OHL Weekend Notebook: October 29, 2019
The OHL Weekend Notebook recaps the weekend that was with news, information and interesting facts from both on and off the ice. Here are 10 of the leading stories from this past weekend.
Spitfires are league’s hottest team with five straight wins
The Windsor Spitfires are on a roll right now, stringing together five straight wins for the first time in nearly three years. The Spits have defeated Sarnia, Flint, London, Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury on their current run of success, defeating the visiting Greyhounds 6-4 and Wolves 4-3 this past weekend.
The emergence of Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Tyler Angle as a real go-to guy up front has boosted the team offensively as Angle leads the way with 19 points (10-9–19) over 13 games this season. First-year winger Egor Afanasyev (6-8–14) has also provided timely offence along with rookie defenceman Ruben Rafkin (1-11–12), the 14th overall pick of the 2019 CHL Import Draft.
The Spits haven’t won a playoff round since their last OHL Championship back in 2010, but with the way the team is playing right now, there’s plenty of optimism that this could be the year Windsor makes things interesting come spring time.
Windsor #Spitfires @SpitsHockey riding five-game winning streak for first time in nearly three years and share first place in the #OHL West Division after dropping Central Division-leading Sudbury #Wolves https://t.co/AFDJ3YQ2r9
— Jim Parker (@winstarparker) October 28, 2019
Firebirds perfect at home, track down fourth consecutive win
The Flint Firebirds are a perfect 6-0 at home this season, defeating Sudbury 5-2 and Sault Ste. Marie 4-1 this past weekend to improve to an overall record of 9-3-0-0, their best start in club history.
Overage netminder Anthony Popovich has provided the Firebirds with stability in the crease as the 20-year-old made 47 saves in Friday’s win over Sudbury. He’s off to a 6-2 start with a 3.07 goals-against average and .910 save percentage.
Both Connor Roberts and Dennis Busby, who each missed nearly all of the 2018-19 season, have remained healthy with both suiting up in all 12 of the team’s games so far.
The Firebirds hit the road this week, visiting Owen Sound on Wednesday and Sarnia on Friday before putting their perfect home record to the test against the Barrie Colts on Saturday.
The @FlintFirebirds are exceeding even their own expectations at this point of the @OHLHockey season. (@bradcoccimiglio)https://t.co/rcHVTueGsI
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 28, 2019
Defending champion Storm enjoy 3-0 week
The pundits didn’t set the bar very high for a young Guelph Storm squad that suffered heavy graduating losses after their memorable championship run last spring. The Storm have held their own this season though, improving to 6-4-1-2 with consecutive wins over Erie, North Bay and Mississauga this past week.
Storm goaltender Nico Daws is the OHL ‘On the Run’ Player of the Week, capping his three-win week with a 35-save shutout against the Steelheads on Sunday.
Montreal Canadiens prospect Cam Hillis has been productive of late, recording seven points (1-6–7) over the three victories including a goal and three assists in Friday’s win over the Battalion.
#OHL #OnTheRunPlayer of the Week | @Storm_City goaltender @nicodaws30.
PERFORMANCE RECAP ????: https://t.co/phm4oJsH4r pic.twitter.com/f0Q3tJNCvM
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) October 28, 2019
Hoefenmayer comes through again as 67’s win a pair
Overage defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer continues to bring Ottawa 67’s fans to their feet. After capping his first OHL hat-trick with an overtime winner last weekend, Hoefenmayer put up seven points over a pair of victories, helping the 67’s come back to defeat visiting Kitchener before recording four assists against Sarnia.
Hoefenmayer leads OHL defencemen with 21 points (6-15–21) over 13 games and owns a league-leading plus-15 plus/minus rating. The 20-year-old from North York, Ont. was a fourth round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in 2017 before going unsigned. His strong performance is no doubt getting attention from NHL clubs this season.
The 67’s are currently 6-0 in games that have gone beyond regulation this season.
The @Ottawa67sHockey got more late-game heroics from @noelhoefenmayer on Friday, winning another close one in one of seven matchups across the league.
FULL #OHL RECAP ????: https://t.co/2XJXmRBUYB pic.twitter.com/LjNAkPEVD3
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) October 26, 2019
Colts on a three-game run, add Porco and Lemieux to lineup
The Barrie Colts have shown signs of turning things around after a recent three-game slide. Barrie defeated Owen Sound and Niagara on home ice this past weekend and are set to debut with Dallas Stars prospect Nicholas Porco and young defenceman Ian Lemieux in their lineup on Wednesday morning in Hamilton.
Though both of their special teams units are in the bottom quarter of the league’s rankings, the Colts have been solid at even strength this season, with top scorers Tyson Foerster (11-10–21) and Matej Pekar (12-8–20) providing consistent offence.
