Redhawks finish historic season atop final edition of GOHL Power Rankings
1. Cambridge Redhawks (45-5-0-0)
Last week: W 2-1 at Caledonia
With the win over Caledonia, the Redhawks tied the GOHL record with their 45th win of the season — a record reached three times by the Corvairs. Brandon Balcar made 45 saves against the Corvairs for his league-leading 24th win of the season.
Cambridge started the season with 23 straight wins, and ended the campaign with 10 consecutive wins.
Number of weeks in rankings: 20/20; high: #1 (19 weeks); low: #2 (1 week)
Up next: Eastern Conference Quarter-final: (1) Cambridge vs. (8) Caledonia
2. St. Catharines Falcons (42-6-2-0)
Last week: W 4-1 vs Port Colborne, W 3-2 vs Welland
Ally Mostafaie scored his team-leading 22nd and 23rd goals of the season for the Falcons in the win over the Sailors. Calvin Petrovsky scored the winner with 1:40 left in the third period against the Canadians to give the Falcons their 7th straight home win and league-leading 13th one-goal win of the season.
Number of weeks in rankings: 20/20; high: #2 (11 weeks); low: #4 (3 weeks)
Up next: Eastern Conference Quarter-final: (2) St. Catharines vs. (7) Ayr
3. Chatham Maroons (37-8-2-3)
Last week: W 6-2 at #5 Elmira, W 5-2 at Komoka, W 3-2 (SO) vs #10 Stratford
Max Skinner and Alexander Lisi each scored twice and veteran defenceman Aydan Doyle recorded his 100th career GOHL point with an assist to lead the Maroons to the impressive win in Elmira as Chatham won the season series with the Sugar Kings 3-1. In Komoka, it was Ian Lachance‘s turn to the 100 career point mark with a pair of assists in the win over the Kings. Santiago Jimenes scored in the 10th round of the shootout against the Warriors to give the Maroons their 11th straight win to end the season and clinch the team’s first Stan Moore Memorial Trophy as Western Conference regular season champs since 2013.
Number of weeks in rankings: 20/20; high: #3 (3 weeks); low: #10 (1 week)
Up next: Western Conference Quarter-final: (1) Chatham vs. (8) St. Thomas
4. Fort Erie Meteors (39-9-2-0)
Last week: L 2-5 vs Hamilton, W 5-1 vs Port Colborne
The Meteors suffered the upset loss in Hamilton despite outshooting the Kilty B’s 48-24. Sam Tonelli had a point in each game and ended the season as the league’s leading scorer. Tonelli — who started the month of February 9 points back of the GOHL scoring lead — scored 22 points in his last 11 games, becoming the first-ever Meteor to claim the league scoring title.
Number of weeks in rankings: 19/20; high: #2 (3 weeks); low: #9 (1 week)
Up next: Eastern Conference Quarter-final: (3) Fort Erie vs. (6) Brantford
5. Elmira Sugar Kings (36-10-2-1)
Last week: L 2-6 vs #3 Chatham, W 4-3 (OT) at #6 St. Marys, W 8-2 vs Sarnia
The good news for the Sugar Kings was the return of netminder Reed Straus who had not played since February 7. The bad news was getting outshot 48-24 and outscored 6-3 in the first-place showdown with the Maroons. Brendan Gerber‘s unassisted breakaway goal in overtime (video) against the Lincolns resulted in a three-way tie for first place in the Western Conference standings heading into the final two days of the season. The Sugar Kings finished the season with a 13-8 record against ranked opponents.
In the season finale, Kyle Morey scored his 28th goal and added 3 assists to set a new franchise record with his 86th point of the season.
Number of weeks in rankings: 20/20; high: #1 (1 week); low: #7 (1 week)
Up next: Western Conference Quarter-final: (2) Elmira vs. (7) LaSalle
6. St. Marys Lincolns (36-11-3-0)
Last week: W 8-3 at St. Thomas, L 3-4 (OT) vs #5 Elmira
Owen Voortman recorded his second career hat trick to lead the Lincolns to the convincing win in St. Thomas and keep alive their hopes for first place. Those hopes were pretty much ended when they suffered their second overtime loss to the Sugar Kings of the season. The Lincolns finished with a 12-5-2 record against ranked opponents on the season.
Number of weeks in rankings: 20/20; high: #2 (1 week); low: #7 (1 week)
Up next: Western Conference Quarter-final: (3) St. Marys vs. (6) Strathroy
7. Pelham Panthers (32-17-0-1)
Last week: W 6-1 vs Ayr
In the season finale, AP callup Jesse Bruce scored twice and added an assist in his first GOHL game as the Panthers finished the season with 32 wins and 65 points — the highest totals for the franchise since 2012-13 when they were the Port Colborne Sailors.
Number of weeks in rankings: 12/20; high: #7 (1 week); low: #10 (2 weeks)
Up next: Eastern Conference Quarter-final: (4) Pelham vs. (5) Port Colborne
8. London Nationals (32-16-1-1)
Last week: L 4-5 vs #9 Strathroy, L 2-3 at #9 Strathroy
In the front end of the home-and-home with the Rockets, Raiden Doxtator scored the apparent game winner late in the game, only to have Strathroy steal the win with two goals within the next minute, snapping the Nationals’ 6-game home win streak. With the second loss to the Rockets, London ended the season winless in their last four (0-3-0-1), and will face the Warriors — who ended their season 0-4-1-0.
Number of weeks in rankings: 19/20; high: #6 (2 weeks); low: #9 (4 weeks)
Up next: Western Conference Quarter-final: (4) Stratford vs. (5) London
9. Strathroy Rockets (26-21-2-1)
Last week: W 5-4 at #8 London, W 3-2 vs #8 London
In the first of two against London, the Rockets fell behind 4-3 late in the third and rallied with two goals in a span of 26 seconds for the impressive win. In the rematch three nights later in Strathroy, Connor Crandon‘s 4th goal of the season — and first since November — midway through the third period was the eventual game winner as the Rockets improved their record against ranked opponents to 10-12-3-0.
Number of weeks in rankings: 2/20; high: #10 (2 weeks); low: #10 (2 weeks)
Up next: Western Conference Quarter-final: (3) St. Marys vs. (6) Strathroy
10. Stratford Warriors (30-12-4-3)
Last week: L 2-3 vs Waterloo, L 2-3 (SO) at #3 Chatham
The loss to the Siskins extended the Warriors’ winless streak to three (0-2-1-0). Max Wildfong‘s second goal of the game late in the third period to force overtime, giving the Warriors the single point needed to claim 4th place and home-ice advantage in their first round playoff series against London. Stratford ended the season with a record of 8-11-3-1 against ranked opponents.
Number of weeks in rankings: 20/20; high: #5 (3 weeks); low: #10 (2 weeks)
Up next: Western Conference Quarter-final: (4) Stratford vs. (5) London
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