Ottawa 67's

Lore & Background

The 67's name is a small piece of national history stitched into a jersey. 1967 was the year Canada turned one hundred years old, a summer of Expo '67 in Montreal and a country brimming with pride. That same spirit of youthful optimism was baked into the identity of Ottawa's junior hockey program, and the number 67 became a badge of local belonging. Fans wear it not just as a team number but as a nod to the era that made the country feel limitless.

Over the decades, the franchise has been a proving ground. Players who laced up for the 67's in their early teens have gone on to wear the Senators' red, white, and black in the NHL, and many more have found careers in the AHL, ECHL, and European leagues. The OHL season is long and grueling, and the 67's have carried that grind with a distinctly Ottawa toughness—physical, disciplined, and proud. Their Memorial Cup run remains one of the franchise's crowning achievements, a moment when a junior team from the capital stood atop Canadian hockey and the entire city felt the weight of that victory.

In the broader tapestry of Ottawa sport, the 67's fill a role the NHL club cannot: they are accessible, community-anchored, and a place where a kid from Gloucester or a parent from Orleans can walk into the arena, buy a hot dog, and watch their neighbourhood kid drop the puck. That intimacy is something the 67's have protected through every roster change and every season.

In Their Own Story

The arena lights hum to life over the ice, and the smell of fresh Zamboni wax mingles with the sharp tang of cold air seeping through the upper deck. A line of young skaters circles the rink, their sticks tapping in unison, the sound a rhythmic percussion against the boards. In the stands, a father in a faded 67's hoodie leans over the railing, calling out encouragement to his son on the ice. The crowd is a patchwork of local faces—grandparents, teenagers, families with strollers parked in the concourse. When the puck drops, the noise swells into a single sustained roar, the kind that vibrates in your chest. For two hours, this is the centre of the world: a junior game in Ottawa, where the stakes feel enormous and the love is entirely its own.

Reader's Guide

The 67's call the Canadian Tire Centre home, the same arena that hosts the Ottawa Senators. For a junior game, the atmosphere shifts: the seating feels closer, the ice is more intimate, and the energy is raw and immediate. The arena's glass boards, the overhead scoreboard, and the four corners of the rink are the same fixtures fans know from NHL nights, but the scale of the crowd makes every goal feel personal.

Rituals are simple and deeply felt. Before the face-off, the crowd rises for the national anthem, voices blending in a rough but heartfelt chorus. After a 67's goal, the lower bowl erupts in a wave—arms up, hands clapping in a rolling motion that snakes around the section. Season-long traditions include the annual charity game, where proceeds support local youth programs, and the open-skate events that let community members hit the ice after the final buzzer.

The team weaves into Ottawa's culture through the seasons. School groups fill the student sections, local businesses sponsor the morning skate, and the 67's logo appears on community-run 5Ks and winter festivals. In a city that treats hockey as a civic duty, the 67's are the thread connecting a six-year-old's first stick to a twenty-year-old's NHL debut.

Did You Know?

• The '67' in the team name honours 1967, the year of Canada's centennial celebrations, embedding a piece of national history into the franchise identity.
• The Ottawa 67's serve as the OHL developmental affiliate for the Ottawa Senators, giving the NHL club a direct pipeline of homegrown talent.
• The franchise has captured the Memorial Cup, the most prestigious trophy in Canadian junior hockey, cementing a place in the sport's all-time lineage.
• OHL games in Ottawa draw a distinctly community-minded crowd—families, local schools, and neighbourhood groups—making the atmosphere feel closer and more personal than a typical professional arena.