The rich just keep on getting richer.

Already the top team in the Ontario Hockey League this season and odds-on favourite to win the league title, the Windsor Spitfires just added another gem to their future lineup. Windsor general manager Warren Rychel signed their first round pick, defenceman Cam Fowler, to an OHL contract effective next season.

"We're really excited," said Rychel, who referred to Fowler's signing as one of the franchise's most significant moves since his ownership group bought the team in 2006.

The team drafted Fowler 17th overall in last May's Priority Selection, knowing he was committed to stay with the United States Development Program through this season. He was originally drafted by the Kitchener Rangers 18th overall the previous year but became available by re-entering the draft after the Rangers were unsuccessful in signing him.

While the move appeared as a gamble for the Spitfires, the quick emergence of young stars such as Taylor Hall and Ryan Ellis, both sophomores, gave Windsor the depth to wait for Fowler.

"It was a shock to people taking him but it seems like it was the right move," Rychel said. "We're very fortunate to have him, especially a player of that caliber, he's going to be an impact player right away. He's going to make our top four D very, very solid here with (Mark) Cundari, (Jesse) Blacker and obviously Ellis. We're going to have a real good defensive core next year."

Rychel projects Fowler as a two-way defenceman with puck-rushing ability whose best attribute is his skating. The Spitfires, however, don't anticipate Fowler to be in uniform beyond next season where he is a potential top 10 pick in the National Hockey League draft.

With three weeks remaining in regular season play, the Spitfires have already clinched the Hamilton Spectator Trophy as regular season champions. The team clinched the trophy on Feb. 19 in an 8-2 win over the Erie Otters, giving the team home ice through the OHL playoffs.

The win also helped the team set two new franchise records for wins with 52 and points with 105.

Rychel is confident in the players within the room while the possibility of setting records will avoid complacency down the stretch.

"We have a pretty good leadership group in the room and they simply won't allow that," he said.

Starting goaltender Andrew Engelage is four wins shy of tying Steve Mason's OHL record of 45 wins in a season. Meanwhile, should the team win eight of their final nine contests they will set the OHL record for points in a season, currently 120 by the 2004-05 London Knights.

"We're pretty excited and we're just trying to keep it going here," Rychel added.

Record-setting Hitmen focus on consistency

If the Calgary Hitmen are setting their sights on achieving records, they aren't willing to tip their hand.

The Western Hockey League's top team set three franchise records on Feb. 20 before following it up by clinching first in the Eastern Conference the next night. In beating the Red Deer Rebels 7-2 on Friday, the Hitmen set a team record for home wins in a season at 31, fastest three goals in a 55 second span while goaltender Martin Jones set the benchmark for wins in a season at 40.

As head coach Dave Lowry said, the records will be nice to look back on once the season is concluded but means little to the team at this time.

"I think the biggest thing is we've been very consistent all year," Lowry said. "For whatever reason we were able to win games early in the season and been able to play very well at home. We have a very good environment and very good leadership and I attribute a lot of that to the leadership."

The Hitmen have lost just three times at home this season with those defeats coming at the hands of the Saskatoon Blades, Chilliwack Bruins and Brandon Wheat Kings. Calgary is home just twice more this season as the Pengrowth Saddledome will be home to the Tim Horton's Brier from March 7-15.

The Canadian Hockey League and WHL record for home wins in a season is 33, held by six different teams. At best, Calgary can tie the record with their final two home games this week.

*** Viewers can catch Wednesday's game against the Regina Pats on Rogers Sportsnet in the West and Pacific regions.

As Lowry indicated, the team's goal was to accumulate as many wins as possible early this season in order to avoid needing to win on the road down the stretch.

"We wanted to make sure we were in a position that we could set ourselves up and not have to go into other team's buildings and have to be dependant on winning games just to make the playoffs," said Lowry.

With the Vancouver Giants trailing the Hitmen by 10 points with five games in hand, the race for first overall is far from over.

