Fronts: Clean slate and you're still throwing stones

As Kinger's hero has been wont to say, "Words mean things." Especially when those words are centred, bolded, italicized and put in enlarged type.

"They told me they had a deal with Kingston and would I accept it? I thought about it for a couple of days and said no ... I want to try and go for it in case it's my last year in the OHL."

— Guelph Storm forward Matthew Sisca, on why he turned down a trade to the Kingston Frontenacs

The story is from Monday, but what the hell. Good on the Kingston Whig-Standard for alerting readers to how owner Doug Springer's ramshackle franchise is viewed across the league.

The intent here is not to rip, but to convey that the Frontenacs long ago reached their limit with trading in fallacies. It seems best to head off the hype now rather than after the fact. Making the playoffs in a weak OHL Eastern Conference will not be proof there is a rebuilding program, pure and simple. By the same token, their collection of forwards with Ethan Werek and defencemen with Erik Gudbranson (who is wearing an alternate captain's A for Team Canada at the Ivan Hlinka world under-18 tournament this week in Europe and got a glowing notice in Sports Illustrated) is as good as they have had since 2005-06. Doug Gilmour has shown some promise as a coach.

One would say this is a critical year for the future of major junior hockey in Kingston. It should become a political hot potato if the primary tenant at the city of Kingston's $43-million downtown arena continues to be an also-ran at the box office and in the standings as 2009 becomes 2010. It goes double with an election in November. (Picture Mayor Harvey Rosen saying, "Again? This stupid province.")

Another subpar season will further the perception, as per the Sisca quote, that Kingston is the league's Siberia.

The situation with Brock Higgs is illustrative. Higgs is a Kingstonian who was drafted by the Frontenacs in 2008. Long story short, he elected to play Provincial Junior A across town with Kingston Kimco Voyageurs and go for a NCAA scholarship. His plan is to play at Canisius College in Buffalo, where he can play hockey, get an education and be tip taxi drivers generously.

This is kind of adaptation of a comment left some time ago at the awesome OHL Prospects. It kind of lays out why it is understandable a Kingston prospect would not want to play for his hometown club. Higgs is on NHL Central Scouting's radar screen, but he is no sure thing to get drafted.

It is far from a stunner that Brock Higgs would not jump to play for the Frontenacs. If you'll indulge me...

The player said in June it 'looks like' he is returning to the Kingston Kimco Voyageurs and will go to Canisius in 2010. He is 17 years old with the right to change his mind.

There is the education package if you end up going to a Canadian university after major junior. However, as OHL alum Jason Cassidy explained, it's determined by how high a player was drafted. Higgs was a fifth-rounder.

Meantime, and who knows how much stickiness this has with agents and parents, the Frontenacs are the franchise which was sued by a former player after Larry Mavety tried to deny him his education package. As the player, Brody Todd, told the Toronto Star (Nov. 26, 2006): "I was disgusted how they held this (education package) back from me after playing in the league for five years ... If I hadn't pushed and sued, I likely would have ended up with nothing."

There is a lot of antipathy among the sporting class in Kingston toward the Fronts.

Their owner, Springer, has a reputation for not being accountable to fans. They have not had a playoff series win since he bought the Fronts in the late 1990s, but he refuses to change the general manager. Meantime the city of Kingston, which was just ranked as one of Canada's worst-run cities in a Maclean's magazine report, built a $43-million downtown arena, thus making every Kingston taxpayer a stakeholder in the Frontenacs.

Nevertheless, when the city council tried to cover its butt last winter by demanding the Frontenacs appear at a public meeting to discuss their "marketing plan," (wink, wink), Springer refused to take questions. Instead, he had his PR person and Gilmour (who had been in the league for about 30 games at the point) speak.

It's also telling that whenever players on their way out of town are asked what they'll miss most about Kingston, they invariably pause and say, "The people, the city." It's never the organization.

