Good morning hockey fans.  Sorry this is a day late, but better late than never, right?

 

We are down to the final week of play in the regular season.  Throughout the 2 Conferences that I cover, there are 16 play-off spots available and 7 are not yet confirmed.

 

Midwest

1 – Kitchener

2 – Stratford

5 – Elmira

6 – Waterloo

7 – Brampton

8 – Brantford

 

West

1 – Leamington

6 – Sarnia

7 – Strathroy

 

In the Midwest, we have Listowel and Guelph fighting for 3 and 4, and are only separated by 2 points.

 

In the West, there is a 5 point difference between London, LaSalle and Chatham for 2nd place, only 4 between London and LaSalle.  St. Thomas is just 4 points behind Chatham.  They can’t reach London, but they could trade spots with Chatham.  The interesting fight is for last place, with St. Marys and Lambton Shores separated by just 2 points.

 

Now to this week’s games.

 

Tuesday, February 23

 

St. Marys vs. Strathroy, 7:30 West Middlesex Memorial

 

This game is the makeup game from February 13 and the last game between these teams.  Strathroy leads the series 3-2.

 

As noted above, St. Marys has 2 points on Lambton Shores for the last play-off spot.  They hosted the Predators on Friday.  They had a 4 point lead going into that game and lost 4-2, which closed the gap to 2.  On Sunday, they were in Leamington, which was the makeup game from February 11.  They built up a 3-0 lead and the Flyers stormed back 7-3.

 

Strathroy hosted St. Thomas on Saturday.  Due to postponed games, this was the Rockets first game in 2 weeks.  It was a great game to watch, the energy that the coaches were looking for in the arena was there with over 500 people in attendance.  The Rockets and Stars skated to a 3-3 tie.

 

This game is 7 vs. 8.  Both teams have 4 games remaining.

 

St. Thomas vs. Lambton Shores, 7:30 Shores Rec Centre

 

This is the last game between the Stars and Predators.

 

As noted, St. Thomas was in Strathroy on Saturday, ending in a 3-3 tie with the Rockets.  The Stars are just 2 points behind Chatham for 4th place.

 

Lambton Shores is in the hunt for the final play-off spot in the West.  They were in St. Marys on Friday and closed the gap to 2 points with a 4-2 win.  The Preds are looking for just 3 points over their last 4 games to secure that last spot.

 

This game is 5 vs. 9.  The Stars have 3 games left and Preds have 4.

 

Wednesday, February 24

 

Strathroy vs. LaSalle, 7:00 Vollmer Rec Centre

 

This is the final game between the Rockets and Vipers.  The season series is tied 2-2 with 1 game ending in a tie.

 

LaSalle was in London on Saturday.  Going into that game, the Vipers were on a 2 game win streak and just 6 points back of London for 2nd.  They took a 5-3 win over the Nats which closed that gap to 4 points.

 

This game is 3 vs. 7.  Both teams have 3 games left.

 

St. Marys vs. London, 7:30 Western Fair

 

This is the final game between these teams.  London leads the series 4-0-1.

 

The Nats are just 4 points ahead of LaSalle for 2nd place.  They hosted the Vipers Saturday night, losing 5-3.  On Sunday night, London lost 8-3 to Chatham.

 

This game is 2 vs. 8.  Both London and St. Marys will have 3 games remaining.

 

Thursday, February 25

 

Chatham vs. Sarnia, 7:10 Sarnia Arena

 

This will be the final meeting for the Maroons and Legionnaires.  Sarnia took the first game and Chatham has the last 4.

 

Chatham is slowly slipping out of the 2nd place picture.  They are 5 points behind London with 3 games remaining.  The 2 teams played on Sunday with Chatham taking an 8-3 win.

 

Sarnia has been off for a week.  Last week they dropped both games to London, 4-0, and LaSalle, 3-2.

 

This game is 4 vs. 6.  Chatham has 3 games left and Sarnia has just 2.

