Major Junior Standings as of 1/11

As we get pass the 40 game mark of the Major Junior Season, the Western Hockey League is emerging as the most competitive league of the 3 right now.

Western Hockey League

It's going to be a great battle in the Eastern Conference as the top 4 teams (Saskatoon, Medicine Hat, Brandon and Calgary) are just separated by 4 points and all 4 teams are looking for a run to the top to win the WHL and joining the Brandon Wheat Kings in Manitoba in this year's Memorial Cup.

In the 5th spot, the Kootenay Ice have been on a hot streak by winning 9 in a row including wins over Saskatoon and Calgary in a 5 game homestead around the Holidays. Also a win over Medicine Hat as they were able to keep up with the Tigers up tempo offense. The rest of the East will be tight at the bottom of the Conference as Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Red Deer are tied for 6th through 8th while the Prince Albert Raiders are just a point back from the playoff race.

While the bottom of the Conference may be drifting away as the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Regina Pats and Edmonton Oil Kings are starting to struggle and may not make a challenge for a playoff spot this season.

The Western Conference has the Tri-City Americans are starting to pull away with a 6 point lead over B.C. Division Leading Vancouver. The Americans will have a chance to make that gap even bigger with a 6 game home stand with games against Portland and Vancouver will mark the highlights.

The U.S. division is tight with spots 2-5 being dominated by Portland, Everett and Spokane by just 2 points from each other and a potential playoff battle could be brewing as the Everett Silvertips and Spokane Chiefs would play each other while Portland would get Chilliwack right now.

Spots 6-8 in the B.C. Division will be tough, but the good news is that Seattle and Prince George are starting to drop off the pace, so the Chilliwack Bruins, Kamloops Blazers and Kelowna Rockets may not have to worry about who's in and who's out right now unless Seattle can get behind hot shot goalie Calvin Pickard to give them a chance in the 2nd half. For Prince George, they may be the worst team in the entire major junior who have won just 9 games all year and have next to nothing to help them this season.

Ontario Hockey League

The OHL has been very top heavy for the most part with 3 teams leading the way. Defending OHL and Memorial Cup Champions Windsor Spitfires look primed to possibly defend both titles as the Spitfires have a 13 point lead over the London Knights and Kitchener Rangers which will be the main battle for the 2nd spot in the Western Conference.

The rest of the West has a 4 point gap from the 4th Place Plymouth Whalers to the 7th place Erie Otters. Currently the Owen Sound Attack hold down the 8th and final playoff spot while it may be a long road for the Guelph Storm and Sarnia Sting who are 7 and 11 points back of the Owen Sound Attack.

Barrie is leading the West where the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors hope to chase them down with a 6 point gap right now with both teams having among the best defenses in the OHL where they have given up just 100 and 108 goals respectively, also both teams have goalies in the top 5 in GAA with Chris Carrozzi and Peter Di Savo that could have the capability to stipple the Windsor Spitfires. At the moment, Barrie has the edge has the Colts have won the last 2 over the Majors, back on 1/9, a 3-2 OT win took them down.

Elsewhere out East, who ever win the East Division is tight, but not very good. Ottawa is leading the East and has the 2nd spot with just 48 points but would be a huge underdog against Mississauga and Barrie. However, the good news is that rest of the Central Division is near the bottom of the Eastern Conference as they hold each of the last 4 spots 7-10 and that's going to be the main battle for the last 2 playoff spots in the OHL Eastern Conference.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

St. John continues to dominate the QMJHL after they had a 20 game winning streak earlier in the season with a 13 point lead over Moncton for the Atlantic Division Lead and a 9 point lead over the Drummondville Voltigeurs for the entire league.

Unless St. John falters the rest of the regular season, they are on the road to the #1 seed in the QMJHL Playoffs while Drummondville, Victoriaville and Quebec City will probably fight for the 2nd spot as the Division Champions get the top 4 spots for the QMJHL Playoffs.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, the Moncton Wildcats and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles will most likely battle for the 2nd spot in the Atlantic Division and could be a Division Round Matchup for the opening round of the playoffs while the P.E.I. Rockets are in 4th where a bad run in divisional play where they lost to Cape Breton both at home and on the road.

The East may have the best Division Title Race as the defending Champion Voltiguers are 4 points up. However, a surging Victoriaville Tigers team has won 8 of their last 11 to get within 4 points of the division Leading Voltigeurs including a loss against Drummondville where despite a 5-4 loss, they sent a message knowing that they can compete with them and they don't play again till February 5.

Quebec City is 6 points up on the Rimouski Oceanic as the hot start has cooled off as the Oceanic are starting to catch up on the Ramparts. In the rest of the Division the Chicoutimi Sagueneens will most likely be the 3rd spot while the Baie-Comeau Drakkar will be in the fight to get in on the final playoff spots as at this moment, they would not get in along with the Halifax Mooseheads who's currently 8-33-3 right now.