The Frontenacs have a bad reputation. They need to change the culture, since as of right now, they're not part of the fabric of the community, in the manner of other major junior teams.

People in Kingston are pretty savvy. They know there's no rebuilding taking place as long as Springer interferes in hockey decisions and as long as Gilmour follows in the footsteps of Mavety, simply settling for making the playoffs. The attendance spike they got from Gilmour lasted about one game.

As for Higgs' personal choice, who knows? It could be his family is big on education. The Kingston paper had a feature on Higgs during the Voyageurs' playoff run which noted his older sister goes to Queen's University, a pretty prestigious academic institution.

Canisius is also a first-rate Catholic college. As a school in a border town, it is also sensitive to the academic needs of Canadians. There is a young woman from Ottawa who plays basketball there, Steph MacDonald. She pointed out to the Ottawa Sun two years ago that one of the determining factors in choosing that school was not having to worry about getting her credits accepted if she applied to do a post-graduate degree in Canada.

The OHL is a place to be for a high-end talent who's got a great shot at being drafted at age 18. I'm always coming from the perspective of being a Kingston fan — paraphrasing what Roger Ebert says about writing for the Rupert Murdoch-owned Chicago Sun-Times, the Frontenacs are my team. Doug Springer just happens to own it. It's a childish attachment, I know.

However, a fan has to be clear-eyed. There are a lot of reasons why Higgs would go the NCAA route. The advisers for another Kingston lad, Scott Harrington, made it known before the OHL draft that he did not want to be drafted by the Frontenacs. The "out" the Frontenacs had was that Harrington was not a clear-cut No. 2 overall pick, he was somewhere in the top 5-10 picks, plus they are fairly well-stocked on the back end with Gudbranson, Taylor Doherty and Brian Lashoff.

None of this is cut-and-dried. The situation can change quickly with a young player. If Higgs does report to the Frontenacs, I'll gladly eat my words. How's that for an out clause?

Admittedly, that is inflammatory rhetoric for mid-August, but the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Springer set the bar last September when he told play-by-play man Jim Gilchrist during a between-periods interview that the team's goal was "top four" in the East. A season later, they have more talent and a reasonable facsimile of a coach with Gilmour, so why let Springer move the goalposts?

Long post shorter, they should get better. Werek should have a shot at a 40-goal season. Greatbranson will rattle opposing forwards' teeth during his draft year. However, let it be said this franchise is not starting with a clean slate.

It has been 658 days since Doug Springer promised to do "whatever it takes" to bring a winner to Kingston.

Incidentally, here is what S.I. said about Greatbranson:

"Fast and fearless, Erik Gudbranson captained the Kingston Frontenacs last season despite being just 16 years old. The 6-3, 185-pound blueliner struggled in camp, but is regarded as a Mark Stuart-type: solid in his own end, strong skater and a great leader."

(He actually only wore the C for a handful of games, but still, Sports Illustrated.)

Fronts: Erik The Greatbranson pegged as Top-10 pick

Note the time and place: OHL Prospects says the Kingston Frontenacs defenceman Erik Gudbranson is "going to need to take a huge step back next year in order to NOT be a top 10 selection (in the NHL draft)." The World of Junior Hockey, meantime, rates him as a top-10 pick.

There is a rationale to writing a junior hockey post in the first full week of July, beyond unseasonably mild temps in the low 20s making it feel like mid-September. It is part of trying to help the diehards get primed for what the season has in store for the Fronts in the 12th year under owner Doug Springer, whose regime is still awaiting its first playoff series win.

Brock Otten's and Nathan Fournier's learned opinions are a good baseline with respect to the Erik The Greatbranson (you like it, feel free to steal it). Two learned hockey minds reckon that Gudbranson stands a rather good chance of becoming a high draft pick. It will be a reflection on the Fronts if he slips out of the first round, like his blueline brethren, Taylor Doherty, did in the past season before being taken by the San Jose Sharks at the bottom the second round 10 days ago in Montreal.

