It’s playoff time for many local junior hockey clubs.
While the Niagara IceDogs have a couple more weeks left in their regular season in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and the Niagara Falls Canucks failed to qualify for the postseason in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL), six other Niagara based junior hockey clubs are in the playoffs.
The IceDogs currently sit in sixth place in the OHL Eastern Conference standings and would play the third seeded Ottawa 67’s if the postseason began today.
Niagara forward, and Vancouver Canucks draft pick, Riley Patterson is currently fifth in league goal scoring with 36 tallies on the campaign.
Follow the Niagara IceDogs down the stretch at niagaraicedogs.net and the OHL at chl.ca/ohl/
In the Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOHL) the St. Catharines Falcons will finish second in the 11-team Eastern Conference and play either the Ayr Centennials or Caledonia Corvairs in the opening round of the playoffs.
The third place Fort Erie Meteors, who rolled off a 19-game win streak during the regular season, will face the sixth-seeded Brantford Titans.
The Meteors have given up a league-low 111 goals on the season and feature the league’s leading scorer in Sam Tonelli and his 87 points on the season.
The four-five matchup is an all-Niagara first round showdown as the Pelham Panthers (four seed) will puck it up with the Port Colborne Sailors who are by far the least penalized team in the east.
The Cambridge Redhawks were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
To follow the GOHL visit gohl.ca
As for the PJHL – Provincial Junior Hockey League – the first round of the playoffs is already in the books.
The Niagara RiverHawks swept aside the Dunnville Mudcats, while the perennial powerhouse Grimsby Peach Kings survived a scare, needing a Game 7 overtime victory, battling back from being down three games to one to outlast the Port Dover Sailors.
The RiverHawks and Peach Kings begin their second round all Niagara playoff series Friday night in Grimsby. The Peach Kings gave up a division-low 115 goals, while the RiverHawks were the least-penalized team in the South Bloomfield.
Niagara’s Connor Thomson-Dick was the top-scoring defenseman during the regular season with 63 points.
The Dundas Blues were the top-seed in the South Bloomfield Division with the Peach Kings finishing second and the RiverHawks third.
For more information on the PJHL, check out pjhl.ca
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
