I hope you all had a good Family Day weekend.  As I’ve pointed out in the previous couple weeks, each team is watching the scoreboard and the standings to see where they finish and also who they will potentially meet in the first round of play-offs.  The teams only have a handful of games left in the next 2 weeks.

 

Tuesday, February 16

 

Guelph vs. Kitchener, 7:00 Kitchener Auditorium

 

This is the fifth game between the Hurricanes and Dutchmen.  Kitchener has 3 wins and Guelph has 1 win in overtime.

 

These teams last met each other at the end of January.  They have 1 more meeting at the end of this month.  They are each other’s last game of the regular season.

 

Guelph hosted Brampton on Saturday and defeated the Bombers 9-1.  With 4 games remaining, the Hurricanes are in 4th place with 57 points.  They are 1 point behind Listowel and 9 points ahead of Elmira.

 

Kitchener had 2 games on the weekend.  They defeated Cambridge 4-0 on Saturday and Elmira 7-2 on Sunday.  The Dutchmen also have 4 games left, a home and home with both Guelph and Brantford.  Kitchener is leading the Midwest with 81 points and have a 14 point lead over Stratford.

 

This game is 1 vs. 4.

 

Wednesday, February 17

 

Leamington vs. LaSalle, 7:00 Vollmer Rec Centre

 

This is the last game between Leamington and LaSalle.  The Flyers have 3 wins and the Vipers have 2.

 

The last time these teams met was January 20 where LaSalle won 2-0.

 

Leamington hosted Sarnia on Sunday, winning 3-1.  The Flyers have 6 games remaining, as they have to makeup their game from Thursday.  There was talk as I was in Leamington on Sunday that the makeup game will be this coming Sunday.  Leamington is in 1st place in the West with 73 points.  They have a 12 point lead over London.

 

LaSalle was in Chatham Sunday night, losing 7-1 to the Maroons.  The Vipers are going to be without starting goalie Paolo Battisti, who received a Physical Abuse of Official match penalty on Sunday for firing a puck at a referee after a Chatham goal.  The Vipers have 6 games left, which Battisti will not be available for as he has a minimum 7 game suspension.  LaSalle is in 4th, 3 points behind Chatham and they have a 2 point lead on St. Thomas.

 

These teams are county rivals and it’s always a big game when they get together.  This is 1 vs. 4.

 

Sarnia vs. London, 7:30 Western Fair

 

This is the last game between the Legionnaires and Nationals.  Sarnia has 3 wins, London has 1 and 1 game ended in a tie.

 

The Nats and Legionnaires had a home and home on January 13 and 14 where they tied and London picked up their 1 win.

 

Sarnia had 2 games on the weekend.  They defeated St. Marys 5-2 on Friday and they lost 3-1 to Leamington on Sunday.  The Legionnaires have 4 games left and are in 6th place in the West with 49 points.  They trail St. Thomas by 4 points, but have a 15 point lead over Strathroy.

 

London’s game on Saturday in Lambton Shores was postponed due to the weather in Middlesex County.  They had a game on Monday against St. Thomas.  The Nats have 6 games left, including this makeup game, and are in 2nd place with 63 points.  They trail Leamington by 10 points, but have a 5 point lead over Chatham.

 

London and Sarnia have the Hughes brothers as goalies.  London has older brother Connor and Sarnia has younger brother Aidan, who is a Sarnia Sting draft pick.  As they have the previous games, I expect this will be brother vs. brother.  This game is 2 vs. 6.

 

Thursday, February 18

 

Chatham vs. Leamington, 7:10 Highbury Canco Arena

 

This will be the last game between the Maroons and Flyers.  Leamington leads the series 3-2.

 

The teams last met at the end of January when they had a home and home, where the Flyers took both games.

 

Chatham hosted LaSalle on Sunday, downing the Vipers 7-1.  The Maroons have 5 games remaining this season.  They sit in 3rd with 58 points, 5 points behind London and 3 points ahead of LaSalle.

 

Chatham is 1 of 3 teams with at least 2 wins against Leamington this season.  The Maroons have not defeated the Flyers in the Highbury Canco arena this season, whereas the other 2 have.  This game is 1 vs. 3.

 

LaSalle vs. Sarnia, 7:10 Sarnia Arena

 

This is the final game between these teams.  The first game ended in a tie, LaSalle has 3 wins and Sarnia has 1.

 

They recently played back on February 4.

 

I understand that Sarnia is unveiling a brand new third sweater on Thursday, which is shown in the photo at the top.

