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By Dan Plouffe
On most Friday nights in Navan, you could shoot a cannon down main street and probably not get much more than a few startled “moo”s.
There used to be one exception: the annual Navan Fair. But now you can add another: Navan Grads playoff hockey.
For the first time since the club joined Eastern Ontario’s men’s junior ‘A’ hockey league in 1991, the Grads are playing in the league championship series, currently knotted 1-1 after Navan and Smiths Falls exchanged overtime victories.
The Grads won their first Central Canada Hockey League regular season crown this season since 2003, when they wound up losing in the playoff semi-finals.
Only a few current Grads were even born then, and it was a couple years before Ottawa Senators star Claude Giroux played for the Grads in 2005, having been overlooked in the Ontario Hockey League draft.
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“The players know of that record, and certainly the staff knows and the community knows,” signals Navan head coach/general manager Marty Abrams. “We’ve had tremendous crowds and lots of support from the community, so we’re pretty excited about being the first team in the league finals, representing the Grads.”
The Grads have put together some decent seasons over the years, just not good enough to rise to the top. The 2017-2018 was terrible however, when Navan finished last with just 19 points in 62 games.
But then the club brought in Abrams, who’d earned a pile of success with the Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, and the transformation began. Navan made the playoffs in 2019 and took another step forward after the pandemic before leaping way up the standings to second overall last season.
That run ended with a seven-game first-round series defeat to Brockville, but the season nonetheless helped set the course for this year’s successful run, even though only a half-dozen players returned to the team this year.
“I think it kind of starts with the environment that you’re creating year in and year out,” highlights Abrams, who says the recruiting process goes on 12 months per year with no downtime. “We’ve been pretty lucky in the last few years to be able to bring in some pretty good players and good people.”
With 12 of their 13 top scorers born in 2003 or 2004, the Grads’ experienced lineup lost just nine times in regulation in 55 regular season games this season.
“We had a lot of new players this year, but they’ve come in and adjusted well,” notes Abrams, who was named the CCHL’s coach of the year. “I think all the players have really bought into what we’re kind of teaching day in and day out, so it’s been a real joy to coach this group.
“There’s a real good work ethic to the group, a lot of positivity around the group, and we have really good depth. And we’ve been relatively healthy all year, which really lends itself to doing well in the regular season and into the playoffs.”
Many of the Grads’ top players hail from outside of the region. Bucking that trend however are a pair of local stars. Navan captain Gabriel Crete, a 21-year-old who first appeared for the Grads in 2019, led the team in scoring with 24 goals and 50 assists.
“He’s been such a tremendous part of our team for last five years, and before that with our U18 program, so we’ve kind of watched him grow up, and every year, he’s been able to add a little bit more to his game, and this series he’s been taking it to a whole new level,” Abrams says of Crete. “He’s a tremendous person and we’re certainly glad we were part of his junior hockey career, and we look forward to finishing it off in style with him here.”
CCHL all-rookie team goaltender Jaeden Nelson – who just turned 17 and appeared for the Ottawa 67’s a couple times this year – recorded two 1-0 shutout victories in the Grads’ 4-1 semi-final series victory over Rockland, on the heels of a 4-2 first-round series win over Pembroke.
“Jaeden is mature beyond his years and he’s been extremely consistent for us game in and game out, right from the start of the season,” Abrams outlines. “He’s certainly given our team a chance to win every single night that he’s in the net, so we can’t ask for any more from him.”
Big battle between Bears & Grads
The Grads could not have possibly made their long-awaited appearance in the CCHL championship series much more memorable for the Navan Memorial Centre faithful than in Game 1 last Friday night.
The Grads twice came back from a goal down to force overtime before Devon Savignac played the hero’s role with the overtime winner for a 3-2 Navan triumph.
But the Smiths Falls Bears returned the favour in Game 2 with a 4-3 overtime home-ice victory of their own on Sunday to knot the series at 1-1.
Navan hosts Game 3 Wednesday evening as the home teams will alternate for games on Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays until a champion is crowned.
“Going into the series, we thought it was going to be close, and we’re playing against a real good team, so it’s not surprising that the first two games went to overtime,” notes Abrams. “I think there’s still more to come in this series as everyone seems to be getting more familiar with each other. Both teams, I’m sure that the intensity will continue to elevate as the series moves on.
“For us, we actually just want to stick with our plan on how we want to play Smiths Falls, and stick to our game and do our little things right that we’ve done all year. We’re not looking at changing a whole lot here going into Game 3 – just do what we did the first two games, and hopefully come out on the right side of it.”
The Grads have received “outstanding” support from their fans, both at home and on the road throughout their playoff run, adds Abrams.
That’s sometimes been a challenge for teams within Ottawa compared to the smaller Eastern Ontario markets where they’re the big show in town.
Though it’s within city limits, Navan maintains a small-town feel, with the fairgrounds, the curling club, and the hockey rink among the staple sites on its main street.
“It’s an interesting little village. You’re right on the edge of Orleans, which is a pretty populated area, but Navan itself is more of a rural community, with some beautiful homes and some subdivision-type homes, so we have a mixture of everything,” Abrams indicates. “I’ve certainly enjoyed my six years here. I think it has the best of both worlds – you have the solitude of a small community and the closeness of a small community, and yet you’re 20 minutes from downtown Ottawa.
“It really provides a little bit of everything and the players really appreciate where they’re located and have realized how special it is to be here.”
There probably isn’t anyone who understands Navan’s charm more than Grads owner Steve Barban, who can walk to the rink from his family’s home. In 2017, he changed the club’s name from the Cumberland Grads to the Navan Grads (which had been the team’s original name when local residents banded together to buy Rockland’s Jr. ‘B’ franchise in 1974).
“From my perspective, and I think the whole program’s perspective, we’re the most happy for Steve,” Abrams underlines. “I think this is his 17th year as owner, and we won the first playoff series this year for him.
“He’s put so much time and effort into this program and this team and to keep it in Navan. He’s the driving force behind the team. It all starts at the top, so without his leadership, this wouldn’t be possible.”
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