Why it's an 'incredibly difficult time' for the Ottawa 67's as they head into the OHL season

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The 67’s open their 2026-27 regular season with two road games, on Sept. 20 in Kingston and Sept. 26 in Peterborough, before their first home game on Sunday, Sept. 27 (3 p.m.) against the Sarnia Sting.

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Will 67’s games be on Rogers TV this season?

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At one point, it looked like that might not be the case, after the local television station decided not to renew its contract with the team.

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But the 67’s owners, Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, will now produce all the team’s home games and are working on a plan to have them shown on Rogers as well as FloSports, which broadcasts all Ontario Hockey League games.

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Veteran broadcaster Colin Zappia, who has worked as the between-the-benches analyst for the past 10 seasons, will move to the press box and call the play-by-play as well as provide colour commentary.

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TSN1200’s Kenny Walls returns as the radio broadcaster for all home and away games.

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Should the 67’s be expected to contend again?

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On paper, yes.

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Along with the players graduating from the junior ranks, the 67’s are losing the Canadian Hockey League goaltender of the year, Ryder Fetterolf, and Ottawa-born sniper Thomas Vandenberg to the NCAA.

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But they still should be in good shape after a 2025-2026 season in which they were one of only three teams to reach the 100-point plateau before second-round playoff elimination at the hands of the the Barrie Colts in the second round of this past spring’s playoffs.

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Veteran Jaeden Nelson is expected to be a pillar between the pipes, along with at least six returning defencemen and a potentially explosive offence that offers plenty of promise.

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The 43 players who reported to camp include 26 forwards, 12 blueliners and five goalies.

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“I think it was your typical first day,” coach Dave Cameron said after Thursday’s intra-squad game. “Everybody’s fired up, there’s lots of enthusiasm and it’s choppy hockey. The first kick at the cat.

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“There’s not a whole lot of evaluation on Day 1. They come in and get a look, and then it’s the same old story. You get your veterans coming in, but they know it’s camp and they know that there are young guys here, so they’re not really fully engaged yet.”

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Cameron expects the 67’s to be “as competitive as hell” this season.

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“We’re set pretty well in goaltending, we’ve got a little bit of competition on ‘D’ and we’ve probably got four spots (open) up front,” he said. “So they’ll go right through till we make our final cuts.

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“There will be cuts after (Friday), the young guys that we drafted this year, and we’ll get down to some numbers where guys now will start competing for those spots and go from there.”

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GM Jan Egert said his expectation is the same as it is every year.

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“It sounds cliché, but it’s to maximize everything that we put into it,” Egert said. “I don’t evaluate (the season) by points. It’s a team that has a lot of returning players, and I think it’s a team that likes to be challenged and learned last year that, when you have the right mentality and you’re making the right investment, you can be greater than the sum of your parts as individuals.

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“When you do that, and you can generate momentum, then you can turn things into a special season.”

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