Oshawa managed to beat one of the best while not at its best, which kept atop our weekly exercise in quantifying team play.

The Generals have had as many as a half-dozen contributors sidelined, but held off a sizzling-of-late Barrie Colts team 1-0 last Sunday in a matchup that's about as pertinent as it gets for the OHL's Eastern Conference in mid-January. And GM Roger Hunt channeled Crash Davis in Bull Durham by slipping a "the good Lord willing" into an interview this week, which means the hockey gods are going to be nicer to the Durham Region sextet at some point.

Out west, Brandon is top dog after Kelowna and Medicine Hat each slipped up.

1. Oshawa Generals, OHL (.566 RPI, +1.6 SRS, —) — The Gens' are batting below .100 — 2-for-22, 9.1 per cent — since puck-moving defenceman Mitchell Vande Sompel went on the injury list. The good news, though, is that their depleted lineup, with six regulars out, showed some resolve by winning that 1-0 thriller over the Barrie Colts last Sunday behind a shutout from Ken Appleby. It wasn't a dreary game full of shutdown tactics; the two teams were just that evenly matched.

The most worrying of the Generals injuries was probably the one to Hunter (Big Rig) Smith, since the Calgary Flames second-rounder was hurt in an open-ice collision on Jan. 10. It's being called a chest injury and Smith could play by the end of the week.

2. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL (.560 RPI, +1.5 SRS, —) — Frankly, it's a little surprising the 'Hounds have not cut further into the RPI spread after winning 7-of-8, but the Generals were the one loss and five of those wins have been over rebuilding teams. A soft portion of the schedule at a point where a team is integrating newcomers such as the underrated-for-far-too-long defenceman Connor Boland and the three world junior returnees likely isn't the worst thing for the Soo.

Sault Ste. Marie's docket includes facing Mackenzie Blackwood-less Barrie and a Sunday matinee at Guelph, in what's become one of the OHL's best inter-division rivalries of late.

3. Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL (.545 RPI, +0.9 SRS, +5) — The Wheaties' nice week had a grey lining since Florida Panthers second-round choice Jayce Hawryluk, one of the Dub's best two-way centres, is going to be out for a month with an upper-body injury. The 18-year-old will miss a reunion game this weekend vs. Regina and super-pesky agitator Jesse Gabrielle. The other principal in that swap, 19-year-old Morgan Klimchuk, enters this week coming off his first back-to-back multi-point nights since swapping Regina blue and red for Brandon black and gold.

4. Erie Otters, OHL (.543 RPI, +1.3 SRS, +2) — Just like no one takes about the tea in Colombia, no one ever mentions that the Otters have some solid complementary scoring beyond the Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome pyrotechnics. Erie depth forwards, including the likes of Patrick Fellows, Quentin Maksimovich and 16-year-old Taylor Raddysh, have also had a hot hand during the current four-game win streak.

"Our fourth line's got goals in five straight games," Strome said earlier this week. "When a team in the CHL can do that, it helps out the first and second-line guys."

5. Rimouski Océanic, QMJHL (.542 RPI, +0.9 SRS, —) — The Océanic take the Q's best record into a Friday night visit to Blainville-Boisbriand, which would have been a compelling matchup for national TV if not for a conflict with the NHL all-star draft. Rimouski leaving its nucleus mostly alone looks prescient after a week that it capped off by defeating the Moncton Wildcats 7-3. Charles-David Beaudoin, the de facto big deadline add, was a plus-5 in the game after drawing the task of stymieing the 'Cats duo of Ivan Barbashev and Conor Garland.

6. London Knights, OHL (.541 RPI, +0.7 SRS, +6) — Mitchell Marner did the media whirl in St. Catharines, Ont., at the Top Prospects Game on Tuesday, as he was barred from playing in the Knights' eventual win over the Kitchener Rangers by league edict. It shouldn't be controversial; it was just happenstance, since Tuesday's tilt was a rescheduled game and the event is not far from London. The rules that try to ration the participating players' ice time exist for good reason. Truthfully, the Top Prospects Game is probably at least Exhibit C in the case that teenagers are asked to play too much hockey.

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