|
With the fifth week of the OHL season under wraps, there's still some weeding out on who's the top team. Right now, that belongs to the Barrie Colts, but a lot of teams are on the same boat (ie, most of the West Division). The season is still young and there's time for most of the teams get back on track. 1. Barrie Colts-Won both of their games last week against Brampton and Niagara. They are sporting an 8-0-0 home record, but are 3-3-0-0 away from the Molson Centre. Mathias Niederberger is the only netminder in the OHL in double-digit wins with 10. Aaron Ekblad is on a nine-game point streak in which he has three goals and seven assists during that span. This week's games: at Sudbury, At Sault Ste. Marie
2. Owen Sound Attack-The Attack started off last week with a shootout loss to Kitchener, but rebounded to beat Sudbury and Windsor over the next two nights. They'll have their rematch with Kitchener this Sunday. Jordan Binnington leads the league with a 1.96 goals against average. Nathan Chiarlitti has been a fine addition to the Attack squad as he leads the OHL with a +21 rating. This week's games: at Erie, at Erie, Kitchener
3. Guelph Storm-They are the only team in the OHL with over 60 goals (69). Last week's OHL Player of the Week, center Hunter Garlent, will be out for the time being with an ankle injury. That means it's time for Robby Fabbri and Patrick Watling must step up to take Garlent's place up the middle. The Storm ended off the week with a home loss to Sault Ste. Marie. This week's games: Oshawa, at Niagara, London
4. Oshawa Generals-The Generals started off last week with a win in Ottawa, but lost two straight at home to Saginaw and Peterborough. Boone Jenner has two goals and three assists in his last three games and overager Matt Petgrave is on a four-game point streak with two goals and three assists:
5. Mississauga Steelheads-The Steelheads won all three games last week, including a road win where they scored six goals in Belleville. Defenseman Dylan DeMelo has points in five out of his last six games (two goals, four assists). Draft-eligible netminder Spencer Martin is second in the OHL with a 2.00 goals against average and with the way he's playing, he's first-round material. This week's games: Peterborough, Erie
6. Kitchener Rangers-The Rangers are back to being the Rangers as they've won five out of their last six. They lost to Plymouth 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday, but they rebounded the next night as they won by the same score with no overtime needed. Matt Puempel has been a solid addition to the Rangers as he has 10 goals in 14 games. This week's games: at Niagara, Windsor, Owen Sound
7. London Knights-The Knights rallied to beat the Petes in Peterborough, but it caught up to them as they dropped consecutive home games to Plymouth and Guelph. This week's games: at Windsor, Belleville, at Guelph. After starting out the season on an 11-game point streak, Max Domi has one goal over his last three games. Their games this week will be crucial. This week's games: at Windsor, Belleville, at Guelph.
8. Niagara IceDogs-The week began with a home win against Sault Ste. Marie, but dropped two straight on the road with losses to Sudbury and Barrie in which they were outscored 11-3. The IceDogs have tailed off a bit since starting the season with five wins in their first six games. This week will be a test, especially with two of the next three games on the road: This week's games: Guelph, at Peterborough, at Mississauga
9. Belleville Bulls-The Bulls are last in goals scored with 33, but they are ranked first in the OHL with 30 goals against. Jordan Subban is the only Bulls' player with double-digit points (13) and points-per-game. Missing Brendan Gaunce seemed to hurt them with a 6-1 home loss to Mississauga, but rebounded with a 1-0 win over Kingston. If there's a time for the offense to pick up, or shutting down the opposition, it's this week. This week's games: At London, At Saginaw, at Windsor
10. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds-Nick Cousins is the OHL scoring leader, for now, with seven goals and 17 assists and Matt Murray is the league's busiest goalie as he's leads the league in shots against (511) and saves (461), with a .902 save percentage and nine wins to show for. After Thursday's loss in Niagara, the Greyhounds rebounded with a shootout win in Erie and beat the Storm in their own building. This week's games: Ottawa, Barrie, at Kitchener.
