OUA and OHL in overdrive

Hey sports fans, it's time to lift the lid off the local athletics scene and see what's cooking up.

For the appetizer, I'll start with Laurentian University soccer.

I was shocked as it happened and I am still in a bit of a shell-shocked state, seeing the Lady Vees miss the playoffs.

This team entered the season with high expectations. It was well deserved since the squad was welcoming back a great deal of solid veterans and was coming off a tremendously successful 2006 season. A season ago, the team went 7-3-6 and earned fourth place in the OUA East Division and a home playoff game. They also scored 23 goals in 16 games last season.

This year, the Lady Vees' offence was snake bitten to say the least. Overall, they produced just 12 goals in 16 games.

It would be safe to say a lack of offensive finish doomed this talented club.

Hopefully an extra long lay off this winter will rekindle the spirits of this squad, which features plenty of great local players, and they will come back in 2008 with a vengeance.

My hat is off to the Voyageurs men's team. They needed some clutch play in the final week of action to claim a playoff spot and came through. They did it in fine fashion as they dumped Nipissing 2-0 and Trent 1-0 to grab fifth place in the OUA East Division .

For the main course, I'll serve up some Sudbury Wolves stuff.

After last Friday's game, an uninspiring 3-0 loss to Brampton, the Wolves made amends the following day when they took on the Belleville Bulls, one of the favourites to win the Eastern Conference this season.

Sudbury lost 5-2, but played a much better game and left the Bulls players with some bumps and bruises. This will be the case for most of the season. Even if the Wolves outwork another team, which I felt they did versus Belleville, they might still lose. But regardless of the outcome, if Sudbury plays the way they did against the Bulls they will have no trouble earning respect. The Wolves took the play to Belleville constantly and really dished out some bone-rattling checks.

When Sudbury plays this way, win or lose, opposing teams will know they were in a tough battle.

The only problem is it's a hard pace to keep up over an entire season.

Is it just me or is towering forward Jared Staal getting better with each game?

The final installment in the successful Staal family bloodline has sure picked up his socks and then some. In his last four games, Staal has three goals and six points and has arguably been the best skater for the Wolves in that span.

He has already more than tripled his offensive production from last season - two goals and three points in 63 games.

More ice time is the easy answer for the rapid rise, but I think there's more to it than that.

It looks like Staal is just like his brothers in the fact he thrives under pressure and excels at being a go-to-guy.

The more Staal is on the ice, and playing on the top line, which he did against Belleville, the better he gets.

I don't know if Staal will ever live up to the hype that predicted him to be the best Staal out of the four brothers, but it looks like he will forge a strong season and maybe earn a shot at being drafted in the first round of the NHL Draft, like his brothers have enjoyed before him.

Time will tell and it will be fun to watch.