OHL thread....

[Captain Canuck]

Bill Stewart has resigned as Storm Head Coach. GM Mike Kelley takes over as interim Head Coach.

Hopefully things start to turn around!

[L K]

Travis Koneckny (along with Sam Studnicka and a 3rd) was traded for:

Sasha Chmelevski, Chase Campbell, OS's 2nd Rnd '16, SSM's 2nd Rnd '17, Wsr's 3rd Rnd '17, Sag's 5th Rnd '17, 2nd Rnd '19, 3rd Rnd '19, Osh's 5th Rnd '19, 3rd Rnd '20, 2nd Rnd '21 (cond.),
2nd Rnd '22 (cond.)

In comparison to say the trade for John Tavares a few years ago this trade is lunacy.
Tavares + Del Zotto + Borden for Christian Thoma, Scott Valentine, Michael Zador, 4 2nds and 2 3rds.

[Captain Canuck]

The worst part is Sarnia doesn't stand a hope in hell against the top teams in the Mid-West, might not even win their division the way Windsor is playing lately either. That is a hell of a price to pay for what could very well result in a 2nd round exit!

Here in Storm land things are improving since Bill Stewart resigned (5 points with him, 10 more since he left). New coach Jarrod Skalde has the team playing hard and taking points from some top teams. Still a rough season and the long playoff streak is toast, but give it a year or two and Guelph will be back.

[L K]

The worst part is Sarnia doesn't stand a hope in hell against the top teams in the Mid-West, might not even win their division the way Windsor is playing lately either. That is a hell of a price to pay for what could very well result in a 2nd round exit!

Here in Storm land things are improving since Bill Stewart resigned (5 points with him, 10 more since he left). New coach Jarrod Skalde has the team playing hard and taking points from some top teams. Still a rough season and the long playoff streak is toast, but give it a year or two and Guelph will be back.

Will Sarnia even get out of the 1st round?  If Sarnia doesn't win their division the 1st round right now would be:
Erie vs. Saginaw - 67 points vs 37 points
Windsor vs. SSM - 53 points vs. 40 points
London vs. Owen Sound - 59 points vs. 41 points
Kitchener vs. Sarnia - 58 points vs. 44 points

Even with Koneckny I don't think they are better than Kitchener.  I don't think Sarnia gets out of the 1st round.  They better hope that Philadelphia sends Koneckny back to the OHL next year.

[L K]

Flint beat Erie 5-3 last night.

Erie - 63GP 48 wins 97 points
London - 63GP 47 wins 97 points

The last two games of the season for the Knights and Otters are a home-and-home against each other.  Good times for OHL hockey fans.

The team that wins the division would play a sub-.500 Saginaw team in the first round.
The team that loses the division plays a considerably better Owen Sound team and then would play a very good Sarnia team in the 2nd round.

[L K]

Screw off Sportsnet. 

They moved the London-Rouyn-Noranda game to 10:00 EST because the Jays play the Yankees on Tuesday.  If you can't balance your broadcast schedule, stop buying up every property.  Shame on the Canadian Hockey League for screwing over the fanbase of both the Ontario and Quebec leagues for a game featuring the OHL and QMJHL champions.

[Captain Canuck]

The Sudbury Wolves have been sold to Sudbury businessman Dario Zulich pending league approval. Zulich has also been behind the push to get a new arena in Sudbury so this makes a lot of sense. His proposal is a privately funded 6000 seat arena with associated retail and commercial development named True North Strong Event Centre located on the Kingsway.
Nothing against the Burgess family, but maybe this is what it will take to finally bring a winner to Sudbury.

[herman]

Anyone following this weird London Knights memorabilia legal drama?

The London #Knights have committed fraudulent activity. Arrests coming. Has to do with unauthentic memorabilia sold on CHL auction site.
— OHLInsiders(.com) (@OHLinsiders) August 22, 2016

More here: http://www.lfpress.com/2016/08/22/a-london-collector-who-paid--3510-for-a-game-jersey-worn-by-london-knights-star-mitch-marner-believes-its-actually-in-the-hockey-hall-of-fame

[hockeyfan1]

Holy hockey jerseys Batman!

The Sudbury Wolves will be donning Batman-themed jerseys in this upcoming weekend's game against the Niagara Ice Dogs, in a fundraiser auction for a charitable foundation for improving the health of children living in the north:


https://www.nhl.com/news/sudbury-wolves-to-wear-batman-themed-jerseys/c-286811084

[herman]

Is there a rule about this? One of the Knights (Brandon Crawley) loses his stick, so as he skates by, he grabs Strome's stick right out of his hands. So Strome takes Crawley's abandoned stick and promptly scores with it.

[hockeyfan1]

Is there a rule about this? One of the Knights (Brandon Crawley) loses his stick, so as he skates by, he grabs Strome's stick right out of his hands. So Strome takes Crawley's abandoned stick and promptly scores with it.

Yes, indeed there is:

Dylan Strome had the hockey world abuzz after scoring with Knights defenceman Brandon Crawley's stick Wednesday in Erie. But sorry — fun police alert — the goal should never have occurred in the third period of the Otters' 5-1 victory over their London rivals.

According to the rule book, Crawley should have been assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for ripping Strome's stick out of his hands and playing with it. But it happened so fast in front of the net, the referees didn't notice. "The fact Brandon grabbed the stick and was in the play with it is a minor penalty," OHL vice-president Ted Baker said.


http://www.lfpress.com/2017/02/16/dylan-stromes-goal-illegal-but-counts]

[hockeyfan1]

The OHL's Windsor Spitfires won the 2017  Memorial Cup, led by Leafs' prospect Jeremy Bracco, over the Erie Otters Sunday night.

The Otters' Dylan Strome was named tourney MVP.

Alex DeBrincat of the Erie Otters had earlier been named CHL Player of the Year.

Story:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/windsor-spitfires-erie-otters-memorial-cup-final-1.4135386