 

This game could potentially be a first round match up.  LaSalle is only 3 points behind Chatham and could catch them for 3rd place.  Currently, this is 4 vs. 6.

 

Kitchener vs. Brantford, 7:30 Gretzky Centre

 

This is game 5 in this season series.  Kitchener has all 4 games so far.  The first 3 games were basically blowouts, Kitchener won 7-0, 7-1, and 7-3.  The last win was 2-1.

 

These teams last met on January 17.

 

As I stated above, Kitchener will have a home and home with Brantford.  The back end of this is on Sunday.

 

Brantford has 5 games left and they have a 5 point lead over Cambridge for the last play-off spot.  The 99er’s have 29 points and they trail Brampton by 4 points.

 

This game is 1 vs. 8.

 

St. Marys vs. St. Thomas, 7:30 Timken Centre

 

This is the last game in this season series.  St. Thomas has all 5 games.

 

These teams last met on February 4.

 

St. Marys hosted Sarnia on Friday, losing 5-2.  They have 2 games that were postponed this past weekend, so they have 7 games in the next 2 weeks.  The Lincolns are in 8th place with 20 points.  They lead Lambton Shores by 4 points and trail Strathroy by 14 points.

 

St. Thomas had the Predators in town on Friday night, downing them 7-3.  On Monday, for Family Day, they were in London, losing 3-1 to the Nats.  The Stars have 5 games remaining and are in 5th place with 53 points.  They have a 4 point lead over Sarnia and are behind LaSalle by 2 points.

 

This game is 5 vs. 8.

 

These are your games this week.  I like both games on Wednesday.  You can’t go wrong if you’re in the Essex County area and you go to the Vollmer.  As I am in London, I will be at the Nats game.  I also like Chatham and Leamington on Thursday.  It’ll be interesting to see if the Maroons can become the third team this season to defeat the Flyers on their home ice, or if Leamington will dominate.  LaSalle and Sarnia could be a very good game on Thursday.  As I pointed out, the Vipers are on Chatham’s trail, and have St. Thomas on their trail, and they’re fighting for a top 4 play-off spot.

 

Here are your standings for this Tuesday morning, which feels like a Monday, since yesterday was a holiday.

 

Midwestern Conference

TEAM	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	HOME	AWAY
Kitchener	46	41	4	0	1	83	.902	227	112	1235	20-3-0-0	21-1-0-1
Stratford	46	32	9	2	3	69	.750	211	151	1078	19-3-1-0	13-6-1-3
Listowel	46	29	17	0	0	58	.630	173	147	675	15-8-0-0	14-9-0-0
Guelph	46	25	14	1	6	57	.620	173	155	930	13-8-0-3	12-6-1-3
Elmira	46	21	19	1	5	48	.522	172	167	772	9-9-1-4	12-10-0-1
Waterloo	46	18	26	0	2	38	.413	151	185	994	10-11-0-2	8-15-0-0
Brampton	46	14	27	2	3	33	.359	134	200	1125	6-15-1-1	8-12-1-2
Brantford	45	12	28	3	2	29	.322	119	177	869	7-13-2-1	5-15-1-1
Cambridge	47	10	33	1	3	24	.255	121	187	1277	6-17-0-0	4-16-1-3

 

Western Conference

TEAM	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	HOME	AWAY
Leamington	44	36	7	1	0	73	.830	180	83	1407	19-2-1-0	17-5-0-0
London	44	29	10	4	1	63	.716	192	131	806	15-4-2-1	14-6-2-0
Chatham	45	28	15	1	1	58	.644	215	159	1151	16-6-0-1	12-9-1-0
LaSalle	44	25	14	3	2	55	.625	182	147	900	15-5-1-1	10-9-2-1
St. Thomas	45	25	17	1	2	53	.589	180	156	580	13-7-1-2	12-10-0-0
Sarnia	46	22	19	2	3	49	.533	153	167	892	11-10-0-2	11-9-2-1
Strathroy	45	11	22	3	9	34	.378	126	181	967	7-9-1-4	4-13-2-5
St. Marys	43	8	31	1	3	20	.233	116	221	661	5-14-1-3	3-17-0-0
Lambton Shores	44	6	34	1	3	16	.182	135	246	966	2-15-1-2	4-19-0-1

 

 

 

I hope you have a good week and I’ll see you all again on Friday.

 

Photo Credit: Josh Boyce – CHOK – Twitter