It's that wonderful time of year soon. Where we see the same opponent at least 4 times in a row, build up some real hate, and watch our teams fight their way to the top to be crowned winners, or see them fall to earth as the losers they are. Right now every Leafs prospect Is going to make their respective leagues playoffs in some way (except Jesper Lindgren because the Springfield Mystery Spot doesn't do playoffs).

WOOOO! PLAYOFFS!

Ontario Hockey League

The OHL playoffs will most likely begin Friday March 25th. 16/20 teams makes the playoffs and they are split into two conferences. Division leaders are seeded #1 & #2 in each conference.

Mitch Marner/JJ Piccinich (F) - London Knights
Clinched playoff spot. Seeded 3rd in Western Conference.

February 25: London 7 at Peterborough 4
Marner: 1G, 2A, +1 / Piccinich: 0G, 1A, +2
February 26: London 2 at Kingston 6
Marner: 1G, 0A, -2 / Piccinich: 0G, 1A
February 27: London 5 at Ottawa 1
Marner: 0G, 3A, +1 / Piccinich: 0G, 1A
Week Totals: Marner: 2G, 5A, +4 / Piccinich: 0G, 2A, +2

Travis Dermott (D) - Erie Otters
Clinched playoff spot. Seeded 1st in Western Conference.

February 26: North Bay 0 at Erie 4 0G, 2A, +3
February 27: Saginaw 2 at Erie 4 0G, 0A, +1
February 28: Erie 2 at Niagara 1 1G, 0A
Week Totals: 1G, 2A, +4

Nikita Korotselev (F) - Sarnia Sting
Clinched playoff spot. Seeded 2nd in Western conference.

February 26: Barrie 2 at Sarnia 6 0G, 1A, +2
February 27: Sarnia 4 at Owen Sound 1 No Points
February 28: Guelph 2 at Sarnia 5 1G, 0A
Week Totals: 1G, 1A, +2

Stephen Desrocher (D) - Kingston Frontenacs
Clinched playoff spot. Seeded 1st in Eastern Conference.

February 24: Ottawa at Kingston Postponed
February 26: London 2 at Kingston 6 0G, 2A, +2
February 28: Sudbury 1 at Kingston 5 No Points
Week Totals: 0G, 2A, +2

Jeremy Bracco (F) - Kitchener Rangers
Clinched playoff spot. Seeded 4th in Western conference.

February 23: Guelph 2 at Kitchener 4 Suspended
February 26: Kitchener 4 at Guelph 1 1G, 2A
February 27: Kitchener 0 at Oshawa 5 0G, 0A, -3
Week Totals: 1G, 2A, -3

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

The QMJHL playoffs see 16/18 teams make the playoffs. The teams are seeded #1-16, with the three division leaders claiming the 1, 2, 3 seeds.

Dmytro Timashov (F) - Shawinigan Cataractes
Clinched playoff spot. Seeded 2nd (1st in East Division).

February 24: Victoriaville 3 at Shawinigan 2 0G, 1A, +1
February 27: Charlottetown 1 at Shawinigan 3 0G, 0A, -1
February 28: Baie-Comeau 1 at Shawinigan 5 No Points
Week Totals: 0G, 1A

Martins Dzierkals (F) - Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
Clinched playoff spot. Seeded 1st (1st in West Division).

February 23: Rouyn-Noranda 5 at Baie-Comeau 4 SO 0G, 1A, -2
February 25: Moncton 6 at Rouyn-Noranda 7 OT 1G, 2A, +4
February 26: Cape Breton 2 at Rouyn-Noranda 5 1G, 0A
Week Totals: 2G, 3A, +2

Western Hockey League

The WHL playoffs are the closest to the NHL. With many, many, many, kilometers of travel involved they split the playoffs east/west and also throw in two wild card spots. The top three teams from each division make the playoffs and two wild card teams from each conference also join them, regardless of home division. The Division winner with the best record plays the second wild card team, 2nd best division winner plays the first wild card team.

