After winning the Matt Leyden Trophy for OHL Coach of the Year, how far can Dave Cameron bring the Ottawa 67's this spring? (Photo: Robert Lefebvre/Postmedia)

At the start of the season, the Ottawa 67’s sat 19th out of 20 teams in the OHL’s power rankings.

With 2025 seventh-round pick Filip Ekberg as the roster’s lone NHL-drafted player, expectations in the nation’s capital were modest at best.

Fast forward to today, and head coach Dave Cameron has captured the Matt Leyden Trophy as coach of the year for the second time in his career, guiding the 67’s to a 100-point season and a third-place finish in the overall standings.

“This is a team award,” Cameron told our Don Brennan. “It wouldn’t be possible without the time, effort, and passion everyone brings every day. I’m proud of this group, and everything we’ve achieved together speaks to that commitment.”

Now the question becomes: how far can he push the OHL’s stingiest defensive team in the playoffs?

After sweeping the Kingston Frontenacs in the opening round, Ottawa now trails its Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Barrie Colts 2-1 heading into a pivotal Game 4 at TD Place Arena.

Read all about it in the Ottawa Citizen.

Nashville Predators prospects Brady Martin (left) and Cameron Reid have put their friendship on hold as their OHL teams battle in the Western Conference semifinals. (Photo: Bob Davies/Freeze Frame Photos)

Brady Martin and Cameron Reid share more than first-round status with the Nashville Predators.

They're also close friends. Reid grew up on the shores of Lake Erie, about a 90-minute drive from Martin's family farm in Elmira, and the two first crossed paths as eight-year-olds on the same spring team. They’ve stayed tight ever since.

One day, they could be key cornerstones of Nashville's future — Martin up front, Reid on the back end.

For now, they’re trying to end each other’s season.

Martin, captain of the Soo Greyhounds, finds himself in a 3-0 hole against Reid’s Kitchener Rangers heading into a must-win Game 4 Thursday night in the OHL’s Western Conference semifinal.

With a Metroland subscription, you can read Josh Brown’s full story on the Predators prospect duo right here in the Waterloo Region Record.

A row of hockey sticks, along with flowers, jerseys and other items, line an outside wall Monday at Lambton College next to an entrance to the Lion's Den pub where one person died and two were injured last week in a shooting. (Photo: Paul Morden/Sarnia Observer)

The PJHL's Mooretown Flags were supposed to be closing the book on their season, not mourning one of their own.

Instead of handing out year-end awards Friday, the junior C club gathered to remember former teammate Dane Nisbet, 20, who was tragically killed in a shooting at a Lambton College pub earlier that day. Two other former Flags players were also injured.

“Everything’s so raw right now,” Flags general manager John Baker said. “I want to do my best to protect them as best I can. . . . We hear the word PTSD and I guess this is the kind of event that can really affect people to that level. That could be there for years.”

As grief and shock ripple through the locker room and community, teammates are leaning on each other to process a loss that reaches far beyond hockey.

Read more from Mark Malone in the Sarnia Observer.

Jack Nesbitt strikes a pose for the camera after a collision with Nathan Aspinall on Sunday. Nesbitt's Windsor Spitfires have a chance to sweep the Firebirds on Thursday night in Flint. (Photo: Dan Janisse/Windsor Star)