Chaumont chasing record

Cheers OHL fans, here's another round of morsels to digest. (As always, stats quoted are as of Northern Life's Thursday morning press deadline.)

Wolves' rookie Ryan McDonough is the leading scorer for 2004 first-round draft picks. McDonough has 13 goals and 34 points in 52 games to pace 2004 first round picks. John Hughes, selected first overall by Belleville, has 10 goals and 23 points in 48 games. Kitchener's Justin Azevedo is hot on McDonough's trail. Azevedo, picked 14th overall, has 13 goals and 30 points in 47 games.

If Bobby Chaumont is going to break the consecutive games played record, it will be on the road next weekend. He will play in his 264th game tonight, which would have tied the old record held by Owen Sounds' Willie Skilliter. But, new stats found by Wolves' statistician Dave Harrison show the actual record belongs to Mike Oliveira, formerly of Kingston, who played 266 straight games from 1995-96 to 1998-99.

If he remains healthy, Chaumont will break the record March 6 against Sarnia.

The Wolves are the only team in the OHL that hasn't won a game in overtime yet. The Wolves are 0-5-4 in extra games this season. On the opposite end of the scale, the London Knights are the only team that hasn't tasted defeat in overtime this season. London is 5-0-2.

With the stretch drive for the playoffs in full gear, it appears Rafal Martynowski is getting red-hot again at the right time.

Martynowski, who is usually covered with bags of ice after a game because of the punishment he endures, has five goals and 13 points in his last 10 games.

The Wolves will need the crafty winger to produce at a high rate in order for a strong finish and a good run in the playoffs.

Your weekly dose of OHL action comes in the form of the Wolves versus the Guelph Storm on Friday night at the Sudbury Arena. Game time is 7:30 pm. There are only two more regular season home dates for the Wolves this season after this game.

Guelph enters the game with a 19-27-9-1 record. The Storm are in the process of rebuilding by trading veterans for young players after a memorable run to the Memorial Cup last season, but this hasn't stopped the team from being competitive.

"We were strong in goal this year, and there was a lot of interest in goalie Adam Dennis, so we thought it would benefit the club in the future, and not take too much from our present by trading Dennis and bringing in good young players and prospects," said Guelph head coach and GM Dave Barr. "We've been in every single game. We haven't gotten blown out. I give credit to the players because we have some inexperienced guys, but they have come out to perform hard each game."

The Storm are high on rookie Matt D'Agostini, who has 21 goals and 39 points in 48 games so far this season. He wears number 21, and should be one to watch for fans at the game.

"Matt creates a lot of offence on his own," said Barr. "He's very skilled and does things at high speed. He has been a consistent goal scorer all season."

OHL fans can get an extra shot of OHL action this Sunday on Rogers Sportsnet (Channel 34) with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) game of the week between the Ottawa 67's and the Brampton Battalion. The game starts at 3:30 pm.

Mississauga's Patrick O'Sullivan is the OHL Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 20. O'Sullivan piled up five goals and 10 points in four games last week to earn the honours. It was the third time this season the slick forward has received the award.

With a furious outburst over his last five games, Owen Sound's Brad Richardson was the first player in the OHL to reach the 40 goal plateau this season. Richardson has scored seven goals in his last five games. Overall, Richardson has 40 goals and 84 points in 57 games.