YEAR IN REVIEW Belleville Senators look to the future.

By Joel Vanderlaan/ Belleville Senators

The Belleville Senators are an optimistic group. Perhaps that is true because few organizations can boast such an impressive group of skilled prospects.

General Manager Ryan Bowness is particularly enthusiastic about the development and progress of the next wave of organizational talent. They have demonstrated the skill, scoring, leadership, and defensive acumen which all franchises require to be successful.

“At the end of the day, this is a development league, and our coaching staff has done a wonderful job of making sure that happens. Seeing the growth in some of our players like Egor Sokolov, Angus Crookshank and Maxence Guenette. Watching Ridly Greig go up and down and play some meaningful minutes in Ottawa. I think we have to draw on the positives there and monitor the players that have improved over the course of the season.”

While it is true that the Senators failed to qualify for the Calder Cup playoffs, Bowness quickly acknowledged that although the 2022-2023 campaign had a fair share of adversity, he was ultimately impressed that his club was able to finish with a respectable record of 31-31-6-4.

“Anytime you miss the playoffs, the way we did here, there’s certainly a level of disappointment. I think we have to look at the bigger picture and realize some of the adversity we went through this year. Obviously, with the injury situation having to use 53 players and ten goaltenders certainly doesn’t help things.”

While there is always dissatisfaction in a campaign when a team finishes outside of the postseason, Bowness was ultimately proud of the Senators’ resolve and effort throughout the campaign.

“We fought really hard until the end and then rebounded from a slow start. It could have gone either way. With a little bit of a break here and there, again pointing back to the injury situation, it could have been a different story. But you know we don’t like to dwell on the what-if.”

There is little doubt going forward, that the organization has a bright future and certainly know they have the right players and staff to return to the postseason in short order.

Make sure you don’t miss any of the action next season. Season Seat Memberships, Flex Packs and Business Elite Packages are now on sale with more information available on the Belleville Sens website.