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All the favorites have taken early leads in their series in both Ontario and BC, although Burnaby and Six Nations, last year’s Minto Cup finalists, got knotted up at one after dropping games to Port Coquitlam and Peterborough respectively.

At the start of the season, most would have probably agreed last year’s Minto winner and runner up took a small step back in the talent department, but could both be eliminated this early in 2008’s post-season?

How will Monday night’s dust-up between St. Catharines and KW affect the boys tonight?

And how bout those Eclipse? They keep winnin’ and keep jellin’ with a spot in the Minto right at the top of their to do list.

Things are definitely gettin’ interesting.

(1) Orangeville Northmen (OLA)   19-3-0
Last Week: 1
Playoffs: Lead Brampton Excelsiors 1-0 in best of seven series.

They iced the OLA standings by a cool six points over both Six Nations and St. Catharines, two teams they swept by a combined 4-0 regular season record. Then they dumped Brampton in Game 1 of what should actually be a pretty decent series, getting ten goals from eight different guys in their usual unselfish approach to O. With Adam Jones back from kickin’ some serious ass in BC, this roster is scary good and comin’ together at the absolute perfect time. This is one helluva good lineup.

(2) Coquitlam Adanacs (BCJALL)   17-4-0
Last Week: 2
Playoffs: Received bye for first round of the playoffs.

They rested their big names to close out the year and are probably chompin’ at the bit to get back on the court. As long as their O can keep up the kinda stuff they were posting in the second half of the year, Joel Weberand their D will give them a chance to win every night out. Are they the best D in the country? Gotta be a toss up between them, Orangeville and St. Catharines.

(3) New Westminster Salmonbellies (BCJALL)   15-6-0
Last Week: 3
Playoffs: Lead Nanaimo Timbermen 2-0 in best of five series.

They might not of landed one of those first two spots in the standings in the province, but you gives a sh**, they’re playing lights out ball some teams only dream they could be playing right now. The Bellies came out guns a blazin’ against the T-Men in that first game, jumping out to a 6-1 first period lead, and they haven’t looked back since. Forward Jason Jones has been clickin’ at a ridiculous pace, scoring five in the Salmonbellies’ first two wins of the series, hittin’ the game winner in both too. QP Arena Saturday night, hard not to see them wrapping up this first round this weekend.

(4) St. Catharines Athletics (OLA)   15-5-2
Last Week: 5
Playoffs: Lead KW Braves 1-0 in best of seven series.

Still don’t think people outside of Ontario are pickin’ up on how good these kids really are this year (How the heck does Lax Talk have them ranked fourth in Ontario?!?!?). They had arguably the best close out to the year anywhere in the country. Their D is nasty. Their O had three names within the top ten in scoring in Ontario, and trust it, that was no fluke. KW gave them all they could handle for two and a half periods before the now infamous mishap involving that called off goal, but the A’s still prevailed. You’re gonna have to come out hard as hell if you wanna knock their train off the tracks… I’m talkin’ real hard.

(5) Victoria Shamrocks (BCJALL)   16-5-0
Last Week: 4
Playoffs: Received by for first round of the playoffs.

How much did those late season losses to both Coquitlam and New West, which ultimately cost ‘em that number one seed, affect the Shamrocks heading into the post-season? Did it even leave a dent? Are these guys way to focused to let those big L’s shake ‘em? Will this relatively young squad respond during gut check time in the post-season? They’ve played like champions this year, but their 2-4 season series record against Coquitlam and New West would suggest they might not be ready to hang with the big boys when they come nose-to-nose. Should be interesting to see how they respond in Game 1 of Round 2. They’ve got a great mix all over the floor, now they just gotta bring it together when it matters most, which they’ve had trouble doing throughout 2008.

(6) Akwesasne Indians (OLA)   15-6-1
Last Week: 8
Playoffs: Lead Burlington Chiefs 1-0 in best of seven series.

