Konecny And Co Looking For First Win

New Ottawa 67s captain Travis Konecny – Photo by Terry Wilson/ OHL Images

Last year Clachan-native Travis Konecny was a star for the Ottawa 67’s, justifying his top overall selection in the OHL draft by notching 26 goals and 70 points over the 68 game regular season. That performance was enough to win him the Emms Family Award as the league’s best first-year player, an award that counts NHL stars such as John Tavares, Patrick Kane, Taylor Hall, and Nail Yakupov as recent winners.

That is about all he won last year, however, as the Ottawa club finished last in their division with a 23-39-3-3 record despite the play of their star winger. So far this season, things haven’t been any better for the 67’s, who currently sit at 0-4 and have only scored six goals while allowing 22.

Perhaps in an effort to turn team fortunes around, Konecny was just named team captain, a role he excelled at in leading Team Canada’s U18 team to victory in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup held in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in August.

Konecny takes over captain duties from Brendan Bell, who is still with the team and will serve as the lone alternate captain for now. Konecny is in his NHL draft year and currently projected as a top-10 pick, and a strong year with the “C” on his chest could go a long way towards firming up or improving his prospects heading into the June draft.

Tonight will be his debut as captain for Ottawa, as they take on the Niagara IceDogs in the first home game of the season for the 67’s. It appears to be a perfect opportunity for the first win of the season as Niagara is also winless at 0-3, and odds makers partnered with Gambling.com have the 67’s listed as slight favorites across the board.

The new captain will take to the ice tonight looking to add to his one goal and one assist stat line on the season, but more importantly he will be seeking the season’s first win, as well as trying to set the tone for his captaincy and the rest of the 67’s season.