"There isn't any movement that we can go in the standings (in the Eastern Conference) but we're fully aware of where we could end up," Lowry continued. "Our guys, and I know they look at me a lot of times like I'm crazy, but we put the peddle to them that they have to be good every night and that's our challenge and that's our goal."

Drummondville enjoying franchise's best season

From one team that doesn't pay attention to the records being set to another all too aware of them.

The Québec Major Junior Hockey League's Drummondville Voltigeurs can't help but rally around their city's excitement. The Voltigeurs have already ensured this season as their best in 27 seasons of existence with 47 wins and 98 points through the first 61 games.

This year's results are a far cry from last season's league-worst record of 14 wins and 33 points. The team has already set the league record for best turnaround from one season to another, with an improvement of 65 points with seven games remaining in the regular season.

"There's a big hype around the team but nobody's talking about the (President's) Cup though to be honest with you because we don't talk about it," said Guy Boucher, the team's head coach. "We always talk about the kids improving from one day to another. That's kind of our reason why we have success is we don't focus on other teams, we don't focus on the standings, and even our wins we just want to get better and I think the kids really buy into that. They're hungry and they want more all the time."

One of those hungry players is overage forward Yannick Riendeau. The former Rouyn-Noranda Husky and league leading scorer became the first player to hit the 50-goal plateau this season.

His third of four goals against his former team on Friday was his 15th game-winning goal of the season, surpassing the former franchise record set by René Corbet. The QMJHL record for game-winners in a season is 18 held by Pat LaFontaine.

"Yannick is having by far the best season he's had in junior," Boucher said. "What we did with him is we worked on his strengths rather than working on his weaknesses and his strength is shooting and he was rarely shooting before. Now he's become a major, major threat and he's still going. He's got 53 goals right now, we've got seven games left and he could very well end up with 60."

The Voltigeurs lead the league in points but are just two points up on Telus Central Division-rival Shawinigan. Both teams host Atlantic Division-leading Moncton this weekend, which could go a long way in determining the final standings. Whichever team finishes second in the Telus Central Division standings will likely fall to fifth overall of the 16 playoff teams.

Bulls best Battalion, Tanaka sets record

In a tilt televised in Sportsnet's Ontario region Sunday, the top two OHL Eastern Conference teams met in a playoff-type atmosphere. Belleville won the game 3-2 on the strength of two late third-period goals, including P.K. Subban's winner with just over three minutes remaining.

"Any wins at this time of the season are huge and when they're against the team you're battling with at the top of the conference they're even magnified," Bulls head coach and general manager George Burnett said.

The win spotted Belleville a six-point edge on the Battalion in the race for top spot in the conference standings. Brampton holds a game in hand while the two teams meet for the fourth and final time in Belleville on Saturday.

Saturday's game will be the third time the Eastern Conference's top two teams meet in a span of three weeks. Brampton won the season's first meeting 7-1 on Nov. 9 while Belleville won the following two.

Burnett remains confident his team isn't past their opponents prior to Saturday's game.

"(We're) still in a position where we have to continue to win hockey games," Burnett said. "We do have another big head-to-head matchup Saturday night in our building against Brampton but two very important games with Oshawa and Mississauga before Saturday.

"We're trying not to place the weight of the season on any one particular game at this time, just continue to play well as a team and improve our team game and be healthy and have everybody at their best once the post-season starts."

Fifth-year forward Cory Tanaka set the OHL career games played record in Sunday's win over Brampton by playing in his 329th game. The record previously belonged to former Bull and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound Cody Thornton.

"It is a tremendous feat and I think Cory's a young man that his skills are a little underappreciated in that he's played behind some pretty talented people but he's also done it willingly," Burnett said. "You look at his play in the Memorial Cup last year and throughout the post-season last year - we don't get to where we have gotten the last couple years or where we're at this year without Cory's contributions. He's a huge part of our team and he's been a tremendous asset for us."

Tanaka could make the record nearly impossible to break should he play in the remaining eight games of the regular season. With 68 games in each season, over five seasons the most a player could play is 340 games.