The Dynamic Dozen kicks off with a rare feat — a team with the highest RPI that has also played the toughest schedule.

The Portland Winterhawks have the headliners and the eight-game win streak, yet the Spokane Chiefs and Western League scoring leader Mitch Holmberg open at No. 1 in BTN's unique nationwide ranking. Consider a gauntlet thrown down for the entire season. Or at least one hopes so since it could be awfully repetitive if the three-time WHL Western Conference champion Winterhawks assume top spot and never give it back.

Portland and Spokane go head-to-head on Saturday.

1. Spokane Chiefs, WHL (.612 RPI, +2.1 SRS, —) — That would be Spokane which has flourished while having the most daunting S-o-S. The question of how long the Chiefs can keep this up mostly centres around goalie Eric Williams. The overage had averages in the 3.00-plus range over his first three seasons, but has been dialled in with a 1.89 and .931 save percentage. League scoring leader Mitch Holmberg has also factored into 65 per cent of their scoring plays, which is also tough to sustain over the long haul. Still, they have done an impressive job through the first quarter of staving off an inevitable Portland rise to the WHL Western Conference lead.

Will that game vs. the Winterhawks on Saturday feel like a road tilt for each team? Spokane will have to travel overnight from Vancouver after playing their Friday, whereas the Winterhawks 'only' have to journey from Seattle.

2. Portland Winterhawks, WHL (.612 RPI, +2.3 SRS, +3) — No rebuild, just a reload. The Winterhawks, at least as it appears from this vantage point, have just decided to outscore everyone in the wake of losing Seth Jones, Troy Rutkowski and Tyler Wotherspoon off the blueline, along with faceoff man extraordinaire Taylor Peters. That win over Spokane last weekend that vaulted them into the conference lead, though, was proof they can handle the heavy going.

Oliver Bjorkstrand's breakout (30 points in 15 games) was more or less foretold last spring, when the dashing Dane had a strong playoff while apprenticing to replace Ty Rattie as a first-line wing. Portland, with the likes of Nic Petan, Chase De Leo, Brendan Leipsic and Taylor Leier also producing early, already seems close to running on all eight cylinders.

3. Guelph Storm, OHL (.600 RPI, +2.5 SRS, —) — Something to ponder is to what extent — maybe none, I could be talking out the wrong end — Guelph got a boost from having the band back together earlier than the typical veteran team. All of their front-liners with NHL draft slots in between No. 30 and 70 overall, such as Tyler Bertuzzi, Jason Dickinson, Scott Kosmachuk, Brock McGinn and No. 1 defencemen Matt Finn and Ben Harpur, were back from NHL camps in time for the season opener.

Time will tell if those draft slots were on the money; the OHL is light-years off from the pro game. Yet the Storm have a group of above-average prospects who are thriving in major junior. That leaves one to wonder if that will be applied to judging their best prospect up for the 2014 draft, centre Robby Fabbri, who has 19 points and is plus-11 over 15 games. Clearly, Guelph has done something right at getting young players to put all the tools together. You would think that would prompt a team to gamble earlier than expected on a Storm player.

4. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, QMJHL (.593 RPI, +1.6 SRS, —) — The Armada have home-and-homes over the next two weeks with the Drummondville Voltigeurs and Chicoutimi Saguenéens, two perfectly cromulent squads, so chances are they might get stuck with a second regulation loss before the 20-game mark.

By the way, who says a team's back end must be beefy? The Armada does not have a defenceman who weighs more than team plus/minus leader Aaron Hoyles, a Newfoundlander who checks in a 5-10 and 199 pounds. Yet their goalies' average is a league-best 1.92. Two Ontario natives, defenceman

Nathanael Halbert and wing Marcus Hinds, have also been two-way forces.

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