Man, what a way to enter the post-season, with a 6-5 nail-bitter over the Six Nations Arrows. And then another 6-5 nail-bitter after Kyle Buchanan tore off his leash and burned Burlington for a trick in the matter of just minutes. At times, Akwesasne can be one of the most explosive teams in Ontario at either end of the court. If they can keep playin’ consistent ball, even the likes of Orangeville will have major problems with ‘em down the post-season stretch. But first they gotta get past Burlington, who ya know isn’t just gonna roll over just cuz they dropped Game 1. It’s shapin’ up to be maybe the first round’s tightest series this summer.

(7) Six Nations Arrows (OLA)   16-6-0
Last Week: 6
Playoffs: Tied 1-1 with the Peterborough Lakers in best of seven series.

Back in the first two weeks of the National Junior A Rankings, these guys sat at the top, owning an undefeated run that stretched nine games to start the year. At the halfway mark, the defending Minto champs sat 10-1, since then, they’ve gone a pretty mediocre 6-5, barely holding onto the number two seed while Orangeville sat on top of them and practically sent the top bunk crashin’ down on their dome in their two meetings this year. Outside of a strong third period showing in Game 1 against the Lakers, which ultimately landed them the W, the Arrows have been very much the number seven ranked teams equal, dropping Game 2 with Cody Jamieson finding the back of Peterborough’s net just once, albeit chiming in on eight other goals. They’ll need Angus Goodleaf to be a lot better if they hope to knock off Peterborough, or anyone else in this year’s post-season for that matter. Does this team have enough left in the tank to find their way to Calgary next month? They’ll need to gut it out like never before.

(8) Burlington Chiefs (OLA)   13-9-0
Last Week: 7
Playoffs: Trailing Akwesasne Indians 1-0 in best of seven series.

Tough game to drop to open up their series against the Indians, but this team has been down and out before. The Chiefs had a real, and I mean real, slow start to the summer, building off of some gutsy performances mid-season that has a lotta people liking them as this year’s dark horse. Being down 1-0 doesn’t help though, and Burlington will try and turn the tide tonight in Game 2. Can Kevin Brownell be the clutch SOB he’s been all season? The Chiefs will need him to take over this series, similar to what Buchanan did to them in Game 1. Should be a beauty of a war between these two.

(9) Edmonton Eclipse (RMLL)   12-0-3
Last Week: 9
Playoffs: Finishing RMLL regular season.

What a story of a season goin’ down in Edmonton this year. The Eclipse continue to haul in the W’s, and in pretty bad ass fashion too. They had arguably their most impressive D showing as they went in lockdown mode against the Calgary Raiders, and although the Calgary Mountaineers poured it on late, the Eclipse’s 7-2 early lead was just too much to tear down for Calgary. Simon Giourmetakis looked damn good all weekend, while the team’s out of province pickups continue to work their way into the lineup, more than catching up to speed and putting in some slick showings as well. Eclipse versus Miners on Friday night… stop drooling. Will a W against their most heated rival move ‘em up in the rankings next week?

(10) Peterborough Lakers (OLA)   10-10-0
Last Week: Not ranked
Playoffs: Tied 1-1 with the Six Nations Arrows in best of seven series.

Consistency has definitely been an issue in Peterborough this summer, but hot damn, take a look at that lineup that just punked Six Nations in Game 2. With everyone now in camp and 100% focused, the Lakers of 2008 might finally be lookin’ like the potential contenders some thought they were back in April. Seriously though… Brock Sorenson, Josh Gilliam, Jesse Guerin, Kyle Clancy… these are about as close as you can get to household names at this level of ball. A lot of people are wonderin’ what happened to the Arrows in Game 2, but the only thing that happened was that the Lakers showed up and went to work. This is not a team you can just shake off. The playoffs in Ontario this summer has zero early round walk-threws. Can the Lakers keep this up? If this team is finally clickin’, I’d hate to bet against ‘em.

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