Team Orr Beats Team Cherry In Top Prospects Skills Competition

Team Orr beat Team Cherry 15-9 at the Home Hardware CHL Top Prospects Game Skills Competition Tuesday in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Nick Ebert of the Windsor Spitfires (Team Cherry) had the hardest shot at 94.7 MPH. He was followed closely by Ryan Murray of the Everett Silvertips (Team Cherry) at 94.3 MPH. Team Orr recieved a point for the highest team average at 91.9 MPH.

Francis Beaullivier of Rimouski Oceanic (Team Orr) won the fastest skater with a time of 14.132 seconds. Team Orr also got the point for the fastest team average of 14.524 seconds.

Gianluca Curcuruto of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (Team Orr) beat out Scott Laughton of the Oshawa Generals (Team Cherry) in a playoff after both finished with 4 targets in 5 shots. The teams were tied at 13 for 28 and both received an extra points.

Radek Faksa of the Kitchener Rangers (Team Orr) also needed a playoff to beat Tim Bozon of the Kamloops Blazers (Team Cherry) in the Show-Down Breakaway Challenge. Faksa earned a score of 26 in the third playoff round to take the event. Team Orr took another team point with an average score of 22.3.

Team Orr had a 7-2 lead on Team Cherry heading into the 3 on 3, where Team Orr took the contest 8-7.

Other OHL Players involved in the skills competition were:

Gemel Smith of the Owen Sound Attack in the fastest skater event with a time of 14.907 (6th)
Adam Pelech of the Erie Otters in the hardest shot competition at 91.0 MPH  (6th)
Matt Finn of the Guelph Storm in the hardest shot competition at 90.1 MPH (7th)
Tom Wilson of the Plymouth Whalers in the shooting accuracy finishing 4/6 (3rd)
Scott Kosmachuk of the Guelph Storm in the breakaway challenge scored 20
Tanner Pearson of the Barrie Colts in the breakaway challenge scored 26
Andreas Athanasiou of the London Knights in the breakaway challenge scored 15
Daniil Zharkov of the Belleville Bulls in the breakaway challenge scores 21
Brendan Gaunce of the Belleville Bulls in the breakaway challenge scored 16
Dane Fox of the Erie Otters in the breakaway challenge scored 19

The Top Prospects game goes this evening at 10:00 PM Eastern On Rogers Sportsnet Nationally and TVA in Quebec. It is also available on the radio and on line at http://www.fan590.com/

Draft Eligible Statistical Update

With the season back underway after the holiday break and another OHL week completed, we have updated the statistical leaders for first time draft eligible players in the Ontario Hockey League. (Click the Stats tab at the top of this page).

Guelph's Matt Finn and Brampton's Dylan Blujus continue to climb up the scoring ranks for defensemen while still playing solid defensive games and are starting to draw a lot of attention from NHL scouts. Cody Ceci still leads all defensemen in goals, assists and points but has stumbled lately, possibly a let down from being cut from Team Canada ?

Despite only playing 26 games, Nail Yakupov of Sarnia still leads all players in goals, assists and points but Belleville's Brendan Gaunce only trails Yakupov by 1 goal as of Sunday, although he has played in 36 games. Owen Sound's Gemel Smith continues to create chances every time he's on the ice but the finish hasn't been there for he and his teammates.

Despite missing the last three games, Malcolm Subban of the Bulls leads all goaltenders in save percentage and goals against average.

Coming up tomorrow, we'll have the three stars for the week now that the season is back in full swing. On Wednesday we'll release my rankings for the top 20 skaters and top 5 goaltenders as of the end of December 2011, and we'll take a brief look at what's going on at the World Junior Championships. And later on in the week, we'll continue profiling players we haven't as of yet.

Kyle Woodlief Talks WJC, Canadian Goaltending, Risers and Fallers for 2012 And More

Red Line Report guru Kyle Woodlief writes in USA today about Canadian Goaltending and Team Canada at the World Junior Championships.