First round winners proceed bracket style to the WHL Championships. Home ice in each series is determined by regular season record.

Andrew Nielsen (D) - Lethbridge Hurricanes
Clinched playoff spot. 1st seed in Central Division.

February 24: Regina 9 at Lethbridge 8 SO 0G, 2A, -1
February 26: Brandon 5 at Lethbridge 2 0G, 0A, -1
February 27: Edmonton 4 at Lethbridge 8 1G, 1A
Week Totals: 1G, 3A, -2

NCAA

The NCAA is like the CHL in that it is made up of several "leagues" that each have their own playoffs, before meeting up for a grand championship. In the NCAA's case, the Frozen Four, which is held in Tampa Bay this year.

The Leafs have prospects in three conferences; UMD - NCHC, Ohio State - Big 10, U. Maine - Hockey East

Dominic Toninato / Tony Cameranesi (F) - U. Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
Seeded 4th in NCHC.
NCHC Playoff format from NCHCHockey.com:

The NCHC Tournament will consist of four quarterfinal series on the first weekend following regular-season play (March 11-13, 2016). The four higher seeds will host the four lower seeds in a best two-out-of-three format. Seed #1 will host Seed #8, Seed #2 will host Seed #7, Seed #3 will host Seed #6, and Seed #4 will host Seed #5. The winners of the four quarterfinal series will advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Target Center in Minneapolis for the two semifinal games on Friday, March 18. (Semifinal games will be reseeded based on the final regular-season standings). The winners of the two semifinal games (4:08/7:38 p.m. CT) will then meet in the Championship Game (7:38 p.m. CT) on Saturday, March 19 for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while the two losers from the semifinal games will face each other in the third-place game (3:38 p.m. CT) earlier in the day.

February 26: UMD 4 at St. Cloud State 1
Toninato: 0G, 1A, +3 / Cameranesi: 0G, 1A
February 27: UMD 2 at St. Cloud State 1
Toninato: 1G, 0A, +1 / Cameranesi: 0G, 1A, +1
Week Totals: Toninato: 1G, 1A, +4 / Cameranesi: 0G, 2A, +1

Dakota Joshua (F) - Ohio State Buckeyes
Seeded 4th in Big10 Conference. Tournament is March 17-149 in St. Paul, MN.
Big 10 playoff format:
There are 6 teams in the Big 10 conference. At the end of the regular season the first and second place teams will receive a bye to the second round. 4th will play 5th and 3rd will play 6th. The winner of 4/5 will play the #1 seed while 3/6 will play #2. The winners of those games will play for the Big 10 Championship and a spot in the Frozen Four tournament.

February 26: Wisconsin 4 at Ohio State 4 0G, 0A, -1
February 27: Wisconsin 5 at Ohio State 6 Did Not Play
Week Totals: 0G, 0A, -1

Nolan Vesey (F) - U. Maine Black Bears
Seeded 11th in Hockey East.
Hockey East playoff format:
There are 12 teams in Hockey East and they all make the tournament, which takes place over 3 weekends. In weekend 1 there are 4 play in best of 3 series: 5vs12, 6vs11, 7vs10, 8vs9. In weekend 2 is a best of three quarter finals. The #1-4 seeds host the winners of the first weekend, #1 plays the lowest seeded winner etc.. On the final weekend we have the semi-final games (again sorted by seeding) and the final game, each of those are single games.

February 26: Maine 3 at Northeastern 5 0G, 1A
February 27: Maine 1 at Northeastern 7 1G, 0A
Week Totals: 1G, 1A

Europe

Andreas Johnson (F) - Frolunda, SHL
Seeded 2nd in SHL Standings.
SHL Playoffs:
The top 10/14 teams in the SHL proceed to the playoffs. The #7-10 seeds play in two best of three play-in series to determine the bottom two seeds -- 7 will play 10 and 8 will play 9. All series' from here out are best of seven series. In the Quarter Finals we see the usual seedings of highest versus lowest. Teams are re-seeded in the semi-finals so highest is still matched with the lowest ranked team in that round. Highest seed always has home ice and the setting goes back and forth each game.