The West Division has the Rouyn-Nornda Huskies because of the Huskies winning 5 of their last 6 to help over the Gatineau Olympiques who have been basically brought to a halt in recent weeks as the Olympiques as they have given a lot of goals to some offensive challenged teams like giving up 6 against Lewiston and 5 against P.E.I. Recently. This division will be tight again but don't expect any QMJHL and Memorial Cup Champions to emerge from the West this year.

When we start reaching the 50 game mark of the season, I will start profiling playoff rances as we inch closer to the end of the regular season in Mid March for all 3 leagues.

Western Hockey League

Eastern Conference

1. Saskatoon 42 GP 29-9-4 62 PTS 148-121

2. Medicine Hat 47 GP 26-13-8 60 PTS 189-160

3. Brandon 44 GP 28-13-3 59 PTS 189-134

4. Calgary 42 GP 28-12-2 58 PTS 147-119

5. Kootenay 43 GP 25-15-3 53 PTS 154-128

6. Moose Jaw 41 GP 22-15-4 48 PTS 160-138

7. Swift Current 43 GP 23-18-2 48 PTS 143-144

8. Red Deer 43 GP 22-17-4 48 PTS 126-132

9. Prince Albert 45 GP 22-20-3 47 PTS 157-159

10. Regina 45 GP 18-24-3 39 PTS 157-176

11. Lethbridge 42 GP 14-23-5 33 PTS 114-156

12. Edmonton 44 GP 10-23-11 31 PTS 102-162


Western Conference

1. Tri-City 43 GP 31-11-1 63 PTS 171-111

2. Vancouver 46 GP 27-16-3 57 PTS 169-140

3. Portland 44 GP 26-16-2 54 PTS 163-153

4. Everett 44 GP 25-16-3 53 PTS 137-122

5. Spokane 43 GP 24-15-4 52 PTS 134-106

6. Chilliwack 46 GP 20-20-6 46 PTS 139-157

7. Kamloops 44 GP 19-20-5 43 PTS 150-182

8. Kelowna 45 GP 19-24-2 40 PTS 138-156

9. Seattle 43 GP 14-23-6 34 PTS 106-144

10. Prince George 43 GP 9-32-2 20 PTS 100-193


Ontario Hockey League

Eastern Conference

1. Barrie 40 GP 33-6-1 67 PTS 193-108

2. Ottawa 44 GP 21-17-6 48 PTS 153-146

3. Mississauga 41 GP 28-8-5 61 PTS 148-100

4. Kingston 42 GP 20-19-3 43 PTS 137-157

5. Peterborough 43 GP 20-20-3 43 PTS 140-171

6. Oshawa 42 GP 18-20-4 40 PTS 141-167

7. Sudbury 42 GP 17-20-5 39 PTS 124-157

8. Brampton 42 GP 14-19-9 37 PTS 100-119

9. Belleville 44 GP 14-23-7 35 PTS 120-159

10. Niagara 42 GP 13-24-5 31 PTS 120-159


Western Conference

1. Windsor 43 GP 34-5-4 72 PTS 219-123

2. London 41 GP 29-11-1 59 PTS 169-128

3. Kitchener 42 GP 28-11-3 59 PTS 177-133

4. Plymouth 44 GP 24-19-1 49 PTS 151-133

5. Saginaw 41 GP 21-16-4 46 PTS 153-153

6. Sault St. Marie 43 GP 21-18-4 46 PTS 148-138

7. Erie 42 GP 19-16-7 45 PTS 151-169

8. Owen Sound 44 GP 19-21-4 42 PTS 147-177

9. Guelph 41 GP 16-22-3 35 PTS 134-170

10. Sarnia 43 GP 14-26-3 31 PTS 113-173


Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

West Division

1. Rouyn-Nornda 45 GP 25-17-3 53 PTS 168-151

2. Gatineau 43 GP 22-18-3 47 PTS 157-129

3. Montreal 43 GP 21-19-3 45 PTS 135-129

4. Val-dor 43 GP 15-23-5 35 PTS 147-181


Central Division

1. Drummondville 45 GP 31-12-2 64 PTS 192-140

2. Victoriaville 44 GP 29-13-2 60 PTS 181-126

3. Shawinigan 43 GP 20-17-6 46 PTS 144-161

4. Lewiston 42 GP 16-25-1 33 PTS 128-171


East Division

1. Quebec City 44 GP 26-12-6 58 PTS 179-152

2. Rimouski 43 GP 23-14-6 52 PTS 159-160

3. Chicoutimi 42 GP 16-18-8 40 PTS 127-162

4. Baie-Comeau 42 GP 13-26-3 29 PTS 117-181


Atlantic Division

1. St. John 44 GP 36-7-1 73 PTS 191-119

2. Moncton 43 GP 28-11-4 60 PTS 168-109

3. Cape Breton 45 GP 25-15-5 55 PTS 147-126

4. P.E.I. 45 GP 23-18-4 50 PTS 147-151

5. Acadie-Bathurst 44 GP 15-24-5 35 PTS 132-191

6. Halifax 44 GP 8-33-3 19 PTS 108-188