John Chidley Hill.com A blog about reading, writing, pop culture and sports.

24Nov/100

My weekend in junior hockey Nov. 19-21 2010

Tyler Toffoli of the Ottawa 67's celebrating yet another goal.

Unfortunately, my Twitter account has been acting up a little, both online and on my Blackberry. Otherwise, I would have been Tweeting all last week about how excited I was for Sunday’s match between the Ottawa 67’s and Rangers in Kitchener, Ont.

Those two clubs have the best offences in the Ontario Hockey League and rank with the Portland Winterhawks, Moncton Wildcats and Lewiston Maineiacss as some of the most potent attacks in junior hockey today.

The Rangers have league-leading scorer Jason Akeson as their top forward. Unbelievably, this talented winger has gone undrafted the past two years,  and went unsigned after a free agent tryout with the Anaheim Ducks.

Akeson’s 12 goals and has set up 34 others so far this season are undoubtedly making general managers across the National Hockey League regret not signing him.

Who’s trailing Akeson in the scoring race? Ryan Martindale of, you guessed it, the 67’s. He’s got 17 markers and 23 assists so far this season.

Martindale’s linemate Tyler Toffoli is leading the league in goals scored with 22. Kitchener’s Gabriel Landeskog is right behind him with 19.

In other words, Sunday’s game promised to have some offensive fireworks.

The game definitely did not disappoint, either.

Toffoli and Shane Prince ­– fourth in OHL scoring – scored in the shootout as the 67’s edged the Rangers 5-4. Toffoli also scored twice in regulation, Martindale had two assists and Prince had one.

Landeskog had a pair of goals and an assist, while Akeson padded his scoring lead with a goal and an assist.

Games like that are what make hockey great.

Friday, November 19th 2010
QMJHL: MOOSEHEADS KEEP STREAKS GOING WITH WIN OVER ROUYN-NORANDA
The Halifax Mooseheads started one streak and kept another alive Friday night.

Konrad Abeltshauser put away the winner 4:09 into the third period as Halifax shaded the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 3-2 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

OHL: SMITH-PELLY SCORES TWICE AS MAJORS EDGE ICEDOGS
Devante Smith-Pelly's second goal of the game midway into the third period lifted the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors to a 2-1 victory over the Niagara IceDogs in the Ontario Hockey League Friday night.

The winner came as Smith-Pelly broke in on the right wing, took a pass from centre Casey Cizikas and beat Niagara goaltender Mark Visentin from close range.

WHL: LAMOUREUX'S OT GOAL GIVES GIANTS COMEBACK WIN OVER PATS
Greg Lamoureux's goal 1:58 into overtime gave the Vancouver Giants a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Regina Pats in Western Hockey League action Friday night.

Brendan Gallagher led the Giants (13-8-3) with two goals and an assist and also drew the penalty that set the stage for Lamoureux's winner. Matt MacKay and Nathan Burns also tallied for Vancouver in a wildly entertaining game before a raucous crowd of 11,476 at the Pacific Coliseum.

Saturday, November 20th 2010
QMJHL: LEWISTON DOWN SHAWINIGAN FOR 10TH STRAIGHT VICTORY
The Lewiston Maineiacs continued to roll through their Quebec Major Junior Hockey League competition Saturday.

Olivier Dame-Malka scored in overtime as the Maineiacs edged the Shawinigan Cataractes 2-1 for their 10th straight win. Lewiston sits fourth overall in the QMJHL.

OHL: AGOZZINO SCORES FOUR TIMES AS NIAGARA DOWNS OTTAWA
Captain Andrew Agozzino led his Niagara IceDogs by example Saturday night.

Agozzino scored four times as Niagara dropped the Ottawa 67's 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action.

WHL: WINTERHAWKS PUT THE FREEZE ON BLAZERS
Nino Niederreiter scored a pair of goals and Taylor Aronson had a goal and two assists to lead the Portland Winterhawks past the Kamloops Blazers 6-4 in Western Hockey League play on Saturday night.

The game turned ugly at the end of the second period with three fights breaking out after the horn had sounded.

Sunday, November 21st 2010
QMJHL: REMPARTS SNAP LEWISTON'S 10 GAME WIN STREAK
The Quebec Remparts knew they needed to beat the Lewiston Maineiacs to hold on to their lead in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's East Division.

