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OHL Notebook:Central Scouting rankings released

On Tuesday National Hockey League Central Scouting released its annual midterm rankings for the NHL Entry Draft.

On Tuesday National Hockey League Central Scouting released its annual midterm rankings for the NHL Entry Draft.

To the surprise of nobody, Erie Otters forward Connor McDavid was the top ranked North American skater in the rankings while Boston University forward Jack Eichel was ranked second.

American defenceman Noah Hanifin (Boston College), forward Lawson Crouse (Kingston Frontenacs) and forward Dylan Strom (Erie Otters) rounded out the top five.

The Soo Greyhounds were well-represented on the list with four players ranked – forwards Blake Speers (44), Zach Senyshyn (56) and defencemen Gustav Bouramman (68) and Colton White (154).

Barrie Colts goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood was the top ranked North American goaltender.

In total, 53 OHL players were ranked.

A pair of players that were drafted by the Greyhounds were also among those ranked. Austin Cho, a 12th round pick of the Greyhounds in 2013 and currently playing for St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, Ont. was ranked 125.

Cho is committed to play college hockey at RPI beginning in 2016.

Jack Van Boekel, drafted by the Greyhounds in 2012 and currently playing for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, was ranked 126.

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NAME GAME

The Canadian Football League did it, could the OHL be next?

The new owners of the Plymouth Whalers – IMS USA – have registered the name Flint Generals with Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

The Generals name in Flint is synonymous with hockey as the city’s former minor pro team used the Generals name for many years.

With the Oshawa Generals being one of the OHL’s most well-known franchises, it’s hard to imagine the OHL going the route of the CFL and allowing two teams to have the same name, whether they’re spelled differently or not.

For those not familiar with the CFL’s situation, the league had two teams named the Roughriders, the current team in Saskatchewan and the defunct Ottawa franchise. The only naming difference was Ottawa’s team used the nickname as two words.

On Wednesday morning, OHL Commissioner David Branch told MLive.com that there will not be two Generals names in the OHL.

“That would not be possible,” Branch told MLive. “We’ve got a team, the Oshawa Generals, and we would never want two teams to have the same nickname.”


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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