He also talks about risers and fallers for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft including guys like Matt Finn and Nick Ebert from the OHL as well as ranking RLR's top 10

Woodlief writes :

•Red Line had several good chances to see Guelph during the past month and came away mightily impressed with Matt Finn, which frankly was a big surprise to us. Back in August we watched him all week at Team Canada's under-18 evaluation camp in Calgary and came away thinking he was a cookie-cutter, ho-hum defenseman who showed nothing to get us excited.

Now, three months later, Finn is as dynamic (if not more so) as all the other Ontario Hockey League blue-liners we had rated way ahead of him coming into the season. In fact, he's right in the middle of the mix with Olli Maatta, Slater Koekkoek, Cody Ceci, Gianluca Curcuruto, and the thoroughly disappointing Nick Ebert. And if he continues on his current development arc, it's not much of a stretch to think we could have him passing all five of those OHL defenders in our rankings over the course of the season's second half.

Read the full article here

3 Stars For Week Ending December 11, 2011

Here are your 3 stars for draft eligible players in the OHL for the week ending December 11, 2011.

1st Star - Radek Faksa - Kitchener Rangers : We can't say enough about how far Faksa's game has come since he came over to the OHL. Kitchener started the week with a 4-2 victory over London in which Faksa registered 2 assists including the set up on the game winning goal. They followed that with a 3-2 loss against Windsor in which he was kept off the board. The Rangers ended the week with a 6-1 victory over Mississauga in which Faksa had a short handed goal and 2 assists. It was his goal that put the nail in the coffin and just about ensured there would e no comeback.

2nd Star - Matt Finn - Guelph Storm : Like a good wine, Finn gets better and better with time. Statistically, it wasn't one of his better weeks but his play at both ends of the rink opened a lot of eyes. Guelph struggle throughout the week beginning with an 8-5 loss to Barrie. Finn notched a goal and 2 assists in the loss. That was followed by a 1 assist effort in a 6-1 loss to Owen Sound where he was on the ice for just 1 goal against. They ended the week with a 2-1 OT loss to London in which Finn played every situation and logged lots of ice time.

3rd Star - Adam Lloyd - Brampton Battalion : We have a new kid on the block in Lloyd coming in at number 3. Brampton played 3 games in 3 nights beginning with a 7-4 win over Kingston in which Lloyd notched 2 goals. The next night they beat Barrie 4-1 with Lloyd contributing a goal and an assist. They closed out the week with a 5-2 victory over Kingston in the rematch of Friday's game in which Lloyd was held off the score sheet but played a terrific defensive game.

For a list of winners from previous weeks, and a list of voters of the 3 stars, click the 3 star tab at the top of the page.

Draft tracker: 5 questions with Matt Finn, Guelph Storm

Neate Sager and our friends over at Buzzing The Net did a feature and  Q & A with the Guelph Storm`s Matt Finn.


The Western Hockey League has its fantastic five of defencemen who could be selected in the first round of the NHL draft, but the OHL also has a good class of defenders. Finn's name probably isn't on the tip of as many tongues as some others in Ontario. It is hard to stay under the radar when a 17-year-old logs 20-plus minutes per night against the other team's top line and is also the youngest player who's among the league's top 10 in points by a defenceman.


"His conditioning is 100 times better this season," says Walker, whose Storm are punching their weight in the OHL's Western Conference, off to an 8-5-1-2 start despite a young lineup. "If you can imagine a 16-year-old being out of shape, he was. I had my year-end meeting with him and I said, 'you can be a top 10 player or in the top seven rounds, you got to decide.' That's really ultimately on the player and, man, he went home and came back in phenomenal shape. I give full credit to him.


You can read the full article here

2012 Draft Could Be About Defense

Every year, a player jumps out of nowhere to climb up NHL draft charts, or at least higher than expected. Think Mark Scheifele in 2011. Or Jeff Skinner in 2010.

