Mississauga’s St. Michael’s Majors became the first OHL team to make the playoffs this season with their win over the Sarnia Sting 7-1 on Sunday,
January 30.
The Majors, who have a 37-8-2 record this season, set two franchise records in that game: they had 59 shots on net in total, with 36 shots on net coming in the first period.
The Majors boast a team of tremendous talent—from their forwards to their goalies, this team is determined to win. Head coach Dave Cameron was selected as head coach of Team Canada at the IIHF World Juniors that took place a month ago. Mississauga native Casey Cizikas also played at the World Juniors in Buffalo.
The Majors have hit the ground running when it comes to standings in the OHL. They lead the Eastern Conference with 80 points—the Niagara Ice Dogs, currently in second place, have 70 points. But just because they hold a 10-point lead over their competition doesn’t mean that they can relax. Mississauga will be hosting this year’s MasterCard Memorial Cup, and the Majors want to make sure that they give themselves any advantage possible to win the Cup. If they finish first overall in the standings, they will win the Hamilton Spectator Trophy and ensure themselves home ice advantage for the entire playoffs.
Majors goaltender JP Anderson leads the OHL with a 2.22 goals against average. This past week he was named Vaughn CHL Goaltender of the Week for the second timethis season.
The team’s leading point-getter is Justin Shugg, who was acquired from the Windsor Spitfires in a trade last August. In the 47 games he’s played so far, Shugg has 27 goals and 33 assists. He is ranked 19th on the OHL leaderboard.
In the 28 games that the Majors have played where they have been leading after the second period, they have gone 28-0-0.
The Majors appear to be the team to beat this year and they will look to continue their stellar play in late May when they host the Memorial Cup in Mississauga.
The Majors may have clinched a playoff birth but the second half of the season since the WJC has been tough despite the team adding some players.
They’ve lost their consistency and are dropping more and more points. Also, there’s a big gap in quality b/t the eastern and western conference and I’m afraid that even if we get to the finals, there are still 3 or 4 Western teams like Saginaw and Windsor who’re more likely to win. It would be nice to get into the Mem Cup by winning the OHL and not just by being the hosts.
Last night’s loss to Plymouth though shows how bad officiating can be in the CHL.