This might also serve as a passionate plea to the people paid to cover the major junior hockey team in the Limestone City. Please do not punt on addressing fans intelligently by towing the HMCS Royal Mavesty's party line. This is 2009. The "write what he said" approach to reportage does not work anymore. It flies about as well Springer infamous calling GM-for-life Larry Mavety "an astute hockey man" when the pair of them are well into their second decade without a playoff series win, with not a hint of change in sight in the organization's structure.

Point being, there have to be some standards beyond Springer and Mav's 11 levels of Fail. Kingston ratepayers have gifted Springer with a $43-million arena for a team which has been at the bottom of the standings and was called in front of city council last February over its poor play and subpar attendance figures (sorry, it was over their "marketing plan").

That is why it is good to get it down on record with Gudbranson. Please commit it to memory that a learned hockey mind feels that the Orleans native, who was captain of the gold medal-winning Team Ontario at the World Under-17 Challenge in January and did not look out of place as an underaged player at the world under-18 tournament in North Dakota this spring, could be a top 10 pick.

There should be no repeat of the self-back patting the Frontenacs organization indulged in after another Doherty was taken by San Jose. Similarly, the big d-man came into last season touted as a potential first-rounder ("Frontenacs defenceman Taylor Doherty, by the way, is being touted a first-rounder in at least one mock draft," this site, Nov. 7, 2008). His draft stock fell off the side of the cliff in the first half of the season, since playing for a gong-show franchise with poor coaching clearly slowed his development.

In Kingston, where going along to get along means having the memory of a fruit fly when it comes to the franchise's false promises and myriad stupidities, Tim Cunningham of TVCogeco and K-Rock 105.7 was about the only person in the traditional media who was honest about Doherty.

Everyone else, and no one is judging, was only to happy to write something along the lines of, "Interest in Messrs. Werek and Doherty rose smartly during the second half of the 2008-09 OHL season as both players honed individual skills and rounded out their games." (That is just generic, not specific; there is tremendous respect on this end for the veteran journo.) If Mavety said of Doherty and Ethan Werek prior to the draft that "those two guys are much better players today than they were a year ago," then it must be true. Never mind that Mavety, a losing GM whose propensity toward self-serving statements is surpassed only by his knack for self-preservation, is homogeneously unqualified to offer an informed assessment of a player's progress.

Saying that interest Doherty rose sharply in the second half of the season is true, at face value. It is just that first interest in the big rearguard had to drop drastically before it rose, marginally. He was touted as a first-round pick. That did not happen. Yet the Frontenacs were not held accountable. Meantime, some of the diehards at Fronts Talk believe Doherty will need a ticket out of Kingston to realize his potential.

"Doherty's game has so many holes in it that it'll take a top-notch organization with a track record of developing raw potential in order to fix it. I just don't see Kingston being that club. Especially with how high San Jose took Doherty (2nd round), I think that by about mid-season, if Doherty is still struggling here, you might see San Jose ask that he be dealt elsewhere. To be completely honest, I'm surprised Doherty's camp didn't ask for a trade last year, when it was obvious his game needed a lot of refining and he wasn't getting it here."

There is also speculation, idle mind you, whether NHL teams are cool with having their prospects develop, such as it were, in the Kingston organization. It is pretty evident, based on the moves Mavengil has made (Doug Gilmour says he's responsible for player personnel moves, but they look an awful lot like Mavety's), that the hope is just try to eke out a playoff berth.

People should not be satisfied by second-best, or seeing first-round talent slide to the second. K-town deserves better, honest.

Fronts: Doherty could slip, but where did you read that

Please do not hold your breath waiting for someone to make the connection between the Kingston Frontenacs management structure and OHL Prospects' view Fronts d-man Taylor Doherty is the league's biggest "faller" for the NHL draft:

"(Doherty) went into this season as a guy with the potential to go in the NHL lottery. But Doherty never took that step forward, as was expected. Offensively, he had a disappointing season, failing to match his stats from his rookie year. Defensively, he was exposed as a poor lateral mover and an undisciplined aggressor. In many cases, Doherty took a step backwards this season, rather than forwards. This caused his drop from potential lottery selection to possible third round selection."

