Season Ends, Ducks Miss Playoffs ColumbusDucks.com Staff Writer A heart breaking loss to close out the Ducks season was the bittersweet ending to a disappointing season. A 3 – 2 loss to Mr. Mulch brought the season to an end at Easton last Thursday Night. Another standout performance from Bill Ross wasn’t enough. The on ice losses were only outweighed by the losses in the room for the Ducks. Kyle Takavitz left Columbus for greener pastures out west, Mike Martens and Kieron Bryan were relegated to the prospects list, and Goalie Cole Hopkins was sent to the waivers wire and left via free agency. The team will look to regroup and hit the ice in 4 weeks next season. With some time to rest and recuperate on some nagging injuries Ducks Captain John McConnell said the team will make the most of the time away from the ice. “We need a little time to re-set for next session. We are going to be adding to the roster most certainly in the net, and we are going to be looking to free agency to add some passing skills to help set-up our scorers like Bill.” The Ducks have a number of players looking to re-sign to new contracts. The first to sign deals were Bill Ross, Brandon Wilkins, and Tim Miller. All signing long term deals but per team policy the details of the new contracts were not released. With the Miller and Wilkins re-signings the team’s defense looks to be set for a few years. Between Jim Poulios, (who signed a long term deal last off-season) Wilkins, and Miller the Ducks “D” will be the same rock-solid group that has patrolled the blue line for the last two seasons for the Columbus Ducks. Many other players will also be in talks in the coming two weeks. Some players will be having their agents begin negotiations with the team in a few days. “We will be trying to have our roster set by the time we start camp at the end of next week.” Alternate Captain Bill Ross has said. The Ducks will kick-off the off-season training sessions next week when they enter training camp in another joint venture with the Worthington Industries Hockey Club from the Sunday D League.