Frontenacs head into off-season feeling positive despite disappointing playoff outcome

Players cleaned out lockers, signed memorabilia, said goodbyes over the weekend.

It was a day that the Kingston Frontenacs wished they had put it off until the end of May.

Players went to Slush Puppie Place over the weekend to clean out their lockers, do exit interviews with management, go through physicals and sign memorabilia before they go their seperate ways for the summer.

While a majority of the team will be back next season, others like overagers Maleek McGowan, Jake Dever, and Will Bishop said their goodbyes to the place they called home one last time.

One player who will be back next season is goaltender Gavin Betts. Betts went through some ups and downs in his first full season in the OHL.

He says was able to focus more on his game in the second half of the season and hopes to carry that into the next season.

The Frontenacs had their season cut short after being eliminated by the Ottawa 67's Thursday night. It was bitter pill to swallow but captain Vann Williamson says he liked the tenacity that the team showed in the playoffs.

Williamson suffered a shoulder injury in Game 4 and didn't finish the game but says he is expected to have the cast off within weeks. Kieran Dervin didn't play a minute after taking a blind side hit in Game 4 and Tomas Pobezal was out with a suspected concussion.

Much of the attention on the team after the trade deadline in January was on the young core of the group. 16-year-olds like Aleks Kulemin, Nolan Snyder, Matthew Henderson played big minutes on the power play and penalty kill this season.

Betts says that kind of contribution bodes well heading into next season.

Williamson, who is expected to be one of the three overagers on the team next season, says he is impressed with the progress this team as made over the last few months.

The attention of the Frontenacs will now focus on the upcoming OHL draft which will be held live at Slush Puppie Place in Kingston June 12 and 13. The league also announced that next season's regular season schedule for the Frontenacs will feature a game against the Brampton Steelheads in Cornwall on October 17.

Story by Ken Hashizume