OHL Looks to Bounce Back in Sarnia
written by @iancmclaren
Everything was going according to plan for the OHL last Thursday night in Guelph: a record crowd, a raucous ovation for Paul Henderson’s ceremonial faceoff drops, a late lead, and an 18 game winning streak vs Team Russia seemingly on the verge of becoming 19.
But in a span of 24 seconds, Anton Shenfeld & Maxim Shulanov took advantage of the defensive pairing of Ryan Murphy & Slater Koekkoek and put a couple pucks past Jordan Binnington, and suddenly the attendance wasn’t the only piece of history being made that night.
The Russians had beaten the Ontarians for the first time in the history of the Subway Super Series.
Team Russia is aiming to make it a sweep of the OHL Monday night in Sarnia. Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images
As Russia looks to make it a clean sweep before heading out West, reinforcement are on the way for the OHL squad, but unfortunately at the expense of one of Thursday’s standout players. As one who was in the building on that night, I can attest to the fact that the following tweet sums up what many in the building were saying:
[tweet https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/266703474689994752]
Brett Ritchie was indeed one of the best Canadian players on the ice that night (his late game misconduct notwithstanding). But while Niagara teammate Ryan Strome remains on the roster (to be joined by fellow IceDog Dougie Hamilton), some new faces will step in for the second game Monday night in Sarnia, including such notables as Max Domi, Tom Wilson, Seth Griffith & Mark Scheifele.
Here’s a look at the complete OHL roster, which features no fewer than 17 NHL draft picks (courtesy of SubwaySuperSeries.ca):
| POS. | # | NAME | TEAM | B. DATE | PLACE OF BIRTH | NHL |
| G | 31 | Binnington, Jordan | OS | 11/07/1993 | Gravenhurst, ON | STL |
| G | 57 | Paterson, Jake | SAG | 03/05/1994 | Mississauga, ON | DET |
| D | 6 | Harrington, Scott | LDN | 10/03/1993 | Kingston, ON | PIT |
| D | 22 | Corrado, Frankie | SBY | 26/03/1993 | Woodbridge, ON | VAN |
| D | 27 | Hamilton, Dougie | NIAG | 17/06/1993 | Toronto, ON | BOS |
| D | 28 | Percy, Stuart | MISS | 18/05/1993 | Oakville, ON | TOR |
| D | 29 | Pelech, Adam | ER | 16/08/1994 | Toronto, ON | NYI |
| D | 52 | Basso, Alex | SAR | 15/06/1993 | Toronto, ON | |
| F | 7 | Catenacci, Daniel | OS | 09/03/1993 | Newmarket, ON | BUF |
| F | 10 | Wilson, Tom | PLY | 29/03/1994 | Toronto, ON | WSH |
| F | 15 | Camara, Anthony | BAR | 04/09/1993 | Toronto, ON | BOS |
| F | 16 | Rychel, Kerby | WSR | 07/10/1994 | Tecumseh, ON | 2013 |
| F | 17 | Griffith, Seth | LDN | 04/01/1993 | Wallaceburg, ON | BOS |
| F | 18 | Strome, Ryan | NIAG | 11/07/1993 | Mississauga, ON | NYI |
| F | 19 | Scheifele, Mark | BAR | 15/03/1993 | Kitchener, ON | WPG |
| F | 61 | Domi, Max | LDN | 02/03/1995 | Toronto, ON | 2013 |
| F | 64 | Meurs, Garrett | PLY | 12/01/1993 | Ripey, ON | COL |
| F | 72 | Leivo, Joshua | SBY | 26/05/1993 | Innisfil, ON | TOR |
| F | 73 | Puempel, Matt | KIT | 24/01/1993 | Essex, ON | OTT |
| F | 91 | Graovac, Tyler | OTT | 27/04/1993 | Brampton, ON | MIN |
Certainly those who were on the ice in Guelph will be looking to avenge Thursday’s loss, while the rest of the bunch aim to make a positive mark of their own in an attempt to secure win #1 of what they hope will be another monumental winning streak.
Game 4 of the series goes at 7pm in Sarnia, and can be seen on Sportsnet.
