Vincent Rohrer.
Beck, a Calgary Flames sixth-round pick in 2021, was limited by injuries a year ago, scoring 22 goals and 22 assists in 36 games.
Stonehouse, just back from camp with the Stanley Cup-champion Colorado Avalanche, has lofty goals.
“Hopefully we can win the (OHL) championship, that’s everyone’s goal,” said the feisty Stonehouse, who scored 18 goals and 17 assists in 68 games last season.
“I feel like we can improve on what we built on last year and we’re more confident. We’re a pretty good team from top to bottom. I think my game speaks for itself. I’m an energy player. That’s what I’m here for.”
Rohrer, the Austrian native who emerged as a star in his rookie OHL season with the 67’s, scoring 25 goals and 23 assists, will be ready to go for Friday’s opener, wearing a full face shield. He took a puck in the face early in training camp, a setback that caused him to miss training camp with the Montreal Canadiens, who selected him in the third round of the 2022 draft.
Once Boucher returns from the Senators, Cameron is confident that many of the stresses of a year ago — a mid-season jump to the 67’s from Boston University, injuries and a bout with COVID-19 — will be removed and he’ll be more relaxed in the environment.
“I think you’re going to see a different Tyler Boucher now because he’s finally going to be able to take a breath and settle in and play,” Cameron said of Boucher, who scored seven goals and seven assists in 24 games in 2021-22. “(Last year), he was in a new city, playing in the city that had his NHL rights, with new expectations. But now he’s gone to a camp and done well. He knows everything trending in the right way.”
Yet, as much as all OHL teams need their veterans to lead, Cameron is also optimistic in the younger group that took strides late last season.
“The thing that got me the most excited down the stretch last year, when we played against (top teams) Hamilton and North Bay, it was my young guys with the character, that didn’t back down a step,” he said. “That grit thing with Matier, Teddy, Boucher, I also saw that in the young guys.”
The challenge that awaits, according to Cameron, is to see if those players can also raise their skill level as high as their compete level. He figures he’ll have a better picture of where the team stands after the 10-game mark. Last season, the 67’s lacked a finishing touch.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Cameron said. “We did a decent job of creating chances (last season), but we weren’t experienced enough to play inside, to get second and third chances. That’s how you score. I do think that being older, we will be a bit stronger and able to get inside a bit better.”
On top of that, the 67’s have high hopes for Henry Mews and Frankie Marrelli, the offensive-minded defencemen who were both chosen in the first round of April’s OHL Priority Selection Draft.
Matier doesn’t want to get ahead of himself and make any bold pronouncements just yet, but there is confidence as the season begins.
“That’s definitely a long way away,” he said. “But that’s something we strive for every day, a long playoff run.”
Defenceman Sawyer traded to Owen Sound
On Thursday evening, the 67’s announced that they had traded defenceman Teddy Sawyer to the Owen Sound Attack for two draft picks: a third-round selection (previously held by the Windsor Spitfires) in 2025 and Owen Sound’s second-round choice in 2026.
Sawyer was drafted by Ottawa in the third round (62nd overall) in 2019. The skater from Columbus, Ohio, played in 92 regular-season games for the 67’s, scoring six goals and collecting 12 assists.
kwarren@postmedia.com
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With file from Postmedia News
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