OHL Notebook: Quick starts for some

It’s no surprise that Erie Otters forward Alex DeBrincat is currently leading the Ontario Hockey League in goals through the opening three weekends of the season.

After all, he was second in the league last season with 51 goals.

The fact that he's scored 10 goals in just five games to start the season is what makes it so impressive.

Mind you, a five-goal game against the Niagara IceDogs helps but his hot start has shown that his big rookie season was no fluke.

What it also proves is that playing with Connor McDavid wasn't the reason for his inflated goal, and point, totals.

DeBrincat is also tops in the league with 13 points.

Some surprising offensive starts to the season include Peterborough Petes veteran forward Greg Betzold, who has seven goals in eight games to open the season.

Erie’s Kyle Maksimovich is off to a solid start as well.

After posting six goals and 24 points in 56 games as a rookie with the Otters last season, the sophomore forward has three goals and 11 points in just six games to start the 2015-16 season.

Among goaltender, the Oshawa Generals seem to have found the man to replace Kenny Appleby between the pipes.

After Appleby put together one of the best season among starting netminders one season ago, Jeremy Brodeur has taken over as the starter for Appleby, who signed with the New Jersey Devils recently.

In seven starts this season, Brodeur has a 4-2-1 record with a 1.57 goals against average (first in the OHL) and a 0.941 save percentage (fourth).

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Wednesday
In Kingston, Conor McGlynn’s goal at 1:33 of overtime helped the Kingston Frontenacs to a 3-2 victory over the Oshawa Generals. Jason Robertson and Juho Lammikko also scored for Kingston while goaltender Lucas Peressini stopped 31 shots. Matt Mistele and Kenny Huether scored for the Generals.

In Sault Ste. Marie, Zach Senyshyn had a goal and two assists as the Soo Greyhounds beat the Flint Firebirds 4-3. Gabe Guertler chipped in with a pair of goals while Bobby MacIntyre added a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds. Connor Chatham, Connor Sills and Ryan Moore scored for Flint.

Thursday
In St. Catharines, Brendan Perlini scored three times to lead the Niagara IceDogs to a 5-1 win over the Barrie Colts. Josh Ho-Sang and Mikkel Aagaard assisted on a pair of goals each while Jordan Maletta and Matt Gillard also had goals. Julius Nattinen had the lone goal for the Colts.

In Windsor, Michael Giugovaz stopped 38 shots as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Peterborough Petes 4-1. Christian Fischer had a goal and two assists for the Spitfires while Cristiano DiGiacinto added a goal and an assist. Gabriel Vilardi and Aaron Luchuk also scored for Windsor. Greg Betzold scored for the Petes.

Friday
In Erie, Alex DeBrincat scored four goals and an assist to lead the Erie Otters to a 7-2 win over the Niagara IceDogs. Dylan Strome picked up five assists while Kyle Maksimovich added a goal and two assists. Christian Girhiny and Jake Marchment also scored for the Otters while Taylor Raddysh added a pair of assists. Ben Jones and Brendan Perlini scored for the IceDogs.

In Kingston, Chad Duchesne’s power play goal at 18:03 of the third period lifted the Kingston Frontenacs to a 2-1 victory over the Mississauga Steelheads. Ryan Cranford also scored for the Frontenacs while goaltender Lucas Peressini stopped 33 shots. Stefan LeBlanc scored the lone goal for Mississauga.

In Ottawa, Artur Tyanulin scored a pair of goals as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Oshawa Generals 4-2. Jeremiah Addison had a goal and an assist while Nathan Todd set up a pair of goals. Sam Studnicka also scored for Ottawa. Stephen Desrocher and Owen McDade scored for Oshawa.

In Sault Ste. Marie, Connor Brown and Dylan Sadowy had two goals each as the Saginaw Spirit beat the Soo Greyhounds 5-2. Artem Artemov added a goal and an assist for the Spirit. Brandon Halverson stopped 32 shots for the Greyhounds while Zach Senyshyn and Morgan Frost scored.

In Sarnia, Anthony Salinitri’s goal at 4:24 of the third period was the game-winner as the Sarnia Sting beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 2-1. Kevin Spinozzi also scored while Nikita Korostelev assisted on both Sarnia goals. Mason Marchment scored for the Bulldogs.

In Guelph, Justin Nichols made 37 saves as the Guelph Storm beat the Owen Sound Attack 3-1. James McEwan scored a pair of goals while Tyler Boston also scored for the Storm. Bryson Cianfrone scored for the Attack.

In Kitchener, Christian Fischer scored in the final seconds of overtime to give the Windsor Spitfires a 3-2 win over the Kitchener Rangers. Rookie goaltender Michael DiPietro stopped 33 shots while Hayden McCool and Aaron Luchuk also scored for the Spitfires. Rangers goaltender Luke Opilka stopped 37 shots while Adam Mascherin and Connor Bunnaman scored for the Rangers.

In London, Tyler Parsons made 42 saves as the London Knights beat the Sudbury Wolves 6-2. Parsons was also credited with an empty net goal in the second period. Brandon Crawley scored a pair of goals while Kole Sherwood added a goal and an assist for the Knights. Sam Miletic, J.J. Piccinich and Chris Martenet had two assists each for London while Christian Dvorak and Mitchell Marner also scored for London. Jacob Harris and Dmitry Sokolov scored for the Wolves.

