By Rowan McCarthy
After a successful season, the Ottawa Junior Senators enter the playoffs as the top team in the Central Canadian Hockey League (CCHL). The team will compete to win their fourth consecutive Bogart Cup and earn a spot at the national championship.
Under the watchful eye of head coach Kyle Makaric, OJS finished the regular season head and shoulders above the rest with 89 points. This put them eight points ahead of the Navan Grads who finished second.
Led by veteran forwards Vincent Velocci, Massimo Gentile and Anton Sorensen, OJS put up 218 goals over the course of 55 regular season games. Only the Smith Falls Bears outscored them with a total of 232 goals.
More impressive than the team’s offensive prowess has been their strong defense. OJS only allowed 126 goals this season – fewer than anyone else in the league. OJS’ goalie tandem of Rorke Applebee and Connor Shibley are the top two goaltenders in the league, boasting the best goals against average and save percentages.
OJS enters the playoffs on a 10-game winning streak and expectations are high. “Our team goal never changes … we want to win the Bogart Cup. Our main focus for the next few weeks is we are all in for that,” said Makaric.
A new season begins
Winning the regular season is a legitimate achievement, but everyone knows that the true season champion is crowned at the end of the playoffs. The road to the championship is one of the hardest in sports.
“The pace is way higher; every turnover is magnified every mistake is bigger … You have to make sure you put it all out there every game,” said OJS captain Wil Murphy.
Playoffs are synonymous with intensity. Instead of a long season they are short violent clashes between teams. In each round of the playoffs, teams meet for a seven-game series. In order to move on, a team must win four out of seven games. In this format, every game matters and the small details become incredibly important.
“It’s a completely different season,” said OJS’ top scorer Vincent Velocci. “There’s a new level and desperation that every team has, and you’ve got to be able to take your game to the next level if you want to succeed.”
Experience will lead the way for OJS
The physical and mental demands of playoff hockey are incredibly taxing. This is especially true for junior players who can struggle at times to navigate the emotional highs and lows of playoff hockey.
“The biggest thing is those momentum swings … The emotional pendulum can swing far in both directions, you have to make sure guys can play their game through the ups and downs in the playoffs,” said Makaric.
Veteran players like Velocci and Murphy understand what is necessary to win in the playoffs, but rookies can sometimes struggle in this new environment.
“I think it’s a little nerve wracking because everything does ramp up a little bit more during playoffs,” said rookie defenseman Owen Protz.
At 17-years-old, Protz is playing against players up to four years older than he is, and having a veteran presence is reassuring. “As a rookie coming into the CCHL I think they [the veterans] really helped me out. They know how to calm us down and get us ready for games.”
While the rookies may be nervous, Murphy believes they will rise to the occasion. “Watching them throughout the year, they have gotten better and better. I have high expectations for them, but I am 100 per cent sure they can reach them.”
For the veteran players, last year’s playoffs experience pushes them to want more. Velocci is in his last season in the CCHL, and he wants to leave on a high note.
“I know last year how it felt to win the Boggart Cup, I know how it felt to go to nationals and with this being my last year it is my last chance to get a junior championship and I don’t want to squander it”
Cornwall
In the first round, OJS will play the Cornwall Colts. Cornwall took hold of the eighth and final playoff position in their last regular season game. They narrowly beat out Kemptville and Rockland who failed to win critical games.
While some may view this as an easy first round for OJS, the team refuses to take Cornwall lightly.
The Colts have a solid team with talent throughout the roster. Cornwall’s top scorer Bradley Fraser, and star defenseman Nolan Gagnon have the talent required to take control of games. The team’s roster is also deep, featuring a large number of veteran players.
“They [Cornwall] are a good team that has been playing desperate hockey lately. They can hang around in games and frustrate you,” said Makaric.
In any series it is important to consider special teams. “When you think about special teams in hockey, they are the game breaker or game maker,” said Makaric.
In this category, the Junior Senators hold a clear advantage. Their power-play has been lethal this season running at 25 per cent. Their league leading power-play will try to take advantage of a Cornwall penalty kill which was bottom of the league in the regular season.
However, a goalie can always make up for a penalty kill that has struggled. Cornwall’s Dax Easter has had a good season and has the ability to steal games for his team.
Makaric is all too aware of Easter’s ability. He remembers the first meeting between the two teams this season where he said he witnessed an incredible goalie duel between Easter and Shibley.
That game resulted in a 1-0 overtime win for Ottawa. Easter made 44 out of 45 saves on a night where his team was outshot 45 to 31. While Shibley walked away with the win on that occasion, it was a close game.
The first game of the series will take place Wednesday night when the Junior Senators host the Colts.
“It’s going to be a really good series,” said Murphy. “I think if we can bring our best and play our systems, we can definitely go out there and take advantage of a few things to hopefully win games.”
