By Don Campbell, The Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — When the Ottawa 67’s got around to setting some long-term goals for 2011-12, way back in October, the optimistic group covered a lot of territory.

High on its wish list was a division title and first place overall in the Eastern Conference.

With 20 games still to go in the regular season, both are well within reach. The Ontario Hockey League East Division pennant may as well be on order, and the conference crown is Ottawa’s to lose. Heading into the final six weeks of play, the team has a four-point lead on both the Niagara IceDogs and Brampton Battalion.

Further fuelling Ottawa’s optimism is the fact the well-travelled 67’s won’t see another hotel room until early March.

The quest for a first conference title since 2002-03 could well rest on a February schedule that shows eight home dates, beginning tonight against the Oshawa Generals, and just five of 11 games versus teams with winning records.

“We know this is it,” said Marc Zanetti, captain of the eighth-ranked Canadian Hockey League club. “This is the stretch. Legitimately, we’re basically home all month.

“Niagara and Brampton are likely going to make a good push. But if we could just win all our home games, we’d be in good shape.”

The 67’s are on a roll, going 8-2 since picking up high-scoring winger John McFarland and 6-2 since the arrival of overage centre Mike Cazzola, two apparent steals at the trade deadline.

In fact, if you eliminate a 5-2 loss in Kingston on New Year’s Day — when no team wants to play — the 67’s are on a 9-2 run, having outscored their opposition 53-25 over that span. They have yielded two goals or less in seven of the 11 games.

That’s solid team defence, the kind head coach Chris Byrne preaches about. It’s also the kind that wins in the post-season.

Meanwhile, No. 1 goaltender Petr Mrazek came back from his stellar performance at the world juniors to go 6-1 with a goals-against average of exactly 2.00, averaging 34 saves per game.

He’s also rebounded to pull his save-percentage up to a more Mrazek-like .917, and is tied for second in the league in saves (1,223) and wins (22).

The offence is balanced, with five 67’s among the league’s top 31 scorers and Tyler Toffoli leading the way in points and goals. Shane Prince sits at No. 5, point-wise, with Sean Monahan right behind him. McFarland slots in at No. 27 and defenceman Cody Ceci is tied for 31st.

The 67’s also have four players in the Top-20 in plus-minus, with Prince and Toffoli tied for second, Zanetti tied for seventh and Monahan tied for 17th.

So life is good.

“We haven’t won anything yet,” cautioned Byrne. “One of our goals is to play better defensively, and we can still be smarter in our own end.”

Still, the 67’s are operating on an assumption that they can enter the playoffs no worse than the No. 2 seed. With just nine points separating fourth-place Barrie and ninth-place Belleville, however, it’s a little early to start figuring out who their first playoff opponent will be.

Down the stretch, the 67’s have two tough weekends featuring three games in 48 hours, including an ominous road trip in early March to Sarnia, London and Guelph followed by a season-ending weekend that begins at home to Sudbury and concludes with road games in Niagara and Brampton.

dcampbell@ottawacitizen.com