OHL Power Rankings: Week 3 – Oct. 16, 2023

Get ready for a little shake-up in Week 3 of the OHL Power Rankings as a few teams start to get rewarded for strong starts to the season.

Who’s up:

Ottawa 67’s – up three spots to #1 this week
The defending OHL regular season champions ran the gauntlet this past weekend, returning to the nation’s capital with six points after consecutive wins in North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury – all teams currently in the top-10 of the Power Rankings. The 67’s are off to a 4-2-0-0 start and haven’t been filling the scoresheet, but goaltenders Collin MacKenzie and Max Donoso are shutting the door behind a team that is capable of shutting down the opposition once again.

North Bay Battalion – up one spot to #2 this week
The Troops fell short against surging Ottawa on Thursday night, but rallied to defeat the Oshawa Generals 5-2 behind an Owen Van Steensel hat trick on Sunday. The Troops leapfrog the London Knights, who they defeated 4-1 on Oct. 6th.

Mississauga Steelheads – up five spots to #4 this week
The Steelheads sit atop the OHL standings with a record of 7-1-0-0, surrendering just 16 goals over eight games. Mississauga’s strong start continued with wins over Guelph, Saginaw and Erie in a three-in-three. Young goaltenders Ryerson Leenders and Jack Ivankovic have been outstanding. Luke Misa turned heads with a five-point showing in Sunday’s victory.

Kitchener Rangers – up three spots to #11 this week
The Blueshirts rebounded from a rough weekend last week, soundly defeating both Barrie and Windsor while outscoring them 19-2. Seattle Kraken prospect Carson Rehkopf put together back-to-back four-point outings while Hunter Brzustewicz leads OHL defencemen with 13 points (4-9–13) through seven games.

Sarnia Sting – up three spots to #12 this week
The Sting split the weekend, suffering a late loss to Flint on Friday before rebounding to unseat their 402 rivals, the London Knights from #1 on the list with a 5-3 victory on Saturday. It’s been a promising start for the young Sting, who are 4-3-0-0. Tyson Doucette has scored six goals in his first seven games while Florida Panthers prospect Sandis Vilmanis paces the squad with 10 points (1-9–10).

Peterborough Petes – up three spots to #13 this week
The defending OHL champions beat the Brantford Bulldogs on back-to-back nights to improve to 4-1-1-0 atop the East Division. Tommy Purdeller, Braydon McCallum and Chase Lefebvre, each with five points so far, have stepped up to provide the maroon and white with some timely secondary scoring.

Who’s down:

London Knights – down two spots to #3 this week
After consecutive weeks on top of the pile, the London Knights drop to third following a Saturday night loss in Sarnia, dropping their record to 5-2-0-1. London defeated Peterborough in overtime on Thursday before handing Kingston an 8-1 loss on Friday at home. Philadelphia Flyers prospect Denver Barkey (7-6–13) is among the league’s top scorers. The Knights have a pair of lower-seeded opponents in Brantford on Wednesday and Erie at home this coming Friday as they eye a return to top spot.

Saginaw Spirit – down three spots to #5 this week
It was a frustrating weekend for the Spirit, who lost on the road in Oshawa and Mississauga, losing star forward Michael Misa to injury in the process. This year’s Memorial Cup hosts are 3-3-0-0 to start the season.

Guelph Storm – down one spot to #6 this week
The Stormers pushed hard in the third period, but couldn’t overcome the Mississauga Steelheads at home on Friday. They pulled-out a late win in Flint on Saturday on a game-winner by Charlie Paquette, who scored the deciding goal with four seconds remaining.

Owen Sound Attack – down one spot to #7 this week
The Bears were in the north this past weekend, falling in overtime on Friday night in Sudbury before shutting-out the Soo Greyhounds 4-0 behind a great performance by goaltender Carter George on Saturday.

Barrie Colts – down two spots to #9 this week
The Colts weren’t ready to play on Friday in Kitchener, getting wiped out by a score of 8-0. They came back strong on Saturday at home to Oshawa, soundly defeating the Generals 7-1 behind Cole Beaudoin’s first OHL hat trick.

Oshawa Generals – down one spot to #14 this week
The Gennies did manage to beat the Saginaw Spirit, but that success was then overshadowed by a 7-1 loss in Barrie on Saturday and a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the North Bay Battalion on Sunday night. Oshawa has started the season without star centreman Calum Ritchie, who is sidelined with an upper body injury.

Kingston Frontenacs – down four spots to #15 this week
The week got off to a good start in Windsor on Thursday as the Fronts beat the Spits 6-4. That was followed-up by Kingston being on the wrong end of an 8-1 rout in London on Friday before the Frontenacs were out of gas on Saturday in Niagara, being blanked 4-0 by the IceDogs.

Brantford Bulldogs – down four spots to #16 this week
Brantford suffered consecutive losses to the Peterborough Petes, who were the #16 team on last week’s list. The Bulldogs try and bounce-back on Wednesday at home to London before making visits to Oshawa and Owen Sound next weekend.