Who’s up:
Ottawa 67’s – up one spot to #1 this week
The Ottawa 67’s enter the holiday break on top of both the power rankings and the OHL standings, delivering the decisive blow to the Brantford Bulldogs in a 6-0 shutout victory at home on Saturday. The Barber Poles are currently the OHL’s best with a record of 25-7-1-1, surrendering a league-low 77 goals. They’re the least-penalized team in the OHL by a wide margin, and it’s a good thing too as they feature the league’s 20th-ranked penalty kill.
Windsor Spitfires – up one spot to #3 this week
From the OHL’s 20th-ranked penalty kill, to the team with the league’s best PK. The Spits won their lone contest, defeating the Soo Greyhounds 6-2 on Thursday in a record-setting victory for goaltender Joey Costanzo. The Spits are led in scoring by a defenceman at the half. Carson Woodall paces the team with 39 points (8-31–39) over 34 games, sitting atop the OHL’s top scorers among defencemen.
Flint Firebirds – up one spot to #4 this week
The Firebirds were 5-4-1-0 through their first 10 games of the season and have proceeded to go 19-3-1-2 since. Alex Kostov heads home for the holidays on a 17-game point streak while captain Nathan Aspinall really turned heads in the first half with a league-leading 51 points (22-29–51) over 32 games. Mason Vaccari’s 19 wins in the crease also lead the OHL.
Kitchener Rangers – up one spot to #6 this week
The Blueshirts skated to wins over Sarnia and Owen Sound, heading to the break atop the Midwest Division standings with a record of 21-10-3-0. New addition Dylan Edwards (16-23–39) made his Rangers debut, and sits tied for the lead in team scoring with Christian Humphreys (12-27–39).
London Knights – up one spot to #7 this week
The Knights took wins over Owen Sound, Oshawa and Barrie. Wednesday’s victory over the Attack was the Knights’ league-leading sixth overtime win of the season. Sebastian Gatto sent London into the holidays with a 31-save shutout of the Barrie Colts. Ben Wilmott leads the Knights in scoring with 32 points (13-19–32) over 33 games.
North Bay Battalion – up one spot to #9 this week
The Troops are trending the right way, beating the Guelph Storm 6-2 in their lone game last week. North Bay has notably spread their scoring around through 33 games, with 15 different players featuring at least 10 points. They’ll benefit from the eventual return of NHL Draft prospect Ryder Cali, who has been sidelined with an injury since Oct. 25th.
Kingston Frontenacs – up two spots to #11 this week
The last month has been a rollercoaster for the Frontenacs, who are back winning games with conquests of Brantford and Brampton last week. Fan favourite blueliner Maleek McGowan enters the holiday break on a five-game goal-scoring streak. First-year netminder Matthew Minchak leads the OHL with a .929 save percentage, emerging as a storyline of Kingston’s success in the first half of the season.
Sudbury Wolves – up two spots to #12 this week
The Wolves came alive in December, locking down wins over Barrie and Guelph to close out the first half. Kieron Walton (21-27–48) and Nathan Villeneuve (15-26–41) were both bright spots in the opening months while GM Rob Papineau has gone out and found some new talent in the crease with Bjorn Bronas off to a 5-1 start while Paolo Frasca won his OHL debut on Friday. Sudbury will return to action on a four-game winning streak.
Niagara IceDogs – up one spot to #16 this week
The IceDogs get back into the top-16 courtesy a 4-3 overtime win over Sarnia on Saturday, a game they nearly let get away. Vancouver Canucks prospect Riley Patterson has been hot of late, with four consecutive two-point efforts and five goals in that span.
Who’s down:
Brantford Bulldogs – down one spot to #2 this week
The Bulldogs fell on the road in Kingston and Ottawa, that despite having both Jake O’Brien and Marek Vanacker back from Canada’s National Junior Team camp. Brantford put together an impressive first half, going a remarkable 23 games undefeated in regulation to start the year. The one thing they haven’t managed to do is find much success beyond regulation, going 1-5 in those scenarios. Their league-best 36.6 percent power play is operating 10 percentage points higher than any other team in the OHL.
Soo Greyhounds – down two spots to #5 this week
The Hounds had three-point performances from Colin Fitzgerald and Quinn McKenzie to defeat Saginaw 8-4 before suffering a 6-2 loss in Windsor. They’ll continue to be without captain Brady Martin for the next few weeks as he chases a gold medal with Team Canada. Mr. Consistent Marco Mignosa leads the team with 39 points (14-25—39) over 32 games, and is five goals shy of 100 on his OHL career. He’d become the 19th player in franchise history to score 100 goals as a Greyhound.
Barrie Colts – down two spots to #8 this week
Missing stars Cole Beaudoin and Kashawn Aitcheson, the Colts lost at home to Sudbury and London last week while rookie Arvin Jaswal put on a great performance in Brampton, backstopping the Colts to a 1-0 shootout win on Friday. The Colts rebounded from a slow start to the season, sitting at 3-7-0-3 through 13 games. They’ve played to a record of 16-3-1-1 since Oct. 25th.
Peterborough Petes – down one spot to #10 this week
The Petes beat Niagara 5-2 before suffering a 4-1 loss in their first trip to Ottawa this season. Easton Rye was a rock in net for the Petes in the first half of the year, with his 820 saves leading all OHL netminders – resulting in a .910 save percentage. First overall OHL Draft pick Kaden McGregor put up 15 points (6-9–15) over 23 games to start the season.
Owen Sound Attack – down two spots to #13 this week
The Attack get a much-needed break, losing to London and Kitchener last week to stretch their losing slide to six games. Owen Sound’s 143 goals-against are the most in the league, which is surprising given Canadian National Junior Team tender Carter George mans the net for the Bears. The Attack are the most penalized team in the OHL, and their 18th-ranked penalty kill isn’t doing them any favours.
Guelph Storm – down two spots to #14 this week
Like the Attack, the Storm are also spiralling with losses in six straight. Guelph lost in North Bay and Sudbury last week, and has surrendered at least five goals in five of the last six games. Between illness and injuries, the Storm blueline is banged up of late, but they’ll need to tighten things up in the second half if they have any deep playoff aspirations.
Sarnia Sting – down one spot and off the list this week
The Sting are back on the outside looking in for the holidays. Sarnia fell to Kitchener, Erie and Niagara last week, falling to 10-19-4-1.
