OHL Weekend Notebook: Feb. 13, 2024
The OHL Weekend Notebook recaps the weekend that was with news, information and interesting facts from both on and off the ice.
High-scoring Wolves climb to top of Eastern Conference
The Sudbury Wolves are the first team in the Eastern Conference with 30 wins. They’ve scored at least six goals in each of their last four games, all victories, improving to 30-15-3-2 on the season. Captain David Goyette led the attack last week, earning Cogeco OHL Player of the Week honours with nine points (3-6–9) in three games to pull into a tie for the OHL scoring lead. St. Louis Blues first round pick Dalibor Dvorsky continues to light the lamp, scoring an impressive 29 times in 34 games. San Jose Sharks draftee Quentin Musty has also been a force with 1.79 points-per-game on the season resulting from 68 points (27-41–68) over 38 outings.
GOYETTE AND MUSTY CALL GAME 🤯
Sudbury's dynamic duo score the overtime-winner 40 seconds into the extra frame, closing the show in a WILD 8-7 contest against the Steelheads 📽️#SJSharks | @Sudbury_Wolves pic.twitter.com/tInckVa3xe
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) February 11, 2024
‘Spirit Rising’ extend winning streak to five
The focus of a behind-the-scenes documentary series in their quest for the Memorial Cup, the Saginaw Spirit are performing like cup contenders of late, rattling off five straight victories to establish a six-point cushion atop the West Division standings. Saginaw’s most recent triumph came Sunday as goaltender Andrew Oke recorded his first career shutout with 22 saves in a 3-0 road win over the Soo Greyhounds. Goaltending partner Nolan Lalonde is enjoying success of his own, stringing together his 14th straight win on Saturday, defeating his former club the Erie Otters for his 50th career victory. Draft eligible blueliner Zayne Parekh continues his outstanding season, scoring his 25th goal on on Friday as he enters a fresh week leading OHL blueliners with 74 points (25-49–74) over 49 games. He’s the first draft eligible blueliner to hit the 25-goal target since London’s Evan Bouchard, now of the Edmonton Oilers, last did so in 2017-18. You can check out the fifth edition of Spirit Rising presented by Go Great Lakes Bay here.
Career win #⃣5⃣0⃣ for @nolan_lalonde!
The @BlueJacketsNHL prospect has won his last 14 starts, dating back to November 2nd 🔥@SpiritHockey | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/LLNGcXVvUL
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) February 11, 2024
Knights keep remarkable run alive in overtime
It looked like the London Knights’ run of perfection in regulation was going to come to an end on Sunday in Oshawa, but the OHL leaders turned the table on the Generals with three third period goals to draw even and force overtime. San Jose Sharks pick Kasper Halttunen’s second of the afternoon tied the score before Easton Cowan, who was 21 seconds away from seeing his 20-game point streak come to an end, came through with the winner in alone against Jacob Oster. Cowan’s 21-game trend ties fellow Toronto Maple Leafs mate Mitch Marner for the third-longest point streak in Knights history as London carries a 38-11-0-3 record into this week.
Easton Cowan has now tied Mitch Marner for the third longest point streak (21) in franchise history.@MapleLeafs | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/IK0ihKzxvC
— London Knights (@LondonKnights) February 11, 2024
Battalion barrage IceDogs, Frontenacs
The North Bay Battalion opened the offensive floodgates over the weekend, outscoring the Niagara IceDogs and Kingston Frontenacs by a combined margin of 21-1 in a pair of victories. The Troops, who remained without star defenceman Ty Nelson to injury, had big offensive contributions from Florida Panthers prospect Sandis Vilmanis who lit the lamp six times last week. Anthony Romani sits tied with Sudbury’s David Goyette atop the OHL scoring race with 84 points (44-40–84) in 51 games. Not to be overlooked, rookie netminder Mike McIvor made 22 saves for his first career OHL shutout in Sunday’s 9-0 blanking of Kingston.
Four tucks for Sandy 🔥#GoTroopsGo | #TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/0eaX7V5a8h
— North Bay Battalion (@OHLBattalion) February 11, 2024
67’s keep the points coming
The Ottawa 67’s extended their run of consecutive games with a point to nine with a pair of wins last week. The Barber Poles finally pushed back against the Peterborough Petes on home ice, following three losses to the maroon and white at TD Place earlier this season with a commanding 6-1 win on Friday. Ottawa was in tough against the visiting Kitchener Rangers on Saturday, but rallied with a pair of goals in the latter half of the third period to defeat the Blueshirts 3-2. Captain Luca Pinelli scored his 35th marker of the campaign before utility man Bradley Horner scored Saturday’s deciding goal with just 1:29 remaining. Ian Michelone picked up both wins in the Ottawa crease, improving to 7-0-1-0 since being acquired from Windsor at the trade deadline. Ottawa is in the thick of things for home ice advantage in the first round of the OHL Playoffs, sitting one point back of fourth place Oshawa in the Eastern Conference.
The tying goal 👀#CBJ prospect Luca Pinelli started the comeback with a beautiful individual effort, after picking up the pass from #NHLDraft eligible defenceman Frankie Marrelli!#CapitalTerritory | @OHLHockey pic.twitter.com/sWkDqEUDTL
— Ottawa 67’s (@Ottawa67sHockey) February 10, 2024
Beaudoin keeps streak alive as Colts win two of three
The Barrie Colts are looking more and more like they’ll be getting into the OHL Playoffs this year, picking up four points to widen their gap over the Peterborough Petes for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference last week. Barrie beat the Erie Otters 6-3 in Monday’s rescheduled contest at Erie Insurance Arena before coming up short in Mississauga on Friday, losing 5-4 to the Steelheads. The Colts returned home Saturday where they held on to defeat the Kingston Frontenacs 4-3 as 2024 NHL Draft prospect Cole Beaudoin stretched his current point streak to 12 games. Colts captain Beau Jelsma has also been hot of late, recording seven points over his last four games. Lastly, Colts veteran Ben West was named OHL Goaltender of the Week, backstopping them to wins over Erie and Kingston despite being outshot in both games.
Look at the effort from Cole Beaudoin! 💪
The #NHLDraft prospect and @OHLBarrieColts star makes a great play to set up Zach Wigle for a short-handed marker 📽️ pic.twitter.com/D1sbvzfvlE
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) February 6, 2024
Sting, Firebirds in race for playoff spot
The Sarnia Sting and Flint Firebirds were both winners last week, with the Sting entering this week one point up on Flint while the Firebirds hold two games in hand. Sarnia defeated the Erie Otters 6-4 on Friday before pulling-off a big comeback against the Guelph Storm Saturday night. Trailing the Storm 2-1, rookie Ryan Brown tied the score with 46 seconds remaining before Easton Wainwright scored his second of the game and second game-winner of the weekend 22 seconds into overtime for a 3-2 victory. The Firebirds rebounded from a 9-2 loss at home to the London Knights last Wednesday before defeating the Oshawa Generals and Brantford Bulldogs in consecutive road wins. Overage winger Oliver Peer hit the 30-goal mark over the weekend. Sarnia and Flint square off on Wednesday night at the Dort Financial Center.
EASTON WAINWRIGHT DOES IT ALL HIMSELF 🤯
The @StingHockey forward with an incredible individual effort on the overtime winner! 🎥 pic.twitter.com/e2YPyBluBd
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) February 11, 2024
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