One full month of Jr A hockey is in the books. The hockey is what you expected it to be… a bit sloppy. It is the beginning of the year after all.
You have your immediate powerhouses and you have the wannabe’s. And this year the wannabe’s may be just as bad as last year’s bunch.
In the NOJHL you have Cochrane Crunch and the Soo Thunderbirds still at the top of the league after the first month of the season. Both of these clubs don’t look like they will be giving up the top spots.
Out east in the CCHL, you see the difference between the Robinson and the Yzerman division. The whole Robinson division had more points than the entire Yzerman division. All 6 teams had 12 points at the end of the month and the two top teams in the Yzerman had 10. Carleton Place still the pace setter in the Robinson as the Cumberland Grads and Nepean Raiders were tied for top spot in the Yzerman.
Around the GTA in the OJHL, it is a complete mess. Markham Royals and Stouffville Spirit are at the top of the North Division while the East Division is going to be the typical 3-way dogfight. This years East battle features Trenton, Wellington and Whitby… oh and Kingston and Cobourg need a mini 2-3 game winning streak to be right on their heels again. In the Southwest Conference, the Georgetown Raiders are still your favourites with the Oakville Blades and St. Michaels Buzzers still on their heels.
What does this brief summary mean? Well it brings us to the weekly top 5…
ITO’s Power 5 Rankings
The weekly power rankings will take give you the 5 best teams in the 3 Jr A loops: CCHL, NOJHL and the OJHL. The criteria will include, but not limited to… opponents played, balance of team, win loss record, sustainability, league rankings of specific metrics.
And now, the first installment of the ITOP5R… terrible acronym.
5. Whitby Fury – A hot start helped people take notice of the Fury this year. despite an OT loss to division rivals Cobourg, the Fury rebounded with a 6-1 W over Georgetown. Despite ending the month on a bit of a down note they are a balanced team with almost 9 players who are a ppg players.
4.Wllington Dukes – some moves in the post season has made the Dukes an early powerhouse. The team is essentially a one line scoring machine but the remaining 9 forwards more than do their job limiting opponents to poor quality chances. A small blemish on their record dropping a game to the Toronto Jr. Canadiens giving up 4 in the loss.
3. Carleton Place Canadians – The Canadians score by committee with 6 players with at least 4 goals accounts for just over half of their total goals. On 6 occasions the Canadians have held their opponent to 1 goal or less of their 12 games played in September. CPC sits 2nd in the league in both PP% and PK%.
2. Cochrane Crunch – The NOJHL’s league leader ranks #2 this week. An OT loss to the Powassan Voodoos is the only blemish on the Crunch’s record. The Crunch are bolstered by some big scoring forwards and by Leighton Williams who is perfect on the season at 6-0. The Crunch from top to bottom may be better than last season who were the East division champions in the regular season with 40 wins.
1. Trenton Golden Hawks – They never skipped a beat since last year. Jerome Dupont loaded up in the summer and they are paying immediate dividends. Chris Janzen has been a great addition to the club and has done what they need him to do, keep pucks out of the net. 7 players with more than 5 goals after 9 games, 11 players with more than a point per game. By no means are they perfect but as of right now, they are as close to perfect as possible.
The Watch List
NOJHL
Elliot Lake Wildcats – The cats have been getting hot lately, 3 straight wins to end the month pus them 2nd in the West division. What makes their rise that much better is they don’t have a player in the top 30 of scoring.
Makenzie Savard, Rayside Balfour Canadians – After his rookie season in the NOJHL, the 19 year old has come back stronger than ever. Savard posted a 3-1 record with a 2.35GAA but more outstanding is his .939SV% as he faces an average of 38.5 shots a game.
Mark Tassone, Soo Thunderbirds – the NOJHL sophomore started the season on a frantic note. The 1999 born forward had at least one point in every game in the month of September posting 8 goals and 14 points in 8 games.
CCHL
Brockville Braves – The Braves seem like they just needed an oil change to get the engine firing. Corey Caruso and Devin Moore took a while to get going but even in their losses, the Braves were very close with 4 of their 5 losses being by one goal. Their plus 5 goal differential shows they can keep the game close or keep the red light on the opposing goaltender.
