The Buffalo Jr. Sabres look to rebound after a 6-0 loss to the Markham Royals on Sunday as they host the Whitby Fury for a 7:35 p.m. puck drop Wednesday at HARBORCENTER.
Tonight’s game is the first and only meeting between the two teams this season.
The Jr. Sabres, who have won 10 of their last 11 games, currently sit atop the South West Conference with 53 points, four ahead of Georgetown. The Raiders have three games in hand. Buffalo has gone 25-11-1-2 this season, including a spectacular 11-6-1-1 at home.
The Fury sit at the bottom of the East Division with 33 points on the season, a record of 14-18-1-4 and having gone 5-9-1-2 on the road.
The Jr. Sabres lead the OJHL with 163 goals scored this season – but Buffalo is also one of only two clubs to have played 39 games thus far. Buffalo also leads the league with 906 penalty minutes.
Of the team’s 163 goals, roughly 28 percent – 47 goals – have come on special teams (43 on power-play, four shorthanded).
Whitby has recorded 850 penalty minutes this season, so Wednesday’s game certainly has the potential to keep the penalty box attendants busy.
The Jr. Sabres recently saw a 10-game winning streak come to a close; that streak was the team’s longest since at least 2005 (earlier data not available.)
Jr. Sabres captain Zach Evancho recorded 18 points in that winnning streak, even with missing a few games due to league suspension.
Equally impressive: Chris Berger and David Baskerville, who each had 14 points in the streak. Dylan Seitz also recorded 10 points, while eighteen other players recorded at least a point.
Evancho currently leads the Jr. Sabres with 54 total points (22-32) in 37 games; Baskerville sits 14 points back, with 40 points in 38 games.
Tim Nicksic has averaged nearly a point-per-game, with 36 in 38, while Berger’s 36 points in 30 games is one of the best on the team.
Tucker Weppner has gone 14-10-1 in the crease this season with a 2.82 GAA and .897 save percentage, while Brian Kowalski is 11-3-0 with a 3.21 GAA and .898 save percentage.
Note: only two Jr. Sabres players have appeared in every game this season: Griffin Lunn and Nicholas Bondra. A handful of others, including Baskerville, Nicksic and Seitz, have missed only one game.
After tonight, the Jr. Sabres face a two-game roadstand, visiting Georgetown and North York this weekend. They’ll return home next Wednesday to host the Burlington Cougars.