With the incoming addition of Porco to the lineup, the Colts will have a well-rounded top six at forward as he’ll join the likes of captain Jason Willms, Carolina Hurricanes first round pick Ryan Suzuki and third-year forward Luke Bignell in seeing key minutes up front.
A couple new faces at practice today ???? pic.twitter.com/h0oFgKbUW5
— Barrie Colts (@OHLBarrieColts) October 28, 2019
No lead safe against league-leading Generals
The Oshawa Generals proved once again on Sunday that they’re never out of a game.
The Gennies earned their third win of the season when trailing after two periods, defeating the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2 despite trailing 2-0 early. Kyle MacLean scored the shorthanded game winner with six minutes remaining in the third period as the CHL’s second-ranked Generals improved to 11-2-0-1 on the season.
The Generals have grown stronger as games wear on this season, being outscored 17-13 in first periods, but outdoing their opponents 28-13 in the third.
No lead is safe against the @Oshawa_Generals.
Captain @kylemac9191 finds a way to sneak one through as the Gennies overcome a 2-0 deficit with three unanswered in the third period. pic.twitter.com/AoOphDieKn
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) October 28, 2019
Petes’ Robertson adds four goals, Chisholm continues point streak
The Peterborough Petes split a pair of games this past weekend, falling 4-2 to Sarnia at home on Thursday before unloading on the Mississauga Steelheads 10-3 Saturday night at the PMC.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Nick Robertson added four goals, increasing his league-leading total to 16 while fellow Leafs prospect and setup man Semyon Der-Arguchintsev increased his assist total to 20, good for second in the OHL.
Winnipeg Jets prospect Declan Chisholm is on a 13-game point streak, recording at least one in every game he’s played this season. It’s the longest point streak by a Petes player since Alan Quine back in 2010-11.
Not the first @nickrob2001 hat-trick you’ve seen. Won’t be the last either ????????????@MapleLeafs prospect has a league-leading 1️⃣6️⃣ goals and helps @PetesOHLhockey win big with double digits on home ice. pic.twitter.com/MUNbmO5S4w
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) October 27, 2019
Spirit lose Solovyov, Perfetti becomes fastest to franchise history to reach 100-point mark
The Saginaw Spirit dropped consecutive decisions to London and Sudbury on Friday and Saturday before regrouping to defeat the Soo Greyhounds 5-4 on Sunday.
The Spirit lost impressive first-year defenceman Ilya Solovyov to injury in London on Friday as he missed the remainder of the weekend.
Draft eligible forward Cole Perfetti picked up assists on a pair of third period goals Sunday, surpassing the century mark in OHL points. He becomes the fastest player in Spirit history to reach triple digits, edging out Ryan McDonough (2005-08) by accomplishing the feat in 79 games.
Newly acquired forward Dalton Duhart, a Grand Blanc, Mich. product, made his Spirit debut on Sunday.
.@ColePerfetti91 is the fastest player to 100 points in @SpiritHockey franchise history, doing it in 79 regular season games. Ryan McDonough got to 100 career points in a Spirit uniform is 82 games. #OHL #2020NHLDraft
— Joey Battaino (@joeybattaino) October 28, 2019
Yetman on eight-game scoring run for Otters
It isn’t Alex DeBrincat‘s 19-game streak from 2017, but Chad Yetman has scored in eight consecutive games for the Erie Otters who sit third in the Midwest Division with a record of 7-5-0-2.
A former 10th round pick of the Otters in 2016, Yetman has quickly become one of the league’s scoring threats after putting up 21 goals and 57 points over 68 games last season.
Yetman attended training camp with the Detroit Red Wings this past September.
The @ErieOtters were tough in shootouts last year. Give them their first SO win of 2019-20 ????????@YetmanChad and Aidan Campbell get it done as Erie wins a wild one 6-5. pic.twitter.com/XHP22VXk9x
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) October 27, 2019
Hounds look to but 0-3 weekend behind them
The Soo Greyhounds had a weekend on the road to forget, dropping games against West Division foes in Windsor, Flint and Saginaw.
The Hounds lead the league in goals for, scoring 69 over 15 games as sophomore centre Rory Kerins has 10 of those while others in Tye Kartye, Zack Trott, Cole MacKay, Jaromir Pytlik and Jaden Peca hover around the point-per-game mark.
The struggle for the Hounds at points this season has been keeping pucks out. They’ve given up an average of 29.8 shots-per-game but have combined for a save percentage of just .864.
The Greyhounds return home this coming weekend for clashes against Guelph and Windsor, both clubs riding current winning streaks.
#OHL Milestone Moments:@OHLHoundPower rookie @watson93_ scored his first career goal on Sunday.
WATCH ????: https://t.co/3ueCCDPSIl pic.twitter.com/BuD2m1mvcx
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) October 28, 2019
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