With the 2008/09 Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) season just past the halfway point, it's a good time for teams to reevaluate their goals for the season and see if they're on track.

While the Port Hope Predators may not be where they want to be, but they still believe they have a fighting chance at getting there, said Coach Brendan O'Grady.

"I was hoping we'd be in the top three (in the Ruddock Divison) by Dec. 1," said O'Grady.

Instead, the Preds, who have battled injuries, currently find themselves seventh in the nine team division with a record of 12-15-2 for 26 points. Though a top-three finish now seems unlikely (third place Peterborough are 11 points ahead), only two points separate the Preds from the fourth place Ajax Attack and the fifth place Bowmanville Eagles. With the top four teams in the division earning home ice advantage in the playoffs, Port Hope still has plenty to fight for.

"We're close. We're working hard. We can compete with any team. We have to continue to work and good things will happen," said the coach.

In sports, hard work and skill isn't always good enough. Whether it's called luck, magic, or 'the x-factor', a team needs that extra element to be successful and thus far the Preds have not been gifted with it.

"If it weren't for bad luck we'd have no luck at all," said General Manager Tim Clayden, and it's difficult to argue.

The club brought in Akos Agardy to be their number one goalie, only to see him go down with a groin injury in October. Their top scorer, Tyler Miller, has asked for a trade to his hometown Fort Frances Jr. Sabres for personal reasons, and Agardy's latest replacement, a promising AAA goaltender from North Bay named Mike Mitchell, injured his knee in his first night of action with Port Hope (a 4-2 loss to the Kingston Voyageurs on Sunday, Nov. 30) and will be out for six weeks.

But the season is far from over, and the players that remain in the Predators lineup, as well as the coaches and team management, do not intend to allow it to slip away.

"Belief is a big thing," said O'Grady. "These guys believe in each other and they know we believe in them. It's a pretty close locker room. They want to perservere."

One bright spot has been the strong play of backup goaltender Spencer Finney, who is in his second year of Junior A play and is pegged to be the team's goalie of the future. Finney was handed the reins when Agardy was hurt and he has responded with a string of strong performances.

"He's young and he's not expected to carry the weight just yet," said Clayden. "He doesn't need the pressure. And yet, nine times out of 10 he has stood on his head."

The team has also been able to diminish the impact of Miller's trade request. Clayden has been impressed with how both Miller and the rest of the team have conducted themselves throughout the process of accommodating his desire to return home.

"Tyler is giving us his best," said Clayden. "He's still a part of the team and he's going to work hard."

Clayden has shuffled the deck a couple of times already this season, and aside from the impending Miller trade, he has aspirations to fill a couple more holes as he readies the club for a run at a championship this spring.

"My final five or six moves will have to be my best."