February 23: Djurgården 2 - Frolunda 1 0G, 1A
February 25: Frolunda 4 - Malmö 1 2G, 0A
February 27: MODO - Frolunda No Points
Week Totals: 2G, 1A

Jesper Lindgren (D)


Pierre Engvall (D) - Mora IK, Allsvenskan
Seeded 6th in Allsvenskan standings.
Allsvenskan playoffs:
Since Allsvenskan is a leaqgue whose goal is to advance to the SHL, there are no playoffs as we know it. The top two teams play in a best of five series ("Allsvenskan Finals")and the winner gets entry into the SHL qualifying tournament. The loser moves on to playoff to the SHL qualifying tournament.

Teams placed 3-8 will play in a round robin tournament with a 3-2-1-0 point system. Except Seeds 3-5 get bonus points for placing 3rd-5th. Yes, it's a little complicated.

So... now we take the loser of the top two teams, and the winner of the round robin and they play a best of three series to see who makes the SHL qualifying tournament.

The winner of THAT series joins the winner of the Allsvenskan Finals who play against the bottom two SHL teams in best of seven series mini-tournament to determine who is promoted to the SHL.
February 22: Leksands 4 - Mora 3 No Points
February 24: Mora 0 -  Björklöven 3 No Points
February 26: Timrå 3 - Mora 2 No Points
February 28: Mora 5 - Almtuna 0 2G, 0A
Week Totals: 2G, 0A

Fabrice Herzog (F) - Zurich Lions, Swiss A
Seeded #1 in NLA
NLA Playoffs:
The top 8/12 teams in the NLA qualify for the playoffs. In Round 1 teams are paired highest and lowest. For the semi-finals teams are re-seeded and again paired highest & lowest. the winners of the semi-final games meet in the finals. All series are best of seven.
February 23: Zurich 4 - SCL Tigers 1 No Points
February 26: HC Davos 5 - Zurich 6 No Points
February 27: Zurich 1 - HC Davos 4 1G, 0A
Week Totals: 1G, 0A

Player League GP Points PPG NHLe Points
Mitch Marner (F) OHL 48 101 2.10 55.21
Andreas Johnson (F) SHL 48 41 0.85 42.03
Jeremy Bracco (F) OHL 42 55 1.31 34.36
Dmytro Timashov (F) QMJHL 50 78 1.56 33.26
Tony Cameranesi (F) NCAA-NCHC 30 29 0.97 32.50
JJ Piccinich (F) OHL 57 57 1.00 26.24
Martins Dzierkals (F) QMJHL 50 58 1.16 24.73
Travis Dermott (D) OHL 44 39 0.89 23.26
Andrew Nielsen (D) WHL 62 64 1.03 22.85
Fabrice Herzog (F) NLA 34 22 0.65 21.22
Nikita Korostelev (F) OHL 45 32 0.71 18.66
Dominic Toninato (F) NCAA-NCHC 32 17 0.53 17.86
Stephen Desrocher (D) OHL 61 38 0.62 16.35
Pierre Engvall (F) ALK 50 24 0.48 15.74
Dakota Joshua (F) NCAA-B10 22 12 0.55 15.65
Nolan Vesey (F) NCAA-HE 34 9 0.26 8.03
Jesper Lindgren (D) SHL 25 3 0.12 5.90

Another seven-point week for Mitch Marner, ho-hum. Martins Dzierkals had a great week and Dominic Toninato is really heating up as the NCAA season comes to a close.

Allsvenskan playoffs (or whatever to call them) start next week and everyone else has one or two more weeks to go. I can't wait. PLAYOFFS! WOO!

Maple Leafs Prospects