I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Coming up this week:

Tuesday, September 22

Brampton vs. Kitchener, 7:00 Kitchener Auditorium

Brampton had 2 games this past weekend.  On Friday they played Brantford, losing 2-0.  On Saturday, they picked up a point when they pushed Waterloo to overtime, losing 5-4.  The Siskins were up 3-0 until the Bombers stormed back in the 2nd period to go up 4-3.  Goals were from Anthony Pullicino, Jordan Kreller and Ramon Lopez with 2.

Kitchener had 1 game this weekend, hosting Stratford Sun. afternoon.  The Dutchmen lost 2-1.  Scoring the loan goal for Kitchener was Adam Kawalec.  It appears that it was a bit of a rough game, with Stratford taking 54 minutes in penalties and Kitchener 46 minutes.

Wednesday, September 23

Strathroy vs. LaSalle, 7:00 Vollmer Rec Centre

Strathroy played Lambton Shores on Sat. night.  They had a bit of a slow start, but picked it up in the second period.  They built up a 4-2 lead with goals from Matt Laberge, Riley O’Connell (2), and Lucas Latina.  The game went to overtime where Matt McGhee ended it 2 min. in.

LaSalle travelled to St. Marys Fri. night.  With goals from Manny Silverio and Nathan Savage, the Vipers were up 2-0 on the Lincolns.  St. Marys tied the game in the second period and in the third, Connor Rosaasen gave LaSalle the lead again.  St. Marys wouldn’t back down and tied the game again.  The game went to double overtime before Eric Kirby finished it for LaSalle to give them a 4-3 DOT win.

Lambton Shores vs. London, 7:30 Western Fair

The Predators took on Strathroy Sat. night.  Ryan Fraser put the lead up 1-0 in the first period.  After Strathroy tied the game, Connor Merritt gave Lambton Shores a 2-1 lead.  In the third period, Strathroy took a 4-2 lead.  Ethan Sarfati and Brenden Trottier tied the game up to put it to overtime.  Strathroy took the win 5-4.

London hasn’t played since last Wed. when they went to LaSalle, losing 5-1.  The team’s current leading scorer is Max Vinogradov, who they received from the London Knights, with 2 goals and 1 assist.

Thursday, September 24

LaSalle vs. Leamington, 7:10 Highbury Canco

LaSalle and Leamington are always good games.  Leamington had 2 games this past weekend.  On Fri., they travelled to St. Thomas where they picked up a 3-0 win.  Cale Phibbs scored twice and Mark Gagnon hit the empty net right at the buzzer.  Tyler Wall picked up his first GOJHL shut out.  On Sun., the Flyers travelled to Chatham Memorial to take on the Maroons, where they dropped a 5-3 decision.  Flyers goals were from Matthew Opblinger, Cale Phibbs, and Zach Guilbeault.

St. Thomas vs. Sarnia, 7:10 Sarnia Arena

The Stars also had 2 games on the weekend.  They hosted Leamington on Friday, losing 3-0, and St. Marys on Sun., where they picked up a 7-3 win.  St. Thomas had 7 different goal scorers, James Newland, Carson Brookshaw, Spencer Hutchinson, Carson Moniz, Adam Keyes, Curtis Ferreira, and Alex Turko.  Goalie Nik Dampier suffered the loss Fri., allowing 2 goals on 40 shots.  Dan Black picked up the win Sun., making 28 saves on 31 shots.

Sarnia has been off since last Thurs. when they hosted Lambton Shores in their home opener.  Ryan Trottier is the team’s leading scorer with 4 points, 1 goal and 3 assists.

Elmira vs. Brantford, 7:30 Gretzky Centre

Elmira split the weekend, defeating Listowel 6-3 Fri. night, but losing to Guelph 4-3 Sun. afternoon.  Having a big game for the Sugar Kings on Fri. was Captain Rob Kohli and Zac Coulter, picking up 2 goals and 2 assists each.  The other 2 goals were from Ethan Skinner and Quinten Bruce.  Mike Black earned the win with 28 saves on 31 shots.  On Sun., the team fell behind 2-0 to Guelph before tying the game in the second period with goals from Jake Moggy and Klayton Hoelscher.  Guelph then built up a 4-2 lead in the third period.  Ty Jackson brought the Kings to within 1, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 4-3 to the Hurricanes.

Brantford has been the surprise in the Midwest, with a perfect 4-0 record so far.  Currently, when you look at Pointstreak, it shows Brantford as being 5-0.  Somehow, their game on Fri. with Brampton, who they beat 2-0, is recorded twice.  The 99er’s goals were from Christian Polillo and Kyle Walker.  Rookie goalie Will Rawski picked up his second shut out of the season.

 

That’s 6 games this week.  I feel like the best games will be St. Thomas & Sarnia and Elmira & Brantford.  Everyone is watching the 99er’s since they’re the undefeated team in the Midwest right now.  I may head to Sarnia on Thurs. to check out them and St. Thomas.  I can’t go to LaSalle on Wed. and I haven’t decided whether I’m going to sit home and listen to it on the radio, or if I’ll go to the Western Fair.

Now that we have just over a week of games in, I’m going to start including the standings, so here they are:

 

Midwestern Conference

 

TEAM	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	HOME	AWAY
Brantford	4	4	0	0	0	8	1.000	15	6	56	2-0-0-0	2-0-0-0
Kitchener	4	3	1	0	0	6	.750	16	11	122	1-1-0-0	2-0-0-0
Stratford	4	2	1	1	0	5	.625	15	10	102	1-0-1-0	1-1-0-0
Guelph	5	2	2	1	0	5	.500	21	17	102	1-2-0-0	1-0-1-0
Elmira	4	2	2	0	0	4	.500	16	18	48	0-2-0-0	2-0-0-0
Waterloo	5	2	3	0	0	4	.400	13	15	136	2-1-0-0	0-2-0-0
Cambridge	3	1	2	0	0	2	.333	6	12	58	0-1-0-0	1-1-0-0
Listowel	3	1	2	0	0	2	.333	11	17	47	1-1-0-0	0-1-0-0
Brampton	4	0	3	0	1	1	.100	9	16	106	0-2-0-0	0-1-0-1

 

• Note that I have adjusted Brantford and Brampton’s stats to reflect that they’ve only played 4 games.

 

Western Conference

 

TEAM	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	PIM	HOME	AWAY
Leamington	5	4	1	0	0	8	.800	22	11	149	2-0-0-0	2-1-0-0
LaSalle	4	3	0	0	1	7	.875	20	11	106	2-0-0-0	1-0-0-1
Lambton Shores	4	2	1	0	1	5	.625	17	17	150	0-1-0-1	2-0-0-0
St. Thomas	4	2	2	0	0	4	.500	12	11	90	2-1-0-0	0-1-0-0
Strathroy	4	1	2	1	0	3	.375	8	18	104	0-0-0-0	1-2-1-0
Chatham	3	1	2	0	0	2	.333	11	12	170	1-1-0-0	0-1-0-0
Sarnia	3	1	2	0	0	2	.333	8	12	99	1-1-0-0	0-1-0-0
London	3	1	2	0	0	2	.333	5	14	77	1-0-0-0	0-2-0-0
St. Marys	4	0	3	0	1	1	.125	14	23	62	0-1-0-1	0-2-0-0

Photo Credit: Chatham Daily News