Captain Cuylle's 41st Helps Windsor Earn 10th Straight Win

Will Cuylle (OHL Images)

It was a Saturday night with six New York Rangers in action, teams fighting for playoff positions and individuals showing why the Rangers drafted them. There were some entertaining games as well as a couple of "statement" games played by a couple of teams. 

Will Cuylle and his Windsor Spitfires were in Owen Sound to face the Attack, but in the end, the Attack were forced to retreat after a 6-3 loss.

The win was Windsor's 10th straight and with just five games left in the OHL's regular season, the race for the OHL's Western Conference crown is just about over. Windsor has  an eight -point lead over second-placed London Knights. 

 Cuylle recorded his 41st goal of the season on five shots and a minor for "unsportsmanlike conduct" as Windsor is but a game or two away from clinching the OHL's Western Conference championship. The Windsor captain is now 41-35-76 on the season.

So I was in Portland to see Matthew Rempe and his Seattle Thunderbirds take on the Portland Winterhawks in their final meeting of the season. To say that these two teams don't like each other would be an understatement.

They call this the "I-5 War" (think the Rangers and Islanders with a ton of gas poured on top of it) and it lived up to its name and reputation. These two teams were chipping at each other. They were adding a little extra to all of their checks. And it of course ended with one last skirmish after the final buzzer. 

Matthew Rempe (Brian Liesse)

The game was a lot like the typical Rangers effort at times. Portland scored the game's first four goals over the first and part of the second periods. Seattle would rally to force a 4-4 tie midway through the third period. 

The Thunderbirds would eventually lose 5-4, but they showed Portland that they could hang with them. 

Now if you look at the stat sheet, you will find that Matthew Rempe didn't score any points. But what the stat sheet won't tell you is the kind of contribution that Rempe made. 

For starters, Seattle used Rempe at all three forward positions and he got the job done at all three of them. He was driving Portland's goalie nuts because there he was all night in the crease setting screens for his linemates.

It got so bad that after the final buzzer, Portland's goalie Taylor Gauthier earned a roughing minor when he attacked Rempe as part of the final buzzer scrum. Gauthier is known as a cool customer, but Rempe got under his skin.

In the third period, while Seattle was mounting their comeback, there was Rempe being sent out every other shift as Seattle was looking for the tying goal they never could score. It was awesome to see such a different player at this point in the season than the one I saw at the beginning. 

He was watching the entire ice; his passing skills were superb, and add that to his self-discipline and you have a player who is going to be worth the investment in him. Talking to him postgame showed an intelligent and very mature young man whose response showed a disciplined young man.

I did have one criticism of him, that I waited until he was on the bus waiting to go home. Shoot the puck more, use the power of that 6'9 240 lb. frame on his shots. Not going to kid anyone as yes, he remains a project, but the clay is there and all it needs is someone good to mold his talents together.

Even better was watching Rempe maintain personal self-discipline no matter how many times he was cheap shotted or goaded. He did not hurt his team by taking bad penalties as it is expected he might do.

Jayden Grubbe scored his 13th goal of the season as his Red Deer Rebels came from behind to defeat the Edmonton Oil Kings 4-3.The game's third star, Grubbe scored his goal as part of a wild first period as both teams traded goals to end the period 2-2.

Streeetttttchhh it around!#RDREBELS #WHL pic.twitter.com/wdIEk9e6nP

— x - Red Deer Rebels (@Rebelshockey) April 3, 2022

The Red Deer captain had a good game besides scoring his 13th.Grubbe was credited with two shots, 11-6 on faceoffs and was called for a double minor for high-sticking. Grubbe is 13-19-32 on the season, career bests in goals, assists, and points.

Ryder Korczak and his Moose Jaw Warriors sent a message to the WHL's Eastern Conference about not taking them lightly. The Warriors scored twice in the final minute of the third period to knock off the Winnipeg Ice 3-1.

The win snapped the Ice's nine-game winning streak and was just their 10th regulation loss this season. Korczak had just one assist and that was on the dagger goal coming at 19:53 of the third, clinching the win for his team.

The win opens up a three-point lead for the fourth seed in the WHL's Eastern Conference with eight games left in the regular season. The assist was a new career best of 50 assists to go along with 22 goals (also a career best).

Korczak also was 18-10 on faceoffs for the game.

Brennan Othmann recorded his 43rd goal of the season but it wasn't enough as his Flint Firebirds got spanked 5-1 by the Guelph Storm. Othmann blasted a one-timer past the Storm goalie for Flint's only goal.

The Flint captain recorded eight shots as he improved to 43-46-89, which is one point from tying the all-time team record for points.

Pretty sure Brody Lamb and his Green Bay Gamblers are out of the playoff picture after dropping a 6-2 decision to the Team USA NTDP team. The loss puts the Gamblers five points behind Team USA and Cedar Rapids with just seven games left in the USHL regular season. 

Did Not Play

Evan Vierling missed his third straight game with an undisclosed injury. This comes at the worst possible time for Vierling and his Barrie Colts this close to the playoffs. Not to mention his chances of earning that NHL ELC are slim as it is.

Tayln Boyko got the night off as his Kelowna Rockets played the Victoria Royals. His team did well without him shutting out the Victoria Royals