By Aaron Bell
Dave Cameron might not be in such a rush to get back behind the bench with the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors.
Cameron, the Majors’ head coach and general manager, has been away from the team for four weeks while working with Canada’s National Junior Team as an assistant coach with Pat Quinn but it doesn’t look like the Majors missed him much. They are the hottest team in the OHL with wins in nine of their past 10 games while Cameron has been away.
“We’re winning the close games now where we were losing them earlier in the year,” Pelech explained to The Canadian press last weekend. “It’s a lot of fun right now. We’re playing with a lot of confidence.”
Assistant coach James Boyd is a former head coach with the Belleville Bulls and said that the work that Cameron did with the team earlier this season has been paying off lately.
“I think, back at the start of December, we could see that we were on the doorstep,” Boyd told The Mississauga News. “We knew back then that we were on the verge of moving up in the standings. The team has come a long way since then. We’re not panicking when we fall behind. We’re making the big plays. I think that’s the biggest change.”
Among the Majors’ top performers in that stretch has been veteran defenceman Cameron Gaunce, who has racked up a team-high four goals and 15 points in that 10 game stretch. Forward Michael Pelech has chipped in with two goals and 13 points while rookie Corey Bureau had a team-high seven goals and sophomore Jordan Mayer added four goals and nine points.
Goaltender Chris Carrozzi has carried the bulk of the workload with JP Anderson away helped Ontario win the World Under-17 championship in Port Albernie, BC. Carrozzi is 8-1-0-0 with a 3.22 goals against average and .893 save percentage in the past month.
The Majors recently welcomed back last year’s top scorer Kaspars Daugavins, who spent the first half of the season with Binghamton in the American Hockey League as well as speedy forward William Wallén, who returned to Sweden after suffering an injury in October.
“Hopefully I can get on my game and score some goals for the team,” Daugavins said. “I’ll just try to do my best for the team.”
Kitchener Rangers’ right winger Jason Akeson is putting together a standout season with the Kitchener Rangers.
Akeson picked up a pair of assists in 13 games with the Rangers last season before spending the entire OHL championship run and berth in the MasterCard Memorial Cup with the club.
Akeson didn’t play a lot in the post season with the veteran Rangers’ club, but he was obviously paying attention. So far this year, Akeson has 11 goals and 23 assists and is second in team scoring with 34 points in 26 games.
The 18-year-old from Orleans, ON is on a seven game point scoring streak that included a four-goal game against the Owen Sound Attack after the Christmas break.
“It was just one of those nights where everything was happening for me,” said Akeson, the Rangers’ sixth round pick in 2007. “Everything is working. I’m just trying to work hard. Points will come if you work hard.”
A squad of 22 OHL rookies captured the gold medal for Ontario at the World Under-17 Championships in Port Alberni, BC on Sunday.
Tyler Seguin of the Plymouth Whalers, Jeff Skinner of the Kitchener Rangers, John McFarland of the Sudbury Wolves, Steven Shipley of the Owen Sound Attack and Erik Gudbranson of the Kingston Frontenacs scored in the gold medal game, leading Ontario to a 5-1 win over Team Pacific.
It was Ontario’s second straight gold medal after winning last year in London, ON.
Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors goaltender JP Anderson won all five of his starts in the tournament, including a 33-save performance in the gold medal game. He was named MVP of the tournament.
McFarland, the first overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection last May, led the tournament in scoring with eight goals and 12 points in six games. Seguin finished second with three goals and 11 points. McFarland and Anderson were both named to the tournament all-star team. The Ontario squad was coached by Mario Cicchillo of the Niagara IceDogs with assistants Jake Grimes of the Belleville Bulls and Troy Smith of the Kitchener Rangers.
