STING BACK IN BMO BANK OF MONTREAL RANKINGS
January 28, 2003
Week Number 16
The CHL announced the Top Ten Rankings and the Sarnia Sting are back in the BMO Top Ten ranking 10th overall. The Sting currently sit in 2nd place in the West Division of the OHL with a 27-14-5-1 record.
The Red Deer Rebels are ranked as the number one team in this week’s BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings. The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League’s top ten teams is created by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.
The Rebels are ranked in the number one spot in the BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten for sixth time this season.
Last week Red Deer won all four of their games, including a 4-2 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings who are ranked third this week, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 20 to 11to extend their current winning streak to five in a row and they have eight wins in their last ten starts. The Rebels, who have a won-lost-tied-overtime lost record of 37-11-2-2, have two home games this week. On Friday Red Deer will host the Lethbridge Hurricanes and on Sunday the Prince Albert Raiders will visit the Enmax Centrium.
For the second week in a row the Kitchener Rangers are ranked second in the weekly BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings. The Rangers, who have won four games in a row, defeated the Erie Otters 11-2 at home on Friday in their only game last week. This week Kitchener will travel to Owen Sound on Wednesday to face the Attack and the tenth ranked Sarnia Sting will pay a visit to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on Friday. Weekend play sees the Rangers hosting the London Knights on Saturday and on Sunday Kitchener will visit the Oshawa Generals.
The Brandon Wheat Kings are the number three-ranked team in this week’s BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings. After a four game road trip last week the Wheat Kings return home for three games this week starting on Wednesday against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Brandon will play a pair of games against teams from the Western Hockey League’s Central Division this weekend starting with the Swift Current Broncos on Friday and ending the week on Saturday against the Calgary Hitmen.
The Baie-Comeau Drakkar are ranked number four for the second week in a row. The Drakkar played three games on the road against Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Maritime Division opponents last week and they headed home with two wins and a tie. This week Baie-Comeau will host the Val-d’Or Foreurs on Thursday and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Saturday.
A team to watch for in upcoming BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings is the Kelowna Rockets. The Rockets, who are ranked sixth in this week’s rankings, won twice on the weekend to extend their winning streak to eleven games which is the longest current streak in the CHL. In the overall WHL Western Conference standings Kelowna has a twelve-point lead over the second place Kootenay Ice. The Rockets will be out to extend their winning streak with three road games this week starting against the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday. Saturday and Sunday games will see Kelowna visiting the Prince George Cougars.
Listed below is this week’s BMO Bank of Montreal Top Ten Rankings.
Rank Team GP W L T OTL Last Week Weeks in Rankings
1 Red Deer Rebels 52 37 11 2 2 3 16
2 Kitchener Rangers 48 33 10 4 1 2 9
3 Brandon Wheat Kings 50 32 10 5 3 1 16
4 Baie-Comeau Drakkar 51 32 11 6 2 4 10
5 Plymouth Whalers 47 30 8 8 1 6 10
6 Kelowna Rockets 50 33 12 4 1 8 9
7 Ottawa 67’s 48 31 10 6 1 5 15
8 Acadie-Bathurst Titan 52 31 14 4 3 7 9
9 Halifax Mooseheads 50 28 12 7 3 9 8
10 Sarnia Sting 47 27 14 5 1 NR 12