Scott Valentine (4) of the Oshawa Generals focuses on positioning with Petes’ Luke Hietkamp at his doorstep behind the goal at Peterborough’s Memorial Centre.

By Wally Donaldson
The Oshawa Express

Fighting for their playoff lives for most of this Ontario Hockey League (OHL) campaign, visions of total success for the Oshawa Generals will depend on the future.
Not at this time.
A miserable collapse in their final 20 outings was their undoing as the Generals went from swagger to stagger way too often during the season and perhaps not surprisingly, they will not be a part of the league’s playoff format for a second year in succession.
Oshawa’s inability to gain ground on Sudbury and Niagara during the last month of the schedule played a huge role in their lack of success for a final playoff berth.
And the Generals lack of intensity for a full 60 minutes during the latter stages of the season also took its toll.
Never was it more magnified than during the past week. Belleville Bulls notched five powerplay goals to upend the Generals 5-3 a week ago.
In Ottawa on Friday, the Generals played well for 40 minutes, but came apart in the final stanza when the 67’s tallied three unanswered goals and shelled the Oshawa net 22-6 for a 4-3 decision.

And, of course, the Generals would complete their regular schedule one night later at the house of longtime rival Peterborough Petes. Among the 3,168 fans were many devout red-jersey Generals supporters of which the public address announcer recognized and asked hometown fans to welcome the Oshawa Generals Booster Club.
You can imagine the ovation.
The closest the Generals got in this one was a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. The Petes went on to ring up eight consecutive goals before settling for a 10-3 outcome. Interestingly, the Generals outshot the Petes 39-34.
Michael Zador started in the Oshawa goal, but was pulled for Kevin Bailie in the second period – a netminding maneuver head coach and general manager Chris DePiero had to institute way too often this year.

Rookie Matt Puempel and Pat Daley made it look easy with each gathering six points on the night. Puempel collected three goals and Daley a pair.
Jimmy McDowell, Jeff Hayes and Tyler Taylor responded for the Generals. Taylor and Emerson Clark were given the boot following a fracas after Peterborough’s fourth goal early in the middle frame.
If there was a moment when the Generals felt the season might have been over, it was at the Urbandale Centre at Ottawa while sporting a 3-1 lead.
“We had a two-goal lead on them and all of a sudden they announced on the PA that Sudbury was up 4-2 on Kingston and even though we tried to stay positive on the bench, the guys sagged,” said DePiero. “Suddenly, it was 3-2 and then 3-3 and we could feel it getting away on us.”

Christian Thomas pumped home two goals to complete his very successful season with 41 tallies. Alain Berger added the other goal.
Generals, losers of 17 of their final 20 games – including a four-game losing streak – didn’t come to the table at such a critical portion of their regular season, finishing with a record of 24-39-3-2.
To hop a bus for Peterborough for a meaningless game, at least for the Generals, must have presented a stiff challenge. It was a big game for the Petes, who meet up with the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors in the first round of playoffs.
“There are guys who realized this would be their last game (in junior hockey) and for those wanting to come back, it was an opportunity for them to showcase themselves,” says DePiero. “We tried emphasizing that point before the game.”
And now the future within the Oshawa framework hinges on the progress made by a crop of returning players and the direction scouts will take in what should be a most interesting priority draft in a couple of months.