By Jonah Brunet
Thanks to both dedicated, sophisticated coaching and the talent of many individual players, the Ottawa Jr. 67’s matched the best-ever Telus Cup result for a team from the nation’s capital April 22-28 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
The Jr. 67’s silver-medal finish was tainted only by their decisive 5-0 loss against defending-champion Red Deer in the national midget championship’s gold-medal game, and only briefly.
“For about an hour after the game they were pretty upset that they couldn’t win it all,” said Jr. 67’s head coach Travis Crickard. “But I think the next day on the bus ride home I could see that they were very pleased with what they had been able to do this season.”
The gold medal game was broadcast live on TSN on April 28, which may have added some nerves, Crickard indicated.
“We played 80 games this season, and for 79 games the boys executed everything that I asked of them, and it just so happened to be in our 80th game they did not,” the first-year Jr. 67’s head coach added.
Simon Hofley was named the tournament’s top goaltender, while team captain Matt Hudson was tournament MVP.
A national silver medal and two national individual awards makes a better end to the season than the Jr. 67’s experienced in 2012. The Telus Cup was a long step away from finishing last in the central region. Hofley credits the team’s dramatic turnaround to Crickard.
“Last year we were treated like a mediocre midget team, but this year our coach treated us like a major junior team,” said Hofley, who described the exhibition games, video sessions, team meetings and countless practices his coach used to shape the national medalist team. “His life was the team, and that was just amazing.”
Crickard put into practice what he learned from his Master’s studies in sport psychology at the University of Ottawa.
“I’ve had a lot of coaches in my past who the only form of communication they would have with me is when they were yelling at me. They would never sit down and talk to me,” Crickard explained. “The old-school mentality of coaches always yelling and putting down players, for me as a sport psychologist, I don’t feel that works.”
It took 16 playoff wins for the Jr. 67’s to reach the championship final, which included a 4-1 upset victory over the Laval-Montreal Rousseau Royal in the Telus Cup semi-finals.
“For years to come they’re going to remember what they’ve been able to achieve this year,” Crickard added.