OHL Power Rankings: Week 13 – Jan. 1, 2024

Happy New Year! Here’s a fresh delivery of OHL Power Rankings to kick-off the month of January.

Who’s up:

Saginaw Spirit – up one spot to #1 this week
The Spirit came up short in their first crack at the Soo Greyhounds last week, but built-off a strong showing from Alex Christopoulos in Saturday’s 5-4 overtime win over the Windsor Spitfires, travelling north to defeat the Greyhounds 4-3 thanks to a pair of goals from Michael Misa on Sunday. The Greyhounds continue to lead the West Division with a four-point cushion on Saginaw, but the Spirit aren’t going away, coming out of the weekend with a record of 22-10-0-1.

London Knights – up one spot to #4 this week
After languishing in the middle of the Power Rankings for a few weeks, the Knights seem to have found what they were missing, even despite the absence of key contributors Oliver Bonk, Easton Cowan and Kasper Halttunen who are off on World Junior duty. London has won six in a row, defeating Sarnia twice last week before besting the Flint Firebirds 5-3 on Sunday. After coming up short in his pursuit of a roster spot on Canada’s National Junior Team, Denver Barkey has played like a man on a mission while 2024 NHL Draft prospect Sam Dickinson and 19-year-old winger Ruslan Gazizov have both been outstanding. Max McCue has goals in nine consecutive games. He served the first game of a three-game suspension on Sunday.

Sudbury Wolves – up three spots to #6 this week
The Wolves were hungry this past week, scampering up to the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a shootout loss to Barrie followed-up by wins over both North Bay and West Division-leading Sault Ste. Marie. Sudbury is a veteran-heavy crew with lots to prove this season. Defenceman Nick DeAngelis has pushed his current point streak to 17 games, the longest the OHL has seen this season. 2024 NHL Draft prospect Kieron Walton, who will attend the Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game later this month, scored his first career OHL hat-trick in Friday’s win over North Bay.

Erie Otters – up two spots to #9 this week
They’re the fourth-place team in a tough Midwest Division, but the Erie Otters have cracked the top-10 in this week’s Power Rankings thanks to victories over Niagara and Brantford to close out the weekend. Sophomore forward Malcolm Spence put on a show in the absence of World Junior attendees Carey Terrance (USA) and Martin Misiak (Slovakia) Saturday night, scoring a pair of shorthanded goals while adding two assists as the Otters outgunned the visiting IceDogs. Ben Gaudreau, the OHL’s winningest active goaltender, locked-down career victories #70 and #71 last week.

Kingston Frontenacs – up two spots to #13 this week
The Frontenacs showed some real spunk last week, lighting up the Peterborough Petes for nine goals on Friday before winning a second straight trip to Ottawa on Saturday, with Jacob Battaglia, Paul Ludwinski, Matthew Soto and Chris Thibodeau all coming away with multi-point totals. Overage blueline acquisition Roman Schmidt has been a big boost, recording seven points (3-4–7) through his first five games in black and gold.

Barrie Colts – up two spots to #15 this week
The Colts are back on the list this week, defeating rival Sudbury in a shootout, stumbling in Brantford, only to recover and leap-frog the Owen Sound Attack with a 5-2 triumph on New Year’s Eve. With the calendar turning to 2024, the Colts sit five points back of Oshawa and Peterborough for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Colts got some positive news with the return of overage centreman Jacob Frasca to the lineup this past week.

Who’s down:

Soo Greyhounds – down one spot to #2 this week
The Soo Greyhounds topped the OHL Power Rankings for back-to-back weeks, but it’s hard to stay on top of the mountain. Sault Ste. Marie defeated Saginaw in their first game back from the back before taking consecutive losses, first to Sudbury before the Spirit had their revenge in a 4-3 outcome on Sunday at GFL Memorial Gardens. The Hounds have missed captain Bryce McConnell-Barker to injury of late while key pieces Owen Allard (Canada) and Arttu Karki (Finland) are off at the World Juniors.

Guelph Storm – down one spot to #5 this week
The Stormers took wins over Erie and Flint before closing-out the 2023 calendar in forgettable fashion, dropping a 6-5 overtime loss in Niagara on Sunday night, putting an end to their five-game winning streak. 2024 NHL Draft prospect Jett Luchanko continues to perform as one of the league’s top playmakers, picking up a goal and five assists last week while Braeden Bowman has put the biscuit in the basket, adding three more goals during last week’s action.

North Bay Battalion – down one spot to #7 this week
The Troops defeated the Ottawa 67’s before being doubled-up by a score of 8-4 by the Sudbury Wolves on Friday. The Battalion enter the 2024 calendar year off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Oshawa Generals on Sunday. Anthony Romani rides a current 12-game point streak that has seen him pile up 22 points (9-13–22) in that span. The Central Division is very tight, with North Bay sitting just three points out of first behind Sudbury and Mississauga.

Mississauga Steelheads – down one spot to #8 this week
The Trout dropped two of three last week, losing to both Windsor and Peterborough, with a win over the Petes sandwiched in-between. 2025 NHL Draft prospect Porter Martone scored three goals in as many games last week, giving him a club-leading 27 over 34 games this season. Mississauga was short a few bodies last week, with forwards Angus MacDonell and Lucas Karmiris as well as blueliner Jakub Fibigr all dealing with injuries.

Ottawa 67’s – down three spots to #11 this week
It wasn’t the return from the break the 67’s were hoping for as they lost to North Bay and Kingston, losing their East Division lead in the process. Like some other teams, Ottawa has been dealing with injuries as veterans Chris Barlas, Jack Dever and Derek Smyth didn’t see the ice this past weekend while Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Cooper Foster continues to serve a suspension.

Peterborough Petes – down one spot to #14 this week
The up-and-down season of the defending champions continues as Peterborough was drubbed by a score of 9-1 in Kingston on Thursday before falling 4-1 to the Mississauga Steelheads a night later. The fine goaltending of Liam Sztuska was largely responsible for two points on Sunday as he stopped all 52 Mississauga shots he faced in a 4-0 victory. The Petes have lost eight of 10, but continue to hold down a playoff position.

Owen Sound Attack – down two spots to #16 this week
The Bears got all their goal-scoring done against the Niagara IceDogs on Thursday as Deni Goure set a new single game points record with eight in a 10-2 decision at the Bayshore on Thursday. From there, Owen Sound dropped consecutive 5-2 decisions against Kitchener and Barrie. The Attack dropped to fifth-place in the Midwest Division, but the week did include a big piece of positive news as captain Colby Barlow returned to the lineup after a 16-game absence due to injury.

Sarnia Sting – down one spot and off the list this week
The Sting ended 2023 in thrilling fashion, defeating the Windsor Spitfires 6-5 in overtime on Sunday. The previous two outings weren’t much to write home about though, as they dropped consecutive decisions against the London Knights, being outscored 11-3 in the process.