BY SCOTT HADDOW
Hello hockey fans! It's time for another heap
of OHL news, happenings and statistics.
Let's start with some Sudbury Wolves
stuff.
The Wolves were, hold your breath for this
one, the first OHL team to crack 1,000 penalty minutes on the
season.
The Wolves reached the dubious achievement
against Mississauga on Dec. 31 when defenceman Tomas Sample
took a two-minute infraction for cross-checking in the second
period.
After Sunday's contest against Kitchener,
the Wolves now have 1,029 minutes in 37 games. Windsor, often
called the Sudbury of the south, is second with 957 in 38
games.
The rough play hasn't necessarily hurt
the Wolves. They still sit in third place in the Central
Division and hold onto fifth place in the Eastern
Conference.
Sudbury's penalty killing is also strong.
The Wolves have been short-handed a total of 322 times this
season, second only to Oshawa with 326.
The Wolves have killed off 82 percent of
their penalties, good for eighth in the league.
Crash-and-bang winger Devin Didiomete leads
the Wolves with 110 penalty minutes in 37 games.
Rookie Keaton Turkiewicz continues to have a
hot hand. The Brantford native has three goals and seven points
in his last eight games. Overall, Turkiewicz has forged a
decent rookie campaign with seven goals and 18 points in 37
games so far.
The Wolves are in action tonight as they face
the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the Steel City. Game time is
7 pm.
Well, I am going to eat some crow now. When
rugged Wolves forward Alex Eaton left the team back in late
October, I stated fans had probably seen the last of the feisty
scrapper. Well after being picked up by Barrie recently, Eaton
has now played five games with the Colts and has one goal and
one fight. It's good to see because Eaton was a heck of a
character. And for the record, crow doesn't taste too bad;
you just need a lot of ketchup.
With the league's three leading scorers,
London's Rob Schremp (first with 78 points) and David
Bolland (third with 71 points), and Owen Sound's Bobby Ryan
(second with 73 points), participating at the 2006 World Junior
Championship (WJC), it has opened the door for challengers to
step up and try and gain control of the scoring race.
Four players have really seized the
opportunity and are within striking distance of Schremp.
Oshawa's Peter Tsimikalis (68 points),
who has been rumoured to be traded to the Wolves for quite some
time now, Barrie's Bryan Little (66 points),
Toronto's
Justin Donati (66 points) and Kitchener's
Evan McGrath (66 points) are all in the run now.
Tsimikalis and Little have been the key guys
to watch.
Tsimikalis is on an 11-game point streak,
which has seen him rip up the league with seven goals and 26
points. Little has been just as hot, recording 13 goals and 34
points during his current 17-game point-scoring streak.
Needless to say, when Schremp, Bolland and
Ryan return from the WJC, the scoring landscape in the league
will be a lot tighter, and that will make for an interesting
finish down the stretch.
Speaking of Schremp, he has lost his place as
the league leader for goals scored. Owen Sound's Mike
Angelidis is the new leader with 33 goals in 38 games.
Angelidis overtook Schremp by scoring against Barrie on Jan. 1.
Schremp has 32 goals in 27 games.
Brampton's Luch Aquino is the OHL Player
of the Week, which is bad news for every team except the
Battalion.
Aquino, 20, scored four goals and 11 points
in three wins last week.
Aquino joined Brampton in December after a
stint in the East Coast Hockey League. Aquino's return has
been nothing short of spectacular as he has recorded five goals
and 14 points in his first six games, in which Brampton went
5-1 and shot up the standings to second place in the Central
Divsion.