Saturday
In Erie, Jordan Sambrook’s goal at 19:08 of the third period was the game winner as the Erie Otters beat the Windsor Spitfires 4-3. Taylor Raddysh scored a pair of goals for the Otters while T.J. Fergus assisted on a pair of goals. Goaltender Jake Lawr stopped 32 shots Shaun Bily also scored for Erie. Cristiano DiGiacinto, Daniel Beaudoin and Brad Latour scored for Windsor.

In Saginaw, Dylan Wells made 42 saves while Josh Coyle had two goals and an assist to lead the Peterborough Petes to a 7-2 victory over the Saginaw Spirit. Hunter Garlent also had a three-point night for the Petes with a goal and two assists. Steven Lorentz (one goal, one assist), Adam Timleck (one goal, one assist), Matthew Timms (two assists), Zach Gallant (two assists) and Logan DeNoble (two assists) also had multi-point nights for the Petes. Adam McPhail and Matt Spencer also scored for Peterborough. Artem Artemov and Dylan Sadowy scored for Saginaw.

In Sault Ste. Marie, Jake Smith made 32 saves, including 13 in the third period as the North Bay Battalion beat the Soo Greyhounds 3-1. Cam Dineen, Zach Bratina and Max Kislinger scored for North Bay while Tim Gettinger had the lone Greyhounds goal.

In Barrie, Leo Lazarev made 35 saves as the Ottawa 67’s blanked the Barrie Colts 4-0. Dante Salituro, Nathan Todd, Stepan Falkovsky and Sam Studnicka scored for the 67’s. Barrie goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 29 shots.

In Flint, Will Bitten scored on a penalty shot at 3:40 of overtime to life the Flint Firebirds to a 3-2 win over the Sarnia Sting. Bitten finished the night with three goals while goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 27 shots in his first start of the season. Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist for the Sting while Daniel Nikandrov also scored.

In Owen Sound, Santino Centorame’s goal at 11:34 of the third period was the game-winner as the Owen Sound Attack beat the London Knights 2-1. Petrus Palmu also scored for Owen Sound while goaltender Michael McNiven stopped 32 shots. London goaltender Tyler Parsons made 32 saves while Victor Mete had the lone Knights goal.

Sunday
In Mississauga, Alex Nylander scored 58 seconds into overtime to give the Mississauga Steelheads a 3-2 win over the Kitchener Rangers. The goal capped off a stretch of three unanswered goals by the Steelheads which included a pair of goals by Everett Clark. Darby Llewellyn scored both Rangers goals.

In Owen Sound, Dante Salituro scored three times to lead the Ottawa 67’s to a 7-5 win over the Owen Sound Attack. Artur Tyanulin and Nathan Todd added a goal and an assist each while Ben Fanjoy and Trent Mallette also scored for the 67’s. Travis Konecny assisted on three goals while Nevin Guy added a pair of assists for Ottawa. Santino Centorame had two goals and an assist while Petrus Palmu added a goal and two assists for Owen Sound. Bryson Cianfrone and Jaden Lindo also scored for the Attack.

In Sarnia, Sasha Chmelevski’s goal at 5:02 of the third period was the winning goal as the Sarnia Sting beat the Sudbury Wolves 3-2. Justin Fazio made 28 saves for Sarnia while Ryan McGregor and Chase Campbell also scored. Danny Desrochers and Connor Cummins scored for Sudbury.

In Flint, Hunter Garlent scored a goal and assisted on four more goals to lead the Peterborough Petes to a 6-4 win over the Flint Firebirds. Greg Betzold scored twice for the Petes while Eric Cornel added a goal and two assists. Josh Coyle and Logan DeNoble also scored for Peterborough. Mathieu Henderson had a goal and an assist for the Firebirds while Cullen Mercer, Ryan Moore and Will Bitten also scored. Vili Saarijarvi assisted on three goals for Flint.

Thanksgiving Monday
In Hamilton, JJ Piccinich had two goals and an assist as the London Knights beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 8-6. Christian Dvorak added a goal and two assists while Kole Sherwood had a goal and an assist for the Knights. Matthew Tkachuk, Robert Thomas, Aaron Berisha and Owen MacDonald also scored for London while Mitch Marner assisted on three goals. Trent Fox had three goals and an assist to lead Hamilton offensively. Mason Marchment picked up four assists while Michael Cramarossa, Ben Gleason and Jake Bricknell also scored for the Bulldogs.

In Kitchener, Greg Meireles scored a pair of goals and assisted on three others as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Sudbury Wolves 8-2. Connor Bunnaman added a pair of goals. Mason Kohn, Adam Mascherin and David Miller added a goal and an assist each while Jacob Cascagnette also scored for the Rangers, who got a three-assist performance from defenceman Brian Brosnan as well. Ben Garagan and Dmitry Sokolov scored for the Wolves.

In North Bay, Zach Bratina scored three times to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 5-3 win over the Mississauga Steelheads. Goaltender Jake Smith made 33 saves while Austin Kosack and Miles Liberati also had goals for the Battalion. Alex Nylander, Daniel Muzito-Bagenda and Everett Clark scored for Mississauga.

In Oshawa, Jeremy Brodeur made 24 saves as the Oshawa Generals blanked the Guelph Storm 2-0. Stephen Desrocher and Kenny Huether scored for the Generals while Storm goaltender Justin Nichols made 30 saves.