Martin Lefebvre opened the scoring for Quebec and added two assists as the Remparts got a crucial 4-2 victory against the rival Maineiacs Sunday afternoon.

OHL: TOFFOLI LEADS 67'S PAST RANGERS
The Ontario Hockey League's most prolific offences were on full display Sunday afternoon.

Shane Prince and Tyler Toffoli scored in the shootout to power the Ottawa 67's past the Kitchener Rangers 5-4 in a game that showcased some of the best forwards in the league.

9Nov/101

My weekend in junior hockey Nov. 5-7th 2010

The re-emergence of New York Islanders prospect Kirill Kabanov is just one of many storylines developing in the CHL this season.

News stories at the start of the Canadian Hockey League season – really, any sport’s year – tends to focus on team events.

After all, there are team previews,  predictions and personnel moves to write about. On the other hand, there are no individual accomplishments that are worth reporting on.

Let’s face facts: the current scoring leader isn’t that impressive when there are a dozen players within two points.

This weekend saw many of those individual stories finally begin to develop.

Friday night was the beginning of the latest chapter in Kiril Kabanov’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League career as he debuted with the Lewiston Maineiacs, his third junior club in as many years.

On Sunday, Kitchener’s Jason Akeson and Ryan Murphy were put on centre stage as they continued to dominate the Ontario Hockey League’s scoring race, dishing out seven assists between the two of them as their Rangers easily handled the London Knights.

I wholly expect that, barring injury, Kabanov, Akeson and Murphy will be players that I write about all season.

Sure, there are still some team-oriented stories to write about, like Saturdayès story of the surprising losing skid of the top-ranked Quebec Remparts, but the development of individual storylines will help add a little diversity to my news stories.

Give the CHL a few more weeks and we’ll really see some of the individual characters start to shine in the QMJHL, OHL and Western Hockey League.

Friday, November 5th 2010
QMJHL: MAINEIACS DOWN FOREURS IN KABANOV'S DEBUT
The debut of Kiril Kabanov barely figured into the Lewiston Maineiac's impressive win streak on Friday night.

Olivier Dame-Malka scored twice, including the eventual winner, as Lewiston prevailed over the Val-d'Or Foreurs 5-2 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

OHL: SADIKOV STOPS 27 AS THE OTTERS BLANK ATTACK
Ramis Sadikov celebrated in style on Friday night.

The Erie Otters' second-year goaltender recorded his first Ontario Hockey League shutout in a 4-0 win against the Midwest Division-leading Owen Sound Attack.

WHL: ARONSON THE OVERTIME HERO AS WINTERHAWKS WIN OVER REBELS
Taylor Aronson scored 3:40 into overtime to give the Portland Winterhawks a 4-3 win over the Red Deer Rebels in Western Hockey League play on Friday night.

The Winterhawks spent most of the extra period in Red Deer's end of the ice, generating several chances. 

Saturday, November 6th 2010
QMJHL: LEBLANC PP GOALS SENDS JUNIORS PAST REMPARTS
Suddenly, the Quebec Remparts don't look so hot.

Louis Leblanc's power-play goal early in the third period stood as the winner as the Montreal Juniors slipped by the Remparts 3-2 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Saturday night.

OHL: WEREK AND SARAULT SO HEROES AS FRONTENACS EDGE BULLS
The Kingston Frontenacs just won't let up on the Belleville Bulls this season.

Kingston continued to have the Belleville's number Saturday night, pulling out a 3-2 shootout win in Ontario Hockey League action.

WHL; ROWINSKI'S THREE POINTS SPARK WARRIORS TO WIN OVER PATS
Brendan Rowinski scored twice and added an assist for the Moose Jaw Warriors in their 5-3 win over the Regina Pats in Western Hockey League action Saturday night.

Moose Jaw scored five unanswered goals to register their fifth-straight win.

Sunday, November 7th 2010
QMJHL: O'BRIEN LEADS TITAN PAST SAGUENEENS
Zach O'Brien and David Gilbert did most of the heavy lifting for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Sunday afternoon.

O'Brien and Gilbert had shootout markers to lead the Titan past the Chicoutimi Sagueneens 4-3 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

OHL: AKESON, MURPHY POWER KITCHENER PAST LONDON
Jason Akeson and Ryan Murphy are getting results through their unselfish play.

Akeson had four assists as the Kitchener Rangers had three unanswered goals to race past the London Knights 5-4 in Ontario Hockey League action Sunday afternoon.