Wednesday January 18th - Game Previews

by Dwayne Williams

Plymouth at Owen Sound
The Whalers bring their high powered offence into the wintery confines of the Bayshore arena in Owen Sound.  Plymouth is battling for top spot in the West – back and forth with the London Knights.  They have played in some high scoring matches recently – averaging 4.9 goals per game over the past 9 games. They have a very balanced scoring attack with a handful of players in the top 50 scorers in the OHL.  Owen Sound comes off a 2 victory homestand vs. the Erie Otters – where they weren’t pushed too hard in securing wins of 3-1 and 5-0.  Owen Sound is on a current 3 game home win streak as they battle in the middle of the standings – sitting only 2 points behind Sarnia sting for 4^th spot.
My prediction Plymouth 5 – Owen Sound 2

Mississauga at Belleville
The St. Mikes Majors find themselves sandwiched near the bottom of the standings but not far from the middle of the log-jammed Eastern Conference. They are 2 points from the #9 spot and 5 points from the #4 spot.  They had mixed results on their latest road trip–losing to Sarnia 7-1 beating Plymouth 2-0 and then losing to Saginaw 4-2.  The last time they scored more than 3 goals was in a 6-5 loss vs. Niagara 8 games ago.   Belleville is 1 point ahead of Mississauga in seventh place – as they continue to search for an elusive winning streak.  Their last home win was on Dec 17 - 10 games ago.  Subban is getting close to playing but don’t expect him to dress for game action quite yet.
My prediction Mississauga 3 – Belleville 1