A clear division is emerging at the top of the OHL standings as most teams prepare for their last 20 games of the regular season.
Heading into Sunday’s games, the top six teams are separated by six points.
But even then, only three teams have 70 or more points — Brantford, Ottawa and Barrie, all of which take up residence in the Eastern Conference.
At the top of the table at 73 points is the Brantford Bulldogs, the clear offensive powerhouse of the league.
Over 47 games, Brantford has scored 214 goals, a dizzying 4.5 goals per game average.
No other team in the league has even netted 190 goals.
A big factor? Brantford’s powerplay, which is operating at 34.7 per cent success rate. It’s probably unsurprising the team has had the fewest powerplay opportunities of any the league.
Brantford also has a three-headed beast contributing on the scoresheet. There’s Marek Vanacker, who with 35 goals leads the OHL. Caleb Malhotra sits fifth in the points race with 67, while Jake O’Brien has 45 assists, good for fourth in the league.
It’s not fair to say a team this good has an achilles’ heel. The play at the backend isn’t quite as impressive as their offensive prowess, but Brantford still ranks third in the league for goals against, behind only Ottawa and Barrie.
Goaltending isn’t quite as strong as the two other members of the 70-point club.
Ryerson Leenders sits fifth in the league for wins but no Brantford netminder sits in the top-end of the OHL for goals against average, save percentage or shutouts.
The Ottawa 67’s and Barrie Colts rule the roost in the goalie stats category.
Ottawa’s Ryder Fetterolf leads the league in GAA with 1.91, while his teammate Jaeden Nelson is in fifth place at 2.41.
Ryder Fetterolf also leads the league in save percentage (.928) and shutouts (4), and sits in fourth place in wins with 22.
Ottawa has allowed the fewest goals of any team in the OHL this season (107). It sits at 73 points as well, but Brantford holds the tiebreaker.
Barrie is no slouch either. Arvin Jaswal has had two shutouts this year, good enough for fifth in the league. Teammate Ben Hrebik has the second best save percentage at .924.
Barrie has allowed 136 goals, good enough for fifth in the league. The Colts have 70 points this season.
Ottawa and Barrie also don’t lack firepower.
Ottawa ranks fifth in the league for goals (178), led by Jasper Kuhta (24) and Cooper Foster (21).
Barrie sits in eight at 167 goals, and has a balanced attack led by Brad Gardiner (23), Kashwan Aitcheson (22), Cole Beaudoin (19) and Ben Wilmott (19).
Since Brantford and Ottawa play in the same division, Barrie sits second in the standings per their place at top of the Central Division.
If the standings stay the same at the end of the season in mid-March, the teams likely wouldn’t face off in the playoffs until the second round.
But right now, it’s tough to bet against the road to the OHL’s Memorial Cup slot going through either Ottawa, Brantford or Barrie.
And that’s not just the stats talking. The CHL’s top 10 rankings for Jan. 27 featured all three teams, with Brantford landing at the fourth spot, Ottawa in sixth and Barrie at 10.