(Click through, because somehow this Kingston Frontenacs post turned into a rant about Vernon Wells. That's the kind of weekend it was for the Blue Jays.)

Perish any thought that Doherty's development might have been impacted negatively by the last stint Larry Mavety had behind the Frontenacs bench, from the 12-game mark on in 2007-08 through the first third of last season. That probably did little very to aid Doherty's progress.

As a general point, it would be nicer to see more analytical coverage like the above one from Brock Otten making it into the traditional media when it comes to junior coverage, hell, any sports coverage in Canada, please excuse the gross generalization.

The NHL draft is approaching (June 26-27 in Montreal) It is good a time as any to make such a point. Chances are, in almost any city with a major junior hockey team, you will read the same rundown of which players with a tie to the area has a chance to be drafted, with the potential draftees saying the same extemporaneous comments about how it is a honour just to be drafted. It is in keeping with what a journo friend once suggested would be the ultimate headline, "Athlete hopes to win upcoming game." Sometimes it's as if the writer is looks at the player more the way a publicist looks at a client. (It can be stressed enough this is a general concern. The spur to say it didn't even come from a hockey story.)

Newspapers are limited by finite space, other priorities and cut-beyond-the-bone staffing levels (especially anywhere in Ontario, and you know who to thank). However, they should not turtle when it comes to trying to provide critical analysis, trying to increase understanding or provides a more cohesive picture of what's going on. People already know Big Bobby Clobber Jr. would like to be drafted, the higher the better, since that is why he has been playing hockey since age three. Having that in there, of course, is based on the false premise reality can only be shown through someone else's quotes.

There are piles of empirical evidence which show people want more detailed info. Instead, you can look forward to hearing the same-ol'-same-ol' draft hopeful clichés over the next 11, 12 days. I'm excited ... it's pretty surreal ... I haven't really thought about what team I'd like to be drafted by.

With Taylor Doherty, there is more to the story than just him being drafted. There's the story of how he went sideways a bit as a player in the eyes of informed observers, which jibes with what TVCogeco's Tim Cunningham said on Kinger's radio show during the Frontenacs season.

(Incidentally, the Belleville Bulls traded former Front Luke Pither to Barrie for three draft choices. So Luke Pither and Josh Brittain, Kingston's first-rounders in 2005 and '06, have been reunited. Brilliant!)

(What brought this on? Blame it on one OMD's column about the Blue Jays' Vernon Wells which ran in a Toronto newspaper over the weekend. The writer, who shall remain generic, had plenty of quotes from Wells, saying how he needs to put in extra work in the batting cage to snap out of his horrid hitting funk (now 0-for-17 and 138 at-bats without a home run). Of course, there was no mention of something most sentient Jays fans have already contemplated, that maybe this is as close to as good it gets for Wells. Five minutes of reading The Hardball Times or FanGraphs combined with a willingness to reason will show anyone that 40% of the way into a major league baseball season, a player's production has usually close to finding its own level, just like water. Of course, that cannot be allowed to creep into the picture. Vernon Wells is confident he's going to come around and be a 30-homer, 100-RBI guy like he was in 2006, so by God, write what he said.)

NHL team allegedly asks prospect if he was gay; firestorm should not ensue

Asking a job applicant about her/his sexual orientation would land you in court in some circles. In the hockey, well, it happens. Coming Down The Pipe! notes Tomáš Tatar, a Slovak prospect, said in an interview that he was asked some rather pointed questions.

Q. "Did you get any unusual questions?

A. "There were a few. I thought I didn’t properly understand what they were asking when they asked if I was married with kids and if I was gay. I calmly answered all questions."

