Kingston Frontenacs' playoff futility streak reaches 17 seasons, an unofficial CHL record

Next weekend, the Ontario Hockey League will welcome an entire priority selection draft class that was not alive the last time the Kingston Frontenacs celebrated winning a playoff series — but you might know that already.

This is not meant to get into how and why about how the Frontenacs remained 0-for-the-2000s in the playoffs after being swept by the North Bay Battalion with a 3-1 Game 4 home loss at the Rogers K-Rock Centre on Thursday night. Briefly, though the only constant in Kingston having failed to get past the first round since 1998 has been owner Doug Springer, but he wants to see the team win as badly as anyone. General manager Doug Gilmour, the Hockey Hall of Fame centre, has also been with the team for six full seasons, three in his current capacity, and has improved the team's drafting and recruiting, to no avail. Kingston also bad luck when it couldn't put away the Peterborough Petes last spring after winning the first three games. It also lost a Game 7 on home ice to the Battalion in 2010. 

The streak has continued despite having some world-class talents; national junior team member Lawson Crouse is in line to become the third high NHL draft pick from Kingston in five seasons, joining linemate Sam Bennett (No. 4 overall to the Calgary Flames in 2014) and defenceman Erik Gudbranson (No. 3 to the Florida Panthers in 2010). It just, whatever the reason, has never come together. As it turns out, it's a run of misfortune that might be matchless in modern major junior hockey annals.

For starters, it is the longest active drought across the three Canadian Hockey League circuits.

A just-the-facts-ma'am is that all of those other franchises have had ownership issues and/or challenges posed by playing out of a smaller city. Kingston, thanks to stepping up its game on the business side, has become a well-supported franchise, with 3,688 eternal optimists turning out for Thursday's last gasp.

Historically, though, I couldn't find any streak that surpasses it.

There is no shame in the current Frontenacs losing four in a row to North Bay. After all, they swapped their best seasoned forward, Ryan Kujawinski, to the Battalion in January and got better with a younger roster afterward. There was a general consensus that Kingston would be competiive after going 10-1 following Bennett's late-season return from rehabbing following shoulder surgery. It just didn't happen.

Eventually, it will. When that happens, it will be great blog fodder to do a Buzzfeed-style list of all the inventions that did not exist the previous time Kingston went a couple rounds.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.