Henry Johnson, Brockville Braves – The reigning goalie of the year is poised to be a repeat winner of the award. Johnson is slowly climbing back up the leader board in all statistical categories. While his 5-4 record makes you second guess, his 2.23GAA and his .918SV% show he is as strong as ever between the pipes. If he stays the course, the Braves will be a contender and Johnson will be taking home more hardware.
Matthew Barnaby, Pembroke Lumber Kings – While teammate Alex Gilmour is sitting near the top of the scoring leaders board, it is 1998 born rookie Matthew Barnaby who is capturing early headlines. The Buffalo, NY native had a 7 game point streak during the month putting up 3 goals and 9 points during the month. He makes players around him better and won’t skimp on putting points on the board either.
OJHL
Toronto Patriots – The former OJHL Powerhouse may be back on track after a few choice transactions, in particular, defenceman Ryan Wells and goaltender Tyler Fassl. After kicking off the season with a W, the Patriots lost 4 straight before closing the month out with 4 straight W’s. Ownership finally figured it out and the point per game production of defenceman Nikolas Kalpouzos is also a surprise for the club.
Brayden Stortz, Wellington Dukes – The former GOJHL and NOJHL Star is now tearing it up in the OJHL as an overage player. When Stortz gets one point a game it seems like a disappointment for him. 10 goals and 26 points is how he ended the month of September with only 9 games played. That includes 4 games of 4 points or more.
Nathan Torchia, Orangeville Flyers – The stats are not that impressive but when you find out he is a 16 year old rookie, starting big games for the OJHL franchise trying to rebuild, you find his 4.31 GAA and .885SV% a bit more remarkable. He faces approximately 36 shots a game. A tough task for a 16 year old net minder. A few years ago you had Michael McNiven and Ben Blacker both be starters for their clubs and that worked wonders for their hockey careers. The team may not be successful on the ice, but watch out for this guys work on the ice.
Ice Cold
French River Rapids – The only club in the NOJHL without a win. We are a month through the season and even with Moe Mantha back in the mix the Rapids can’t catch a break. 0-8 in the month to start the year.
Gloucester Rangers – even though they ended the month on a two game winning streak, this was a terrible place to be for the Rangers. -15 goal differential shows that they were not even particularly close games. They are slowly going to turn this around under new management but for now, they need to just heat up.
Pickering Panthers – Boy oh boy has this franchise been a mess since Paul Coffey got involved with this team. The League had to take an AGM from another team, promote them to be the big boss of this floundering franchise. A cool new logo couldn’t draw in some top talent but there are building blocks… but this house will take a long time to build.
The Ridiculousness
Timber…. – The GMHL is in the news again as more and more franchises continue to fold. The league ended the month of September with only 26 teams. This prompted the president to declare that they are starting the season with only 26 teams, two divisions of 13 teams. After declaring the league would be 28 teams strong. What makes this whole scenario worse is you still have teams with low body counts. There was a game where the ‘healthy scratches’ out numbered the players on the ice. But you always see 3 goalies on the scoresheet.
New League, Same Problems… – The CPJHL took to the ice and 3 teams folded. No biggie right? Or is it? conflicting reports have surfaced about whether or not refunds would be given. But if you do your research and not believe everything you read on twitter, you will notice that the players got a new place to play.
Bracebridge Blues Collapse – With 8 forward, 3D and 3G on the roster, is it any surprise that they went 0-4 in September with a -42 goal differential
Wiarton Rock’s Falling – The Rock played one game in the month of September and lost 11-2….in OT? According to the website it went to extra time. 8F 5D and 2G for that game. Since then Wiarton is up to 11F, 4D and 4G… wait what? This won’t end well for those players. Especially since you needed forwards and picked up 2 more goalies… as long as they are on skates right.
Mississauga Chargers – Boy oh boy is this team run something different. Maybe it is timing that prohibits them from winning. After so many players were on their rookie camp or training camp roster and cut, it is a marvel that they are successful when they play in the NOJHL or CCHL or even the GOJHL…. Whatever mold for success this franchise has… it is broken. Get a new one.
Tottenham run out of Steam – the once… wait can you be proud when you misrepresent yourself as something you are not? Well this once successful franchise is complete doo doo now. They can not fill out a proper roster as they list 9 forwards, 3 defenceman and 3 goalies on their roster and after selling off an asset, I wouldn’t be surprised if this shuts down and shows more incompetence by owners in this league.