11. Sarnia Sting-The Sting has won three straight and Alex Galchenyuk isn't that far off from leading the OHL in scoring with 21 points in 15 games. Along with Galchenyuk, four other Sting players are avering a point-per-game or more. By far,they sport the best power play unit at home with a 53.8 percentage. They are in a fight for first in the West Division and this week will be key. This week's games: Plymouth, at Plymouth, at Saginaw
12. Plymouth Whalers-The Whalers had a five-game winning streak going, until it was snapped by the Rangers in Kitchener on Sunday night. Like the Sting and Greyhounds, the Whalers are also in the mix in the West Division and they have two very important games this week. The team's leading scorer, Garrett Meurs, has three goals and an assist over his last three games. This week's games: at Sarnia, Sarnia
13. Windsor Spitfires-Like the Greyhounds, Sting and Whalers, the Spitfires are in a four-team scrap for first place in the West Divsion. Their highlight from last week was their road win in Guelph, but suffered losses in Sarnia and Owen Sound. Playing two of their next three games at home will give them a boost. This week's games: London, at Kitchener, Belleville
14. Sudbury Wolves-Frank Corrado's five-assist performance against Niagara helped earn him the league's Player of the Week Award and notched his first goal of the season in Mississauga. Joshus Leivo has three goals and four assists in his last five games. Two of their next three games will be at home, where they are 4-2-0-0. This week's games: Barrie, Ottawa, at Brampton
15. Brampton Battalion-Blake Clarke is having a fine season as far as the 1996-born forward is leading the team in scoring (5-8-13 in 16 games) and also has a six-game point streak. The Battalion, are still searching for their first home win and they have a chance to do it against Kingston this Friday. This week's games: at Kingston, Sudbury
16. Kingston Frontenacs-The good news for Kingston on Friday when they hosted Ottawa was they scored six goals, but the bad news was that they gave up eight. They coudn't solve Malcolm Subban as they were blanked 1-0 the next night, but got revenge on the 67's in Ottawa with a shootout win on Monday. This week's games: Brampton, at Oshawa
17. Saginaw Spirit-The Spirit fell to last place in the West Division and losses to Erie and Peterborough didn't help. Their losses were sandwiched by a win in Oshawa on Friday, but scored one goal each in their losses. Vincent Trocheck is in a scoring drought as he's gone pointless over the last three games. This week's games: Belleville, Sarnia
18. Erie Otters-They're in a position to beat any team on any given night, but it's tough for them to keep up in a division that includes Owen Sound, Guelph, Kitchener and London. A bright spot is that they are fourth in the OHL on the power play with a 25.8%. Rookie Connor McDavid is on a 14-game point streak. This week's games: Owen Sound, Owen Sound, at Mississauga
19. Peterborough Petes-They pulled an upset in Oshawa against the Generals on Sunday. Francis Menard is the only player in double-digits in goals for the Petes with 11 while two players are tied for second with three goals. Netminder Michael Giugovaz, who was named the CHL's Goaltender of the week, has posted all four wins for the Petes. This week's games: Oshawa, at Mississauga, Niagara
20. Ottawa 67's-They were back in the winning track with a road win at Kingston, but suffered a tough shootout in a rematch on Monday. One of the few bright spots this season for Ottawa is Tyler Graovac, who leads the OHL with 14 goals. This week's games: at Sault Ste. Marie, at Sudbury
Other OHL News: Peterborough Petes' netminder Michael Giugovaz was named as the Canadian Hockey League's Goaltender of the Week. Giugovaz, who is eligble for the 2013 NHL Draft, posted a 2-0-0-0 record with a 1.44 goals against average and a .964 save percentage. Giugovaz is the second OHL goaltender to win the award as John Gibson of the Kitchener Rangers won it for the first week of the regular season.
OHL Trade: The Kitchener Rangers sent overage defenseman Ryan Hanes to the Kingston Frontenacs for a seventh round pick in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection. Hanes, who was acquired from Sudbury during the offseason, played in nine games for the Rangers and posted 10 penalty minutes.
Photo of Barrie Colts by Terry Wilson/OHL Images
| 
.jpg)