It was also reported one of the questions teams asked players is whom they would chose as a dinner guest between Sean Avery U.S. President Barack Obama and tennis player Maria Sharapova. (The obvious glib response: "Dinner with Obama, dessert with Sharapova.") God forbid one would conclude that hockey guys tend to be a wee bit frat-boyish. However, was it really that inappropriate to ask Tatar if he was "married or gay?" Yes and no.

To borrow a line from one of Elisha Cuthbert's movies, "It's a little funny." A NHL team asking a prospect if he was gay, and asking if he'd rather dine with hockey's bad boy, the President of the United States or a very blond Russian tennis player is a golden opportunity for crappy liberals (et tu, Sager?) to have some fun. Edmonton sports radio host Dean Millard knew asked Tatar if he was gay was out of bounds:

"Listen, I know there are some odd ball questions out there, but what the hell does anyone's sexual orientation have to do with being a good hockey player???? I think whatever team asked this question is very wrong."

Really, though, it was more a case of just being clumsy in the execution.

Part of the reason professional teams ask quote, unquote out-of-left-field questions is to see how limber someone is mentally. The aim is to push someone's threshold and see how unflappable he is, just to get a read on how he might react in a similar situation as a player. Brock Otten, from OHL Prospects, noted as much:

"They were testing his maturity level. If he answered the question, 'eww gross no,' then I believe that would tell them about said players maturity level. However if he had answered 'no, that is not a life choice of mine, but I hold nothing against those who do make that choice,' that would give them a good indication he's pretty level-headed.

" ... A much better way to approach the topic and decipher a player's personal maturity could have been asking, 'how would you feel and react if a player on your team was openly gay?' That question there would give them the same type of response they'd be looking for, but at the same time respecting the personal privacy and boundaries of the specific player."

So that's settled, leaving aside that one's sexuality is not a life choice. It is good to see fellow hockey pucks say it's B.S. if a NHL team is asking that of an 18-year-old player. Asking the question that way Otten phrased it, though, is acceptable.

Fronts: Werek, Gudbranson get glowing reviews...

Brock Otten at OHL Prospects had some observations about the Kingston Frontenacs' legitimate prospects after seeing them in action in St. Catharines earlier Sunday.

Suffice to say, those who follow the Fronts with clear eyes might not be surprised by Otten's observations. (Kingston lost 4-1 to the Niagara Ice Dogs, thanks for asking.)

Forwards

• Ethan Werek — "The best player on the ice for Kingston, no question. Werek was just about the only player generating real offensive chances for the Fronts ... I think this guy is a big NHL draft riser as he continues to get better and better."
• Nathan Moon (Penguins draft pick) — "I see the flashes of skill, but I don't see the effort level. The Fronts went down 4-0 at the beginning of the 2nd period, and he appeared to just give up. He stopped battling for loose pucks, and began to float."
• Colt Kennedy — "I'm not sure how much offensive ability he really has, but he's a good energy guy ... I've heard he is getting some minor attention for the 2009 draft though and could end up as a late pick."

Defencemen

• Taylor Doherty — "He was a complete non-factor. On the first Ice Dog goal by (ex-Frontenac Thomas) Middup, he failed to tie up his man going to the net, and Middup was able to bang home a juicy rebound. I don't think he attempted to rush the puck up ice once this game and looked tentative and scared with it on his stick. Early in the third period, he took a lazy hooking penalty in his own zone and I don't think he saw the ice again in the game. This was also the first game I've noticed his skating being a potential issue."
• Erik Gudbranson — "He actually showed more of a physical edge than I had seen before from him and he appears to be becoming more confident in using his size to his advantage ... He has great puck skills and a big shot, so it's disappointing to me that Coach Killer doesn't have him out there gaining experience on the PP."
• Brian Lashoff — "He enters the offensive zone effortlessly, and does a good job running the point on the powerplay, although I'd like to see him move around a little more as I found him to be a little stiff at the point."

Related:
Thoughts on Kingston from February 15 (Brock Otten, OHL Prospects)

Fronts: This is a holiday kiss, you Doug!

