Howdy OHL fans, it's time for another serving of news, stats and happenings from the best junior hockey league in the world.
As always, I'll start with some Sudbury Wolves stuff first.
As with any trades, only time really tells if they were good or
bad moves.
For the Wolves, the team's deadline deals, despite costing
plenty, paid immediate dividends...for the most part.
Over the weekend, Sudbury thumped Toronto 6-2 and Mississauga
8-3. (Toronto was missing eight starters though.)
Newly acquired Justin Donati made an instant connection with
Nick Foligno and the two went on a rampage over the
weekend.
Donati picked up three goals and six points, while Foligno
cashed in with two goals and eight points.
Defender Zach McCullough was a pleasant surprise. He was paired
with Jonathan D'Aversa and showed great poise. McCullough
scored a goal and three points. Against Mississauga he was an
incredible +5.
New goalie Sebastian Dahm was decent, winning his first game
versus the IceDogs by making 22 saves.
Patrik Lusnak has also received a nice jolt as he has three
goals and seven points in his last four games.
Thanks to his solid play against Mississauga, D'Aversa recorded
two points and a +5 rating. He now leads the Wolves in
plus/minus with a +13 rating. Foligno is second with +10.
The big talk around OHL circles is John Tavares. The
16-year-old next-big-thing-in-hockey could be the reason why
Ontario is having such a warm winter. Tavares is hotter than
the sun right now when it comes to scoring.
In the month of January, Tavares has unloaded for 14 goals and
22 points in just seven games. Tavares' latest streak has him
sitting just one-point out of the OHL scoring lead. Tavares has
44 goals and 81 points in 40 games. Belleville's Tyler Donati
leads with 82 points in 43 games.
OHL people marvel at the fact Tavares could lead the league in
scoring as a 16-year-old.
Former Wolves goalie Kevin Beech, who landed in Erie, put aside two shaky starts to earn the first star on Saturday night during a 2-1 overtime loss to Guelph. Beech made 35 saves to earn the nod. Beech has yet to win in three games with Erie.
Plymouth, Kitchener and Barrie were all major players at the
deadline and their moves resulted in success this past
weekend.
All three teams won their weekend matches, and Barrie managed to stay in first overall.
A couple of good clubs remained fairly quiet at the deadline,
but are making plenty of noise.
London remains second overall thanks to the continued strong
play of their super rookies Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner. The
two players have combined for 49 goals and 146 points so far
this season and they show no signs of slowing down.
Guelph made one move, trading their leading scorer Tyler Doig,
but their play hasn't dropped off.
Guelph is 8-1-1-0 in their past 10 games and are currently
riding a 6-0-1-0 streak.
