CHL Notebook: Erie Otters sniper Alex DeBrincat has a chance at history

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The evolution of hockey—more video analysis, better goaltending instruction and more—means most scoring standards in major junior are untouchable. Or so one thought until Alex DeBrincat started scoring at will after returning to the Erie Otters from his first NHL training camp with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Plenty of players have had back-to-back 50-goal seasons in the OHL, with Los Angeles Kings right wing Tyler Toffoli being the most recent to do so (in 2010-11 and ’11-12 with the Ottawa 67’s). Hitting the sniper’s milestone three times in a career? Logically, any player capable of scoring 50 goals at age 17 isn’t likely to be stay in junior through his 19-year-old season. Extended NHL auditions and playing in the world junior championship also lowers stars’ counting stats.

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DeBrincat is unique, though. After his five-goal, 11-point binge on the weekend, it feels safe to say that the Otters right wing has a shot at a nearly unprecedented career trifecta.

The only OHL player to ever score 50 goals three times is Dale McCourt, who did so from 1974-75 through 1976-77 with the Hamilton/St. Catharines Fincups. That was before the advent of the 18-year-old entry draft and the four-week commitment that’s involved with playing in the world juniors.

(To illustrate how it was a different game back then, during McCourt’s final season, his St. Catharines team scored 438 goals. The Oshawa Generals gave up 444. Oshawa’s coach that season? Sherry Bassin, who as then-Otters managing partner in 2013 signed DeBrincat as a free agent after spotting him while following up on an Erie prospect.)

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Taylor Raddysh had four goals and 11 points of his own on the weekend for the fifth-ranked team in the CHL. (Terry Wilson/OHL Images)

That DeBrincat is sparking discussion about matching a feat not seen in four decades underlines that he is a special talent. The consensus before the 2016 NHL Draft was that, instead of being available for Chicago at No. 39 overall, the Michigan native would have been a first-round choice if he was two or three inches taller than his listed 5-foot-7. DeBrincat has 17 goals and 35 points across 14 games for Erie, where he and Taylor Raddysh (Tampa Bay Lightning, second round) have seldom been stymied for long this season. Raddysh leads the OHL with 39 points.

The checking and commitment to systems hockey will be more intense come January. Last season, the Otters had to give DeBrincat some time off after he returned from the world junior tournament, but he eventually scored at a high rate in February in March.

Support for cancer-stricken Sea Dogs support worker
Physically, David Kelly can not be with the Saint John Sea Dogs while staying in hospital to undergo aggressive radiation treatments to treat cancer. Emotionally and spiritually, the head equipment manager of the QMJHL franchise is everywhere—in every heart across the league. Prior to their game Sunday, players from the Sea Dogs and visiting Charlottetown Islanders, and the officials, came together in an emotional tribute to Kelly, who had worked 769 consecutive games—despite having cancer surgery twice—before going into hospital.

The outpouring of support on Twitter has coalesced under the hashtag #TeamDK.

Kelly has been with the Sea Dogs since their inception in 2005-06.

Ragged Rangers
If there is a shake-up with the Kitchener Rangers in the not too distant future, it won’t be a surprise. Kitchener (10-6-0-1) had a rough week, losing three conference games in a row. In the third period of a loss in Erie on Saturday, the Rangers gave up five goals and managed two shots. Head coach Jay McKee, the former NHL defenceman, disclosed that his team is having “leadership issues.”

The Rangers play only one game this week, which should leave a slew of time for an airing of grievances. Kitchener also has overage D-man Frank Hora back from an AHL tryout, which should at least help on the ice.

67’s withdraw 2018 Cup bid
It is down to three teams in the bidding to host the 2018 MasterCard Memorial Cup—the Regina Pats, who have a WHL-best .900 point percentage, and the Oshawa Generals and Hamilton Bulldogs, who each have promising young squads.

The Ottawa 67’s pulled out of the process last week, days before the deadline to stay engaged.

Unlike the other three bid teams, Ottawa is off to an abject start at 6-10-2-0 in the OHL’s Eastern Conference. With a trio of 16-year-old defencemen in Kevin Bahl, Peter Stratis and Carter Robertson, Ottawa’s committed to a building cycle that extends far beyond next season.

Canadian NHL team prospect of the week
Filip Chlapik, C, Charlottetown Islanders (QMJHL)
The Ottawa Senators prospect had six points (2G-4A) in three games, which included factoring in on all scoring during the Islanders’ 3-2 overtime win in Saint John on Sunday. Chlapik showed his improved acceleration midway through the third period when he got behind the Sea Dogs defence—including fellow Sens prospect Thomas Chabot—for a game-tying goal.

Chlapik, 19, leads the QMJHL with 29 points in 16 games. The playmaking 6-foot-1, 200-pound centre has not been held scoreless so far this season, or had fewer than four shots in a game.

New name to know
Trey Fix-Wolansky, RW, Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
Fix-Wolansky scored the first goal in Rogers Place back on Sept. 24, but is proving more than an answer to a trivia question. At 17, he is capitalizing on an opportunity to contribute on a young Oil Kings team, with 13 points (5G-8A) in 17 games to sit tied for sixth in rookie scoring.

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Fix-Wolansky played with the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Spruce Grove Saints last season and was a point-per-game scorer in the playoffs in one of the country’s best Jr. A circuits. A dead giveaway that the Oil Kings think they have something in Fix-Wolansky is that he’s wearing the No. 27 that Curtis Lazar distinguished during his Oil Kings days.

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