The ’67 Guitar Sawyer is ready for a bigger stage

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Ottawa 67 budding star Teddy Sawyer has little doubt which part of his ‘game’ he improved the most during the season than he ever was in 2020-21: his guitar prowess.

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“One hundred percent,” Sawyer said, as adept at moving the record on his Bauer Supreme as he is at shredding the guitar licks on his Telecaster with Eric Clapton’s “Layla” or “Lay Down Sally” or whatever else the legend of the band is. guitar has recorded. .

“I probably played for an hour or two every day.”

And by all accounts, Sawyer is pretty good at it. If you take out your acoustic guitar, the genre is probably country, maybe something from George Strait or Luke Combs. But if it’s your electric guitar, wait for Jimi Hendrix and Sawyer’s personal favorite of Hendrix, “Little Wing”…. or then anything from Eric Johnson.

Regardless, the biggest crowds Sawyer will play with before in the near future will sit at the blue line of 67 after seeing action in a remarkable 36 games as a rookie, most of them just 15 years old. And the people you want to impress won’t be listening, just watching.

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So it was good news from TD Place to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, when the NHL’s Central Scouting list was released earlier this week and Sawyer saw his name among the 143 Canadian Hockey League players on the list. for Draft 2022.

Sawyer earned a C ‘grade indicating a fourth, fifth or sixth round of selection next June.

You most likely expect Sawyer to climb the charts like he’s a hitmaker on the Billboard charts.

“I was pretty eager (for the list),” Sawyer said. “I’m not going to lie about that. But I don’t focus on that. We have played five games and we have a lot to show and a lot to show ”.

Sawyer and the 67 boarded the bus Thursday after a morning skating at TD Place destined for Mississauga to begin their first of six always difficult three-game stretches over three days on the 2021-22 schedule.

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After facing the Steelheads on Friday night, it’s a nationally televised contest on CBC on Saturday at 3 in Barrie against the Colts, then a trip finale Sunday night in Oshawa against the Generals.

Going back to the lost season, Sawyer’s was almost like everyone else’s; all over the map. He spent part of the early fall skating with professionals and youngsters in Ottawa, only hoping for a miracle that there would be an announcement for a partial season at last. That never happened, so he headed to Saginaw, Michigan, and skated every day with the Spirit. And when that opportunity ended, it was home to Columbus, Ohio, where he skated and worked out every day. Oh, and studying at Ohio State University.

His agent received an offer for his client to join the Youngstown Phantoms in the American Hockey League, a league that played its season despite the pandemic.

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While the opportunity to play just 90 minutes from home was tempting, it never came true.

To tie himself down, the 67 would have had to free him and then come to an agreement that the Phantoms would release him at the end of the season so that he could rejoin the 67.

“It seemed like a tough situation,” Sawyer said. “So we weren’t sure about that and Ottawa was where I wanted to be.”

In terms of expectations, Sawyer came to try and fit in with a team loaded with veterans with their eyes on the 2019-20 grand prix.

Two years later, and still seven weeks before his 18th birthday, he is one of the “old men.” “It’s hard to say what this team will look like in a couple of months,” Sawyer said. “But we are going in the right direction. We have so many young people here, but they are already improving a lot. This is a great environment to be in. “