Josh Brittain has one hell of a tell.

The non-verbal cue that the ex-Kingston Frontenac gave near the tailend during a post-game interview with our own Tyler King on Friday is a lingering image from an all-time embarrassing weekend for Frontenacs owner Doug Springer. This presumes Springer, whom Save The Fronts has christened, "Doug Market Square," has any shame.

The latest debacle began with news the city of Kingston, which is in tough economically like most Ontario cities, is forking out a $600,000 "municipal subsidy" to the K-Rock Centre to make up the shortfall caused mostly by the Frontenacs' sluggish ticket sales. Springer's buddy, Kingston Mayor Harvey Rosen, added that the city is expecting even less revenue from Fronts ticket sales in 2009. As Kinger pointed out on his radio show (which is available for download):

"You're basically being forced to buy Frontenacs tickets because the city is taking your tax dollars and shovelling it over to make up for the fact that nobody's buying Frontenacs tickets. You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't."

That is taxation without representation. Taxes aren't being spent on what they should be going to and Kingstonians no longer have a team they are proud to have representing them. Far be it to suggest that a group of citizens should toss Springer and GM-for-life Larry Mavety into the harbour, or that a journalist should take off his shoes and throw them at Springer.

Springer's comeuppance was capped off with an 0-for-3 weekend, where the Fronts were outscored 17-7 and put themselves on pace for the lowest win total in franchise history. Word has also spread that they lost a top local player whom they drafted last season, 16-year-old forward Brock Higgs, who's elected to play college hockey at Canisius College.

To sum up to this point, they are in last place. They can't get a local talent to play for them. The city is throwing taxpayers' money at them.

Kingston needed a new arena like in 1980, but Springer has acted like a spoiled brat with his new $43-million-plus toy, reaffirming that he is, as TV Cogeco's Mark Potter put it a few weeks ago, the worst owner in the Ontario Hockey League. Teams go through lean times. Twenty-one seasons ago, the Canadians lost 28 games in a row. It is hard to imagine one that does it with such an air of cluelessness coming from the owner and The Royal Mavesty, who some wags have labelled as the owner's "pet dinosaur."

The scene at the K-Rock Centre Friday, when the Fronts lost 7-2 to the Barrie Colts, was an eye-opener for a first-time visitor. The K-Rock Pot gives off the vibe of one of those monstrous movie theatres set down next to a bunch of big-box stores. It is very comfortable, but there's no sense of history or shared experience, which is shameful, given Kingston's hockey history. How about huge lithographs of Kingston hockey legends -- Don Cherry, Kirk Muller, Gilmour, Ken Linseman, Jayna Hefford, Alyn McCauley, Jay McKee, Bill and Bun Cook, Fred O'Donnell, Jim Dorey, to cover those bare walls? The Ottawa Senators have the sweaters of area junior and minor hockey teams hanging in the 100-level concourse of Scotiabank Place, which does a great job of creating the vibe that it's a regional team and people who enter are part of something larger than themselves. At the K-Rock Centre, you're just getting the appearance that the team is Springer's play toy, or just another part of his business portfolio, a loss leader (which makes his periodic pronouncements of "whatever it takes" even more bile-raising).

There couldn't have been more than 1,700 people there (and even that's a couple hundred on the generous side) to watch the Fronts get hammered 7-2 by the Colts, with two of those goals coming from Brittain. It was Teddy Bear Toss night, so after Brittain got his second goal, a few fans tossed out stuffed animals. There's something about following hockey in Kingston that cultivates a sense of humour.

Anyway, so at the end of the game, Kinger had Brittain, the game's first star, for an interview at rinkside. A seasoned police interrogator -- the very kind the Kingston Police can't afford since the city cut money out of its budget and gave it to the K-Rock Centre -- or a psychologist could have a field day Brittain's non-verbal communcation. It's right at the 1:54-1:56 mark, after Kinger asks, "Final question for you: What do you think is the thing you're going to miss the most about being a Kingston Frontenac?"



