As special as the 1,000th game of his Ontario Hockey League coaching career will be for Dave Cameron, No. 999 was pretty sweet, too.
“I thought it was probably our best game of the year,” the Ottawa 67’s bench boss said after a convincing 5-1 victory Saturday at TD Place over the Brantford Bulldogs, who entered this week No. 3 in in Canadian Hockey League rankings and now hold just a one-point lead over Cameron’s crew in both the OHL’s Eastern Conference and the overall standings. “But we knew that we were going to have to play that to beat that team. That’s a good hockey club, and, if you’re going to win this side, you’re probably going to have to go through that team.
“So that was just a real good game today, and it showed us that, if we play at the top of our game, we’re going to be a tough out.”
The 67’s will have a chance to further boost their No. 8 CHL ranking and perhaps leapfrog the Bulldogs when they host the Owen Sound Attack on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Cameron’s milestone game.
Brantford has come up on the short end of the score in four of its past eight games. The 67’s have 19 games left in the regular season, and one in hand on the Bulldogs.
With the season series between the clubs now in the books, the 67’s hold the edge in a head-to-head tiebreaker.
After losing 8-5, but then stealing a point in a 4-3 shootout when the teams squared off in Brantford, the 67’s have swept both games at TD Place by a combined score of 11-1.
Nic Sima of the 67’s shoots the puck during Saturday’s home game against the Bulldogs. Sima led the Ottawa offence with two goals in the game.
Do the 67’s feel like they made a statement with another sound victory over the top team?
Yes, but not necessarily to the rest of the league. The win in front of 4,677 fans over a team with 11 NHL draft picks (compared to Ottawa’s three) was a statement of the belief the 67’s have in themselves.
“I think it more so sends a message to us, showing what we could do when we play our best,” said Nic Sima, who led Ottawa’s attack on Saturday with two goals. “Obviously, everyone thinks they’re probably the most talented team on paper in the league, and we came in today and we played our game, and the score kind of shows for itself, right?
“So I’m just happy with how we played again. And, obviously, it sends a message to our group, saying that we could do it and we’ve got something special going on in here.”
Ottawa 67’s Jasper Kuhta (22, left) and Brantford Bulldogs’ Jake O’Brien (44) battle for possession of the puck during Saturday’s game at TD Place.
What was the difference between the teams on Saturday?
After falling behind just past the eight-minute mark of the first period, when Minnesota Wild prospect Adam Benak scored off a power-play face-off, the 67’s responded with five consecutive goals.
They scored two during a 90-second span late in the opening period, a couple more in the second and the lone goal of a third period when they were outshot 11-3.
Overall, the Bulldogs outshot the 67’s by a 33-31 count, but Ottawa rookie goalie Ryder Fetterolf turned in another stellar performance.
Along with a 23-4-1 record, the recently-turned 18-year-old American improved his league-leading goals-against average to 1.88 and his OHL-best save percentage to .929.
“You can’t win in this league without good goaltending, you can’t beat good teams in this league without good goaltending,” Cameron said. “I’m very fortunate. I’ve got two of them.”
Along with Sima’s two goals, Cooper Foster had a goal and two assists for Ottawa, and Kohyn Eshkawkogan and Spencer Bowes each had a goal and an assist.
Nic Whitehead also had a two-point game with a pair of helpers.
“I thought our whole team was good, right from the get-go,” Cameron said. “Everybody was dialled in. I thought our penalty kill was exceptional (surviving three of four short-handed situations) going against a lethal power play. It was 4-1 and we were down two men, and we did a real good job.”
Sunday’s home game for the 67’s will be head coach Dave Cameron’s 1,000 in the Ontario Hockey League.
And, finally, what will game No. 1,000 mean to Cameron?
When answering the question, Cameron expressed gratitude to the late Eugene Melnyk — whom he worked for with both the OHL’s St. Michael’s Majors and the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators — as well as the 67’s.
“Game 1,000 means that you were around long enough to learn from your mistakes,” Cameron said. “The way the world is today, that doesn’t happen nearly enough. We all make mistakes, and I’m thankful I’ve worked I’ve worked for real good organizations. I worked eight years for Eugene Melnyk and (with the Majors) I said it was the best job in hockey because I was coach and GM, and he was tied up in the Senators. He was great support. And then to come to this organization, OSEG, and the group here, it’s like an NHL organization in terms of what they give you and what our players get here. It’s as great as the NHL. There’s not a thing that’s not provided for our players, from fitness to nutrition to meals to mental health.
“So I’ve been really, really fortunate.”
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