Canadian Hockey League WEEK 10 overview

CHL This Week - Edition No. 10

Hitmen taking out the opposition in the WHL
By Roger Lajoie

Hockey may have opened up a great deal thanks to all of the new rule changes, but don't tell that to the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.

The Hitmen are on a six-game winning streak and it's certainly because of the way they keep pucks out of their own net. Calgary has allowed just 61 goals in 32 games to date and their latest winning streak has moved them into a tie for first place overall in the W.

Calgary's jump up the WHL standings highlights edition number 10 of the CHL This Week, along with news and notes from the Ontario Hockey League, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.

With the CHL's 58 teams a week away from their holiday breaks, the OHL, WHL and QMJHL schedules hit the halfway point as teams in all three CHL leagues look for a berth in the 2006 Memorial Cup in Moncton, N.B. in late May, along with the host Moncton Wildcats.

The three league champions all join the Wildcats in the round-robin tournament. If Moncton wins the QMJHL title, the QMJHL runners-up will also get a berth in the tournament.


WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE

In a league noted for its dominant goalies, Justin Pogge of the Calgary Hitmen is having a truly dominant season.

Pogge was selected to participate in the Team Canada selection camp for the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships and it's easy to see why, as his stellar play has Calgary battling for a spot at the top of the WHL standings.

The Hitmen won another two games this past week and as a result, now are tied for first place in both the Central Division standings with a 24-8-0-0 record for 48 points. Medicine Hat also has 48 points in the Central, but Calgary has three games in hand, and B.C. Division leading Kootenay Ice (23-11-0-2) also have 48 points, but have played four more games than Calgary.

Other WHL division leaders are the Saskatoon Blades (21-13-1-1, 44 points) in the East and the Everett Silvertips (18-14-1-0, 37 points) in the U.S. Division, with goals still hard to come by in many WHL games this season.

Pogge is one of the biggest reasons why goal scoring isn't increasing in the W as it has in the other CHL leagues, as he has taken over the league lead in just about every goaltending category in a league laoded with good goalies.

Pogge now leads in goals against average (1.53), save percentage (.928), wins (22) and shutouts (six), as he's allowed a meager 42 goals in the 27 games he's played to date.

Three other WHL goalies have GAAs of under two as well. Taylor Dakers of Kootenay (1.81), Matt Keeley of Medicine Hat (1.97) and Dustin Slade of Vancouver (1.97) are all enjoying tremendous seasons as well.

Moose Jaw's Troy Brouwer (27-26-53) still leads his teammate Dustin Boyd (27-20-47) by six points in the scoring race, followed by Devin Setoguchi of Saskatoon (17-26-43).


QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

The Moncton Wildcats continue to close in on first place in the Eastern Division of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League standings, proving they will be a very tough host team in the Memorial Cup in May.

General Manager/coach Ted Nolan's team obviously has a decent shot as perhaps entering the tournament as Q champions as well, with the Wildcats recent 7-3-0-0 run and two straight wins moving them to within two place of first place Acadie-Bathurst in the East.

Acadie-Bathurst (23-8-2-3) has 51 points, just two up on Moncton (24-9-0-1), with 49 points. Cape Breton sits third in the East with 44 points, with the eight-team East made up of all non-Quebec based teams in the QMJHL.

In the Western Division, Chicoutimi (24-7-1-2) continues to lead the way with 51 points as well, followed by Rouyn-Noranda (23-9-2-1, 49 points), Gatineau (23-10-0-0, 46 points) and Quebec (23-9-0-0).

A pair of Chicoutimi players continue to battle for the league's scoring race, as Stanislav Lascek and teammate Maxime Boisclair are neck-and-neck at the top of the points heap.

Lascek (22-51-73) is just three points ahead of Boisclair (38-32-70), with Quebec's Alexander Radulov (28-40-68) in third spot another two points back.

Quebec Remparts star rookie Angelo Esposito (24-34-58) is fifth in the league in scoring after getting an invitation to Team Canada's selection camp as well. The 16-year-old Esposito leads a crop of impressive rookies in the Q this season.

Sylvain Michaud of Chicoutimi has the top goals against average among regular Q goalies with a 2.42 mark and has a save percentage of .911. Rookie Ondrej Pavelec of Cape Breton (2.51, .927) had another strong week to sit second, followed by David Tremblay of Gatineau (2.56, .918).


ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE

The Peterborough Petes rebounded nicely this week from a recent three-game losing streak by raffling off three straight wins to again move into first place in the overall standings of the OHL.

Peterborough (23-5-1-0) has 47 points after three wins in as many games this week, seven ahead of the second place Kingston Frontenacs in the East Division and one more than the defending Memorial Cup champion London Knights, who now have 46 points after two more wins this past week improved their record in the past 17 games to 14-1-0-2.

London (22-6-0-2) won a thrilling 3-2 shootout decision over the second place Guelph Storm to increase its lead in the Midwest Division to six points, with the Knights still enjoying two games in hand.

Other division leaders include the Barrie Colts in the Central Division, who are 21-9-1-2 for 45 points, nine up on the second place Toronto St. Michael's Majors. The Colts are 8-1-0-1 in their past 10 games, while the Saginaw Spirit and Plymouth Whalers both have 36 points to share the lead in the West Division.

Rob Schremp of the London Knights had six points this past week to take over top spot in the OHL's scoring race.

Schremp (30-43-73) is averaging only slightly less than three points per game this season, as the veteran forward has played in only 25 games to date. His teammate David Bolland (28-43-71) is now tied for second with Owen Sound's Bobby Ryan (23-48-71).

Scoring is definitely up in the O this season, but there are still some goalies enjoying top-flight seasons, with a real battle going on for the best GAA in the OHL.

Dan LaCosta of Barrie (2.33, .924) took over the league lead in both those categories this past week, now followed by Ryan MacDonald of Guelph (2.43, .911), Dan Turple of Kitchener (2.72, .912) and Adam Dennis of London (2.73, .919).