In 2012, you could be looking at a defenseman to make that jump. Or Quite possibly a goaltender. The OHL hasn't produced a high profile goaltender in the last few years, at least in his draft year. Malcolm Subban (Belleville) and Daniel Altshuller (Oshawa) were the early favorites coming into the season but Matt Murray (Soo Greyhounds) has opened a lot of eyes through the first few weeks of the season.

While Subban has struggled and even given up starts, Altshuller has come as advertised and then some. But Murray has exceeded even his highest expectations.

But the biggest surprise could come from the defense. It is quite possible that we will see half a dozen defensemen taken in the first round, and that is from the OHL alone. Early favorites Nick Ebert (Windsor), Cody Ceci (Ottawa) and Slater Koekkoek (Peterborough) should be there.

It's the next tier where it gets interesting. Olli Maatta is starting to find his groove in London. Jesse Graham is struggling right now in Niagara but should rebound. Alex Gudbranson is in a tough situation in Kingston, where many expect them to finish last.

On the rise is Dylan Blujus who currently leads all defensemen in goals with 4 in 6 games. Matt Finn who is as pleasant a surprise as his Brampton Battalion, is tied for points with Ceci among first time draft eligible defensemen with 8 in 7 games.

One thing is for certain, NHL scouts will have their eyes full with these kids.

3 Stars For Week Ending October 9, 2011

The votes are in for a very tight week of voting for last weeks Draft Eligible OHL 3 stars of the week.

1st Star - Luke Cairns, Erie Otters : The Otters were off to a terrible start at 0-4 and Cairns, playing in his second game of the week, led Erie to their first victory of the season - a 7-5 victory over defending champ Owen Sound - where he tallied 2 goals and 3 assists. In a rematch the following night, he was a bright spot for the Otters in a 6-3 defeat where he tallied another goal.

2nd Star - Matt Finn, Guelph Storm : The Storm are off to a surprising start and the biggest surprise has to be the play of Finn. Finn registered a goal and an assists in a 4-3 overtime loss to Brampton and followed that up with a 2 assist victory over Saginaw 6-3. Finn sits near the top of all statistical leaders of draft eligible players.

3rd Star - Brendan Gaunce, Belleville Bulls : Gaunce led his Bulls to 4-2 victory over Oshawa and 3-0 victory over Kingston where he registered 1 goal and 1 assist in each contest. The Bulls Alternate Captain now has 4 goals and 4 assists in 7 games and has been a model of consistency from the get go.

Honorable Mentions : Radek Faksa (Kitchener), Nail Yakupov (Sarnia) Michael Clarke (Windsor)

For the season long winners and a list of voters, click on the 3 stars tab at the top of the page.

Matt Finn

Matt Finn - Guelph Storm

6'0" - 197 LBS
D.O.B. February 24, 1994

Matt Finn was the Storm's first round pick, 12th overall in the 2010 OHL Priority Draft and is entering his second season in Guelph. He recorded 3 goals and 18 assists in 60 games during his rookie season and followed that up with 3 assists in 5 playoff games.

Prior to being drafted, Finn played Midget AAA for the Toronto Marlboros where he scored 22 times and added 35 assists. In 2010-2011 he played for the gold medal champion Team Ontario at the World Under 17 Hockey Challenge where he scored once in 5 games. This all led to Finn making the NHL Central Scouting's B list of players to watch for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Finn is an extremely mobile defenseman with very good skating ability. He has excellent vision and can make a very good first pass and adept at carrying the puck. Defensively, his skating allows him to be positionally sound. He defends with an active stick that's always in the passing lanes.

Finn has decent size and seems to enjoy the physical game. He's not afraid to throw a check nor take a hit to make a play. He sometimes however, goes out of his way to try and make a hit. With experience, he'll learn to pick his situations carefully which will make that much better defensively.

Finn is playing for a somewhat depleted Guelph team after last season, but he, as well as his team, are off to a fantastic start this season. Guelph is off to a 3-1-1 start and Finn has contributed a goal and 3 assists in those 5 contests.

While he is not at the level of the Ceci's and Koekkoek's, and may never be, he could very well be near the top of the next level of defenders.

Photo courtesy of selectshockey.com