DUDLEY-HEWITT CUP
DHC MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Monday, Feb. 9, 2015
Dudley-Hewitt hopefuls abundant in CJHL rankings
FORT FRANCES, Ont. – The latest Canadian Junior Hockey League Pointstreak Top 20 rankings released Monday featured an abundance of teams that are vying for a berth at the upcoming Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Jr. A Championship, April 28 through May 2, at Ice for Kids Arena in Fort Frances.
Seven of the 20 sides tabbed in the CJHL rankings, which are produced in conjunction with International Scouting Services, are Dudley-Hewitt Cup eligible.
Of those seven, we know of one that will definitely be competing in the DHC and that is the event host Fort Frances Lakers. The Lakers also represented the SIJHL at last year’s event in Wellington, Ont.
Fort Frances, who are the defending Superior International Junior Hockey League Bill Salonen Cup champions, will stage the affair, but will also be aiming to enter the five-day event through the front door as SIJHL title holders.
The Lakers were tabbed 10th in the 129-team CJHL for a third consecutive time.
They enter game action this week with the best record in the SIJHL 32-9-0-1 record, good enough 65 points and a .774 winning percentage.
Joining Fort Frances at the Dudley-Hewitt will be the champions of the SIJHL, the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Should the Lakers repeat as Salonen Cup winners then the SIJHL finalist will also represent the league.
Four of the seven clubs in the national listings that are DHC eligible are members of the OJHL, who will be among the group vying for the Buckland Cup and a trip to Fort Frances.
Leading that group in the CJHL rankings are the Aurora Tigers, who were slotted fifth in the CJHL.
Aurora boasts the best record in the 22-team OJHL to date with an impressive 40-7-0-3 mark to go along with an .830 win mark.
Four points in arrear of the Tigers are the No. 8 CJHL-ranked Trenton Golden Hawks.
Trenton has gone 38-9-2-1 so far this season having picked up 79 points and a winning percentage of .790.
The Georgetown Raiders sport the third-best record in the OJHL at 34-5-4-5 and 76 points.
Georgetown’s .809 winning percentage is the second best in that league.
The Raiders were slotted 17th this week in the CJHL.
Rounding out the OJHL sides garnering a CJHL listing is the Cobourg Cougars as they came in at No. 18.
Cobourg had gone 35-12-1-3 registering 74 points and a .725 win mark entering a home contest Monday evening vs. the Kingston Voyageurs.
The other two teams tabbed in “The Group of 7” hail from the NOJHL.
No slouches themselves, the Soo Thunderbirds and Kirkland Lake Gold Miners were ranked 12th and 14th respectively, and are no strangers when it comes to winning.
Sault Ste. Marie has played in the two of the past three Dudley-Hewitt Cups, winning it all back it 2012 in Thunder Bay.
The Thunderbirds presently pace the NOJHL standings with 68 points on a 31-5-1-5 record. Their win percentage sits at .810 while the Gold Miners are at .747.
They sit two points ahead of second place Kirkland Lake while also holding a game in hand on the 31-8-2-2 Gold Miners.
Kirkland Lake won the Copeland Cup – McNamara Trophy, emblematic of NOJHL champions, last season and represented the league at the 2014 Dudley-Hewitt Cup in Wellington won by the OJHL’s Toronto Patriots.
DUDLEY-HEWITT CUP WEBSITE: More information on the 2015 Dudley-Hewitt Cup, including ticket packages, can be found on the official event website at www.centralcanadianchampionship.com.
Additional news, statistics, schedules and other relevant material will be posted on the website in the coming days leading up to the event.
Other news and notes on the competing leagues can be found on their respective websites:
SIJHL: www.sijhlhockey.com
NOJHL: www.nojhl.com
OJHL: www.ojhl.ca
RBC CUP: The Dudley-Hewitt Cup winner will advance to represent the central region at the 2015 RBC Cup Canadian Jr. A Championship, May 9-17, in Portage la Prairie, Man.
Serving as host will be the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
They are currently the No. 1 ranked team in the CJHL.
Joining the Terriers and Dudley-Hewitt title holders will be both the champion and finalist of Crescent Energy Western Canadian Championship as well as the winner of the Fred Page Cup Eastern Canadian Championship.
More information on the RBC Cup can be found at www.hockeycanada.ca/rbccup.