As Brittain told Kinger and the TV Cogeco audience what he missed most about playing for the Fronts -- "I don't know, that’s a tough one. I, uh, can’t come up with anything" (which was telling enough) -- he reached up with his right hand and scratched his face.

Granted, it might not mean anything, but gestures like that can be indicative of when someone would rather not tell the whole truth. Brittain certainly has had his fill of having to be the teenage diplomat when it comes to his time with the Frontenacs, not wanting to say anything the least bit controversial that might get him labelled as having a bad attitude.

(As an aside, if there was any attitude problem, the Frontenacs created their own problem with the lack of boundaries. Brittain was a rookie in the 2007 playoffs when Mavety brokered a deal that let Bobby Hughes come back to the team after he quit between the third period and overtime of a playoff game.)

Peter Stevens, who went to Barrie with Brittain in that Dec. 3 trade, played it much the same way as Brittain when Kinger did a phone interview with him on the radio. Stevens, whose trade has meant it's open season on skilled players such as 17-year-old defenceman Taylor Doherty, simply called the Colts more "hockey-minded" -- so what are Kingston's minds on? -- and saying that he would miss the city itself.

The positives on the ice are fewer and farther between for the Frontenacs (7-22-6 with one game left before the holidays). Ethan Werek, amid all the losing, is at least demonstrating a scoring touch and perhaps should be the next player to take a turn wearing the captain's "C" under the Manchurian Coach, Dougie!. Werek accounted for three of the Fronts seven goals this weekend. Three of the other four came off the sticks off Werek's wingers, Andris Dzerins and Bobby Mignardi.

The Fronts had four different players score goals this weekend. Mississauga St. Michael's had six today in its 7-4 win over Kingston (the fourth time in six games that the Fronts have given up at least seven goals, ironically after they traded their best forward).

That is pretty thin gruel, especially given the success of the rival Belleville Bulls and the turnaround of the three other also-rans from last season. One can go on and on rhyming off facts and figures like an idiot savant, and what the hell, let's do that:

• Second straight season with fewer than 10 wins before the holiday break;
• No back-to-back wins yet this season;
• The three non-playoff teams of last season, Erie, Owen Sound and Sudbury, are all contending for the playoffs;
• Dead last in the 20-team in OHL on the power play and penalty kill;
  
• Jérôme Dupont's record since taking over the Gatineau Olympiques: 9-5-1 (Dupont lobbyed for the Kingston job);
  
• Doug Gilmour's record as Frontenacs coach: 2-9-1 (matching Bruce Cassidy's mark before he got the ax in 2007);
• Seven wins in 35 games puts the Fronts behind the franchise record-low win total of the '87-88 Canadians, who won 14 of 66 games (and promptly had a new owner and new name the next season);
  

There's a word for this and it starts and ends the same way as the owner's name, with the letter D and the suffix er -- disaster. Here's hoping that in the New Year, the right people, at City Hall and in the media, start asking questions about how it went so wrong down in K-Town -- and whether it's too late to undo the damage done over the past decade.

Something is rotten. It's as evident as what Josh Brittain thought better of saying Friday night.

(Small mea culpa: George Lovatsis, of course, came over in an early-season trade, meaning that he didn't have to make the team in training camp, as some Kinger's honorary co-host -- me -- put it Friday. Granted, you could say he had to make the Barrie Colts in training camp and ultimately didn't, which is how he ended up in Kingston. A goof is a goof.

Last, but not least, the Frontenacs will honour play-by-play man on Jim Gilchrist on Wednesday. Gilchrist recently called his 2,000th OHL game.)

Related:
Arena profits way off, city told; Council eyeing reserves to offset shortcomings (Rob Tripp, Kingston Whig-Standard)
Brotherly love; Sibling's cancer puts hockey into perspective for Gudbranson (Doug Graham, Kingston Whig-Standard)