Who’s Clutch? OHL Edition

Every team needs clutch scoring. That guy you can count on to score the big goal late in the game.

With the NHL entry draft still five months away there’s going to be lots of talk about game breakers and their goal scoring abilities. We here at Open Ice Hockey wanted to give you a look at the most clutch goal scorers in the CHL, starting with the OHL.

For simplicity reasons clutch scoring will be defined by a goal that is scored in the final ten minutes of a game that lead to overtime or winning the game in regulation or overtime. Goals were not counted if the team did not reach at least reach OT.

The Ontario Hockey League averages six clutch goal scorers per team. The Owen Sound Attack lead the way with nine. On the other end of the scale is the Brampton Battalion with only one player who has registered a clutch goal to date.

To make it more interesting we included every player, not just draft eligible players.

The results may surprise you.

The most clutch goal scorer in the entire OHL is Alex Friesen of the Niagara IceDogs. The 19-year-old center is in his third season with the IceDogs and currently sits 58^th among OHL points leaders with 16 goals and 43 points. The 5’10” 189lbs, native of Niagara-on-the-Lake went undrafted in his first year of NHL availability.  Teams may have to consider a late round flyer on this kid when they see a full 25 percent of Friesen’s goals are considered clutch.

Next on this list should be of no surprise to Kitchener Rangers’ fans.  Former Toronto Young Nationals forward Jeff Skinner has 37 goals so far this season, tied with Tyler Seguin for tops in the OHL. The second year center is ranked No. 47 for North American skaters for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft he is the top ranked OHL player on this list.

Plymouth Whalers’ fans will be happy to see the next name. No, it’s not Tyler Seguin. Phil McRae, the Whalers prized trade deadline acquisition is tied with Alex Friesen with 43 points so far this season.  The second-round pick of the St. Louis Blues has already shown his clutch scoring ability with an OT winner for the Whalers. The soon to be 20-year-old has never reached 30 goals in a season. He has 15 this year.

Pat Daley is in his fifth season in the OHL and fourth with the Peterborough Petes. Daley, who turns 21 in April, is having a career year with 21 goals and 52 points good enough for 29^th in the OHL. The undrafted winger’s clutch scoring is the reason why the Petes are looking at home ice advantage in the playoffs.

A slew of other players are tied for fifth on this list including Storm center Matt Sisca, Frontenacs center and New York Rangers second-round pick Ethan Werek, draft eligible winger Christian Thomas of the Generals and second leading rookie scorer, 16-year-old Boone Jenner also of the Oshawa Generals.

As for the “big guns” of the OHL, Tyler Seguin sits tied for 25^th on this list. Taylor Hall, Nazem Kadri, Chris MacKinnon, Zack Torquato, Adam Henrique, and Greg Nemisz are the only players in the top-25 of league scoring without a single clutch goal to their name.  116 OHL players registered at least one clutch goal so far this season.

Topics: Alex Friesen, Boone Jenner, Christian Thomas, Ethan Werek, Guelph Storm, Jeff Skinner, Kingston Frontenacs, Kitchener Rangers, Matt Sisca, Niagara IceDogs, Oshawa Generals, Pat Daley, Peterborough Petes, Phil McRae, Plymouth Whalers

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