 

St. Thomas vs. Leamington, 7:10 Highbury Canco Arena

 

This is the final game for these teams.  Leamington has taken all 5 games.

 

Leamington was in Lambton Shores Saturday night and with their 3-1 win, and London’s 5-3 loss, the Flyers officially clinched 1st place for the third straight season.  They also hosted St. Marys on Sunday, the makeup game from February 11, winning 7-3.

 

This game is 1 vs. 5.  Both Leamington and St. Thomas have 2 games remaining.

 

Listowel vs. Brantford, 7:30 Gretzky Centre

 

This is the last game between the Cyclones and 99er’s.  Listowel has taken all 5 games.

 

As I noted above, Listowel is in a dog fight with Guelph for 3rd place in the Midwest.  The Cyclones are just 2 points ahead of the Hurricanes in the standings.  On the weekend, Listowel hosted Brampton, taking a 7-3 win, and on Saturday they defeated Cambridge 6-1.

 

Brantford is officially in the play-offs.  With Cambridge’s loss on Saturday night, it eliminated them from the play-off picture and the 99er’s have clinched their first ever play-off berth.  Brantford finished their home and home with Kitchener on Sunday.

 

This game is 2 vs. 8.  Listowel has 2 games left to Brantford’s 3.

 

 

So those are your games this week.  Since it’s the beginning of the week, here are your standings.

 

Midwestern Conference

 

TEAM	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	HOME	AWAY
Kitchener	49	44	4	0	1	89	.908	240	119	1302	22-3-0-0	22-1-0-1
Stratford	48	33	9	3	3	72	.750	219	154	1114	19-3-2-0	14-6-1-3
Listowel	48	31	17	0	0	62	.646	186	151	691	16-8-0-0	15-9-0-0
Guelph	48	26	14	1	7	60	.625	179	158	946	14-8-0-3	12-6-1-4
Elmira	48	22	19	2	5	51	.531	178	172	792	10-9-1-4	12-10-1-1
Waterloo	48	18	27	0	3	39	.406	155	194	1072	10-11-0-2	8-16-0-1
Brampton	48	14	29	2	3	33	.344	138	213	1151	6-16-1-1	8-13-1-2
Brantford	47	12	30	3	2	29	.309	125	188	905	7-14-2-1	5-16-1-1
Cambridge	48	10	34	1	3	24	.250	122	193	1299	6-18-0-0	4-16-1-3

 

Western Conference

 

TEAM	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	HOME	AWAY
Leamington	48	39	8	1	0	79	.823	195	92	1516	21-2-1-0	18-6-0-0
London	47	30	12	4	1	65	.691	203	144	888	16-5-2-1	14-7-2-0
LaSalle	47	28	14	3	2	61	.649	193	154	970	16-5-1-1	12-9-2-1
Chatham	47	29	16	1	1	60	.638	225	166	1253	17-6-0-1	12-10-1-0
St. Thomas	47	26	17	2	2	56	.596	189	160	604	14-7-1-2	12-10-1-0
Sarnia	48	22	21	2	3	49	.510	155	174	934	11-11-0-2	11-10-2-1
Strathroy	46	11	22	4	9	35	.380	129	184	997	7-9-2-4	4-13-2-5
St. Marys	46	8	34	1	3	20	.217	123	238	703	5-15-1-3	3-19-0-0
Lambton Shores	46	7	35	1	3	18	.196	140	252	1008	2-16-1-2	5-19-0-1

 

 

Tonight, I will be at the Rockets game.  On Wednesday, I’d love to be able to go to LaSalle, I haven’t been to the Vollmer this season and I try to make it to each arena in our Conference each season, but they’re calling for a snow storm in the London region again on Wednesday.  Thursday, I like the looks of Chatham and Sarnia and I may just be at the Brock Street Barn for that matchup.

 

That’s your games this week.  The final 6 days of play is going to see those 16 spots confirmed.  Have a good week and I’ll see you again on Friday for the final preview of the season.

 

Photo Credit: Charity Matheson Photography