Hello hockey fans, it's time for more OHL
news, stats and personal thoughts about the game we all
love.
Let's start with some Sudbury Wolves
first.
There were a few glazed over eyes at the
Sudbury Arena on Sunday afternoon. No, it wasn't for the
baffling effort by the Wolves in a 2-0 loss to
lowly Mississauga; it was for Jesse
Messier.
The 18-year-old forward returned to the OHL
for the first time since late Sept. 2004, when he sustained a
severe neck and back injury after being
checked into the boards during an exhibition
game against Sault Ste. Marie.
Almost 18 months later, Messier made his
official regular season debut after being carried off the ice
to a hush of concerned fans.
Unassumingly, Messier made his way onto the
ice early in the Sunday game and took up his position at right
wing. With that, a light roar came from the crowd of 4,727 as
they applauded the young player.
It sent a chill up my spine, and put a smile
on my face to see Messier back out there. The robust winger
went through hell to get back to the OHL and it takes guts to
do what he's doing.
Messier didn't look out of place at all. He
finished his checks, made some neat plays and took some
face-off draws.
It will be interesting to see if he gives the
Wolves an inspirational boost for the playoffs.
It's official; Sudbury will not finish with
as many points as they did last season. With two games to go,
and if they win them both, the Wolves can reach 74 points. Last
year, they finished with 77. A few other notes of interest: In
2004-05, Sudbury scored 201 goals and allowed just 185. This
season, so far, they have scored 218 goals, but allowed 215
goals against.
The Wolves also easily surpassed last
season's final penalty minutes total of 1,647. So far this
campaign, they have totalled 1,766.
The Wolves have been short-handed 552 times
this season, second behind Kitchener, who has 571.
One player who has absolutely thrived on the
short-handed situations has been speedy Kevin Baker, who leads
the Wolves and the OHL in short-handed goals with seven.
I take my hat off to Brampton. Yes, they're
one of the Wolves' biggest rivals, but wow, this team is on
fire.
The Battalion have won 11 straight games and
it doesn't look like they're going to lose any time soon.
Their impressive winning streak has propelled
them to first place in the Central Division, overtaking Barrie
this past weekend.
All-Star centre Wojtek Wolski is having a
MVP-type season for Brampton. The 19-year-old is third in
scoring with 43 goals and 119 points in just 53
games. In his last 15 games, Wolski has 18
goals and 47 points. That, my friends, is just
mind-blowing.
With solid goaltending in the form of Daren
Machesney (26 wins), great support scoring from Luch Aquino (34
points in his last 14 games) and grit from players such as Phil
Oreskovic and John De Gray, Brampton is going to be hard to
stop.
It looks London will capture their third
straight Hamilton Spectator Trophy as the league's regular
season top team and this puts them in the record books again.
(Last season they set a CHL and OHL record for going undefeated
in 31 straight games.)
London won in 2003-04 with 110 points and
last season with 120 points. So far this year, with three games
to go, London has 101 points. Only Peterborough can catch
London, but only tie them with 101 points, if they win all
their remaining games. If London gets at least one point out of
their final three games, the title is once again theirs. They
would be the first team in the history of the OHL to ever
accomplish the feat.
