League Rankings as of 1/25

Here's a look at league rankings for the Major Junior, Canadian Junior A and NCAA Rankings as we reach the playoff and tournament runs are starting to get into high gear.

Major Junior

The St. John Seadogs have used their amazing 38-7-1 mark as the best record in the QMJHHL and with a 22 game winning streak earlier this season have put the Seadogs on a blistering pace to finish as the best team in the regular season and the top team when the QMJHL Playoffs begin in March. Just below them are the OHL Power Houses Windsor Spitfires and Barrie Colts who are the tops in the Eastern and Western Conference as the Barrie Colts for the first time this year have leap froged the defending OHL & Memorial Cup Champion Spitfires and could be on a crash course for the OHL Championship in the spring.

With both teams having big leads in their respective conferences will make it tough for teams like the Mississauga St. Micheal's Majors and the Kitchener Rangers to catch up.

The top team out west is the Tri-City Americans who are widing their gap in the Western Hockey League and will be racing with teams like the Saskatoon Blades to catch the top spot and having home ice advantage throughout the entire playoffs in the Western Hockey League. Saskatoon and Victoriaville both jumped up a couple of spots as the main contenders for home ice advantage to challenge St. John and Tri-City in their respective leagues.

The Drummondville Voltigeurs have allowed the Tigers take the top spot in the QMJHL Central Division and that will most likely be the best Division Race in the QMJHL and could be the best in the entire major junior.

Other big division races to watch for is the Central Division in the WHL between Kootenay, Calgary and Medicine Hat. Also the Midwest Division in the OHL between the London Knights and the Kitchener Rangers which will most likely bee for the 2nd seed in the Western Conference.

At the tail end of the rankings is the Brandon Wheat Kings have jumped up from 10 to 9 while the London Knights contending for the Midwest Division Title has them up into the 10th and final spot in the rankings. As for this weeks Honorable Mentions, they are the Moncton Wildcats, Medicine Hat Tigers who was 9th in last weeks rankings and the Kitchener Rangers.

1 (2). St. John Seadogs (QMJHL) (38-7-1)

2 (3). Barrie Colts (OHL) (36-6-1)

3 (1). Windsor Spitfires (OHL) (35-7-4)

4 (4). Tri-City Americans (WHL) (35-11-1)

5 (6). Saskatoon Blades (WHL) (32-9-5)

6 (8). Victoriaville Tigers (QMJHL) (33-13-2)

7 (7). Mississauga St. Micheal's Majors (OHL) (31-8-5)

8 (5). Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) (33-13-2)

9 (10). Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) (30-15-3)

10 (NR). London Knights (OHL) (31-11-2)


Honorable Mentions

Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) (30-11-4)

Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) (27-15-8)

Kitchener Rangers (OHL) (29-12-4)



Canadian Junior A Rankings

The top 3 on this rankings have been unchanged, Alberta Power Spruce Groove contuines to run away with the North Division with a 15 point lead with 12 games left in the season. Players like Nate Fleming and Jason Lazowski are looking to be the big time favorites to win the AJHL Championship and be a big time contenders like the Vernon Vipers and Pentiction Vees when the teams reach the RBC Cup National Championship in Dauphin, Manitoba (Home of the Dauphin Kings).

Elsewhere in the top 5 is the Kingston Voyageurs and the Grande Prairie Storm round out the top 5 as the main leagues that could have the best shot to produce this year's RBC Cup National Tournament is the BCHL, AJHL and the OJAHL as 2 teams from each of these 3 leagues make up the top 6.

Manitoba's top team during the year is this year's RBC Cup National Tournament host Dauphin Kings at #7. Being the national hosts, the Kings were looking to be a big time contender and having a shot to win on home soil, Dauphin is currently in a 16 point lead in the Sherwood Division and should be the #1 seed in the MJHL Playoffs.

The Kings also have 3 of the top 5 scores in the league in Ryan Dreger (84 PTS), Shane Luke (77 PTS), and Bryce Lamb (76 PTS) have been leading the way in Manitoba all year long.

Toping out the top 10 is the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL), the top Maritime Junior League team in the Woodstock Slammers (MJAHL) and the Central Jr. A Leagues (Brockville Braves).

No major Jumpers and fallers this week as teams like Georgetown and Westside all jumped a spot this week will the rest of the spots were kept near the same this week. The bottom 5 Ft. Mcmuarry, Weyburn, Flin Foln, Burlington, and Abitibi all rounded out the top 20 this week.

As for this weeks Honorable Mentions were the Okotoks Oilers (AJHL), Norte Dame Hounds (SJHL), Selkirk Steelers (MJHL), Bowmanville Eagles (CCHL), Truro Bearcats (MJAHL).

