Inside the CHL
Wednesday October 15, 2014
By Aaron Bell
Scoring seems to be coming in pairs so far as the Canadian Hockey League season is in full swing.
The QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic, OHL’s Erie Otters and WHL’s Kelowna Rockets are all at the top of their respective league standings and all three teams boast a dynamic duo of scoring stars that has helped them get there.
The Oceanic were billed as one of the QMJHL’s top teams heading into this season with a bunch of stars littered throughout the lineup but it’s been the work of veteran forwards Alexis Loiseau and Anthony DeLuca that has helped them score a league-leading 50 goals for in their first 12 games.
Loiseau leads all CHL scorers with 12 goals and 27 points while DeLuca isn’t far behind with 10 goals and 22 points.
In the OHL, the Otters have leaned on superstar-in-the-making Connor McDavid and sophomore Dylan Strome, who are tied at the top of the OHL scoring race with 18 points each in six games. McDavid has seven goals and 11 assists while Strome has three goals and 15 assists – including three on McDavid goals.
The Otters lost a lot of firepower to graduation after a terrific season last year but are perfect through six games so far this year.
“Everyone is stepping up and playing a big role,” Strome said. “I think we’re a tough team to play against. We’re having a good season so far and hopefully we can keep that up.”
The Otters veterans and newcomers are mixing together nicely this season and that has been a big part of their success so far. Rookie Alex DeBrincat already has eight goals and 11 points and first round pick Taylor Raddysh has three goals in his first six OHL games.
“It hasn’t been very hard – the guys have just come together,” McDavid told the Erie Times-News. “The guys are very close. (There are) a lot of firsts right now – whether it’s the first game, the first home game, the first point, the first goal. It’s exciting and it’s fun to be around the guys.”
Nick Merkley and Tyson Baillie are among the WHL’s top four scorers this season and have helped the Rockets jump out to a perfect 8-0-0-0 record so far this season. They also lead all WHL teams with 47 goals for.
Merkley has three of those goals and 15 points and trails Cole Sanford of the Medicine Hat Tigers for the league scoring lead by four points. Baillie has a league-high 10 goals to go along with four assists in eight games.
The Rockets great start has vaulted them into top spot in the BMO CHL Top-10 ahead of the Oceanic who held the position for the first three weeks. It’s a great way to start the season but Rockets coach Dan Lambert also knows that it puts a lot of pressure on his team.
“We need to expect teams coming hard at us every night,” Lambert told the Kelowna Daily Courier. “Everybody is gunning for us, and we have to expect to see everybody’s best every single day.
“We know it’s never going to be easy. We just have to go about our business as always and realize that every team is going to bring its best against us.”