Thursday Night Action In The OHL - Junior Hockey News

Another weekend of OHL action started Thursday night with six games on tap. Among them, Connor McDavid made his WFCU Centre debut as the Otters took on the Spitfires, the Whalers were back on the road with a stop in Peterborough, the Bulls stopped by Sault Ste Marie for the only time this season as they faced the Greyhounds, the 67's stopped by the Barrie Molson Centre for a date with the Colts, the Steelheads avoind to get stung by the Sting in Sarnia and the Battalion faces off against the IceDogs.

Ottawa 67's 3 (at) Barrie Colts 7

Mark Schiefele (three goals, three assists) and Zach Hall (two goals, four assists) each registered six points while Anthony Camara scored once and added three assists as the host Colts blew past the visiting 67's at the Barrie Molson Centre. Tyson Fawcett also cashed in for the Colts, who lead the OHL with 16 points (8-2-0-0).Mathias Niederberger stopped 41 shots for his league-leading eighth win of the season. The 67's got goals from Remy Giftopoulos, Cody Ceci and Tyler Graovac.

Erie Otters 1 (at) Windsor Spitfires 2

Jaroslav Pavelka made 26 saves while Kerby Rychel and Derek Schoenmakers found the net as the Spitfires held off the visiting Otters at the WFCU Centre Connor McDavid, who made his Windsor debut, scored the lone goal for the Otters, who got 45 saves from Oscar Dansk in a losing effort.

Plymouth Whalers 2 (at) Peterborough Petes 1

Connor Carrick scored the deciding goal 60 seconds into the third period as visiting Whalers snapped a four-game winless streak by clipping the Petes at Peterborough Memorial Centre. Rickard Rakell also found the net for the Whalers, who got 23 saves from Matt Mahalak. Andrew D'Agostini recorded 39 saves for the Petes and Peter Ceresnak scored the lone goal as he tied the game late in the second period.

Belleville Bulls 5 (at) Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 3

Jordan Subban and Niki Petti registered a goal and an assist each while Jake Horrad notched three assists as the visiting Bulls skated by the Greyhounds at the Essar Centre. Malcolm Bulls recorded 27 saves for the Bulls, who also got goals from Joseph Cramarossa, Sergey Kuptsov and Michael Curtis. Chris Buonomo, Michael Schumacher and Sergey Tolchinsky scored for the Greyhounds while Matt Murray stopped a season-low 30 shots.

Mississauga Steelheads 5 (at) Sarnia Sting 3

Spencer Martin made 37 saves and his five skaters found the net as the visiting Steelheads skated past the Sting at the RBC Centre. Kristoff Kontos scored the deciding goal early in the third period from the Steelheads, who also got goals from Stuart Percy, Spenser Cobbold, Scott Teskey and Brett Foy. Charles Sarault scored twice for the Sting while Craig Hottot also found the net.

Brampton Battalion 2 (at) Niagara IceDogs 3 (OT)

Dougie Hamilton scored the game-winner 2:41 into overtime as the host IceDogs beat the visiting Battalion at the Gatorade Garden City Complex. Ryan Strome and Mitchell Theoret scored for the IceDogs, who got 37 saves from Christopher Festarini. Mathew Santos scored both Battalion goals and Matej Machovsky recorded 23 saves.

Other OHL News: The OHL suspended Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' defenseman Kevin Spinozzi for eight games for an illegal hit on Davis Brown of the Sarnia Sting during Sunday's game. Spinozzi was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct as a result for checking to the head. Spinozzi's suspension began yesterday as the Greyounds beat the Sudbury Wolves 3-1.

Photo of Mark Scheifele courtesy of Aaron Bell/OHL Images

Author: Alex Muscat