1 (1). Spruce Groove Saints (AJHL)

2 (2). Vernon Vipers (BCHL)

3 (3). Penticton Vees (BCHL)

4 (6). Kingston Voyageurs (OJAHL)

5 (4). Grande Prairie Storm (AJHL)

6 (7). Oakville Blades (OJAHL)

7 (5). Dauphin Kings (MJHL)

8 (9). Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL)

9 (8). Woodstock Slammers (MJAHL)

10 (11). Brockville Braves (CJAHL)

11 (10). Georgetown Raiders (OJAHL)

12 (12). Pembroke Lumber Kings (CJAHL)

13 (14). Westside Warriors (BCHL)

14 (13). Ft. William North Stars (SIJHL)

15 (15). Ft. Mcmurray Oil Barons (AJHL)

16 (16). Weyburn Red Wings (SJHL)

17 (18). Flin Foln Bombers (SJHL)

18 (17). Burlington Cougars (CCHL)

19 (19). Abitibi Eskimos (NOJHL)

20 (20). Terrebonne Cobras (LHJAAAQ)


Honorable Mentions

Okotoks Oilers (AJHL)

Norte Dame Hounds (SJHL)

Selkirk Steelers (MJHL)

Bowmanville Eagles (CCHL)

Truro Bearcats (MJAHL)

Here's a look at the league codes and the number of teams they got in the rankings.

British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) (4)

Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) (4)

Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) (3)

Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) (2)

Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) (1)

Ontario Junior A Hockey League (OJAHL) (3)

Central Canadian Hockey League (CCHL) (2)

Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (1)

Central Junior A Hockey League (CJAHL) (1)

Quebec Junior A Hockey League (LHJAAAQ) (1)

Maritime Junior A Hockey League (MJAHL) (2)


NCAA Rankings

After losing the top ranking for the 1st time this season, the Miami of Ohio Redhawks have gotten the top spot back as a battle with Michigan State for the top spot of the CCHA. Other's getting votes this week is Wisconsin and Denver who are the top 2 teams in the WCHA as that conference has been among the best in the country this season. Rounding out the top 5 are North Dakota and St. Cloud State who has risen 7 spots from #12 to #5 this week.

The other big jumper is Bemidji State after an impressive weekend sweep of WCHA power Minn-Duluth where the Beavers won on both home and away ice to move up from #14 to #7 this week.

Rounding out the top 10 is Cornell, Minnesota Duluth who lossed two big games to Bemidji State has dropped 5 spots from #4 to #9 while Ferris State rounds out the #10 this week.

The bottom half of the top 20 has a number of Hockey East Teams every spot from #13 to #17 as the Hockey East Conference has been very balanced this year as New Hampshire has a 5 point lead over U-MASS and Boston College who are tied for 2nd with 20 points while Mass-Lowell and Maine are 2 and 3 points back of the Boston College and U-Mass who are tied for 2nd in the Hockey East Conference.

The final few spots in this weeks top 20 is Union which fell 5 spots from #13 to #18, Maine jumped up 1 spot to #19 while one new team in Michigan who's been having a down season right now, but has been against some weak competition against the likes of Michigan Tech, Ferris State and Alaska-Fairbanks who's only in 5th in the CCHA right now.

The rankings go by current rank, the previous rank, the number of first place votes, the Conference, overall record and the Number of Points they got in this weeks rankings.

1 (2). Miami of Ohio (37) (CCHA) (16-4-6) 984 PTS

2 (3). Wisconsin (8) (WCHA) (14-6-4) 938 PTS

3 (1). Denver (5) (WCHA) (14-6-4) 917 PTS

4 (5). North Dakota (WCHA) (13-8-5) 748 PTS

5 (12). St. Cloud State (WCHA) (16-7-3) 679 PTS

6 (6). Yale (ECAC) (11-5-3) 637 PTS

7 (14). Bemijdi State (CHA) (17-5-2) 633 PTS

8 (9). Cornell (ECAC) (10-5-3) 631 PTS

9 (4). Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA) (16-9-1) 622 PTS

10 (8). Ferris State (CCHA) (17-7-2) 601 PTS

11 (7). Colorado College (WCHA) (14-9-3) 590 PTS

12 (10). Michigan State (CCHA) (16-8-4) 480 PTS

13 (16). New Hampshire (Hockey East) (12-7-4) 436 PTS

14 (11). Boston College (Hockey East) (12-8-2) 345 PTS

15 (15). U-Mass (Hockey East) (15-9-0) 326 PTS

16 (19). Mass-Lowell (Hockey East) (14-9-2) 226 PTS

17 (17). Vermont (Hockey East) (12-8-2) 214 PTS

18 (13). Union (ECAC) (13-6-5) 210 PTS

19 (20). Maine (Hockey East) (11-9-2) 69 PTS

20 (NR). Michigan (CCHA) (14-11-1) 68 PTS


Other's getting Votes: St. Lawrence 47 PTS, Lake Superior 41 PTS, Norte Dame 12 PTS, Alaska 10 PTS, Minnesota 6 PTS, Quinnipiac 6 PTS, RIT 3 PTS

Conference Set up

Atlantic Hockey (Atlantic Hockey): 0 Teams

CCHA (Central Collegeaite Hockey Assocation) 4 Teams

CHA (College Hockey America) 1 Team

ECAC (East Coast Atheltic Conference) 3 Teams

Hockey East (Hockey East) 6 Teams

WCHA (Western Collegeaite Hockey Assocation) 6 Teams