15-year-old phenon Connor McDavidThroughout the season, there have been plenty of hints dropped about Connor McDavid becoming the second 15-year-old in as many seasons to receive early entry in the Ontario Hockey League from Hockey Canada.

Last season, current Barrie Colts rookie Aaron Ekblad learned at the end of March that he would be able to play major junior at age 15. So with McDavid, who's been more than holding his own against older competition this season with the Toronto Marlboros midgets, it's really just a question with the timeline. While Hockey Canada guards the process like nuclear secrets — which is necessary when one is talking about the welfare of very young athletes — the McDavid hype is coming to a head. That figures since he just dominated the final in the Greater Toronto Hockey League championship, plus the OHL priority selection draft is in a month and teams would like to know if they need to adjust their draft board accordingly. In other words, cue the Erie Otters, who will pick No. 1 on April 7, rubbing their hands with glee.

From Bob McKenzie:

The major bantam-aged player who is playing with the Toronto Marlboro minor midgets in the Greater Toronto Hockey League is turning heads and earning rave reviews as a special talent. Ontario Hockey League scouts strongly believe if the speedy and skilled offensive centre were available in this year's OHL draft, he would clearly be the top prospect — No. 1 in an entire draft class that is one year older than him.

... We will find out in due course if the same thing will happen with McDavid. Hockey Canada's application for exceptional player status is a confidential process and no one will confirm or deny McDavid has applied, but the deadline for applications was Feb. 15 with any decision coming from Hockey Canada by next week at the latest.

The consensus seems to be that if McDavid applied, he's a slam dunk to get exceptional status. (TSN)

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WHL

Portland Winterhawks star Sven Bärtschi is set for his big NHL debut tonight for the Calgary Flames. (Calgary Herald)

Tri-City Americans winger Patrick Holland is, obviously, pretty happy to have signed his NHL entry-level deal with the Montreal Canadiens. Meantime, his team needs a win tonight to stay ahead in the chase for first overall. (Something that sets apart the WHL is people actually know the name of the trophy for winning the regular season.) (Tri-City Herald)

As if the Saskatoon Blades' back end is not already decimated: draft-year defenceman Dalton Thrower is out indefinitely with an injury. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

A Moose Jaw-Regina tilt in March that has playoff implications for both teams? That's something new. (Regina Leader-Post)

Goalie mask designs are getting way too elaborate. (Calgary Herald)

Victoria Royals draft-year centre Steven Hodges admits to having Party In The

Sometimes a video says a thousand words. Speaking of a thousand, it was like Dauphin Kings coach-GM Marlin Murray threw that many items on to the ice while expressing his frustration with the referees during his team's loss in a Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoff game on Thursday in Winnipeg.

With time winding down in a 5-1 Game 4 loss to the Winnipeg Saints, who received SIXTEEN power-play opportunities, Murray held a yard sale behind Dauphin's bench. Soon enough, the St. James Civic Centre ice resembled Will Ferrell's yard in Everything Must Go, as Murray threw anything and everything he could lay his hands on. He threw, by unofficial count, at least a dozen sticks, including four at a time. Hey, if you're going to get ejected to prove a point to the officials and incur a fine from the league, make sure you get your money's worth.

Mississauga St. Michael's Majors goalie Brandon MaxwellNo. 1 star: Brandon Maxwell, Mississauga-St. Michael's Majors (OHL)

The Majors owe their playoff position largely to the job Maxwell has done since he came east from Sarnia for JP Anderson in a deadline swap of graduating goalies. The overager frustrated the prolific Niagara IceDogs, making 43 saves, including 19 in the second period alone, to help the Majors upset a conference-leading 2-0 on the road. The draft pick-heavy IceDogs generated a ton of chances in the opening two periods, with the likes of world junior forwards Freddie Hamilton and Ryan Strome getting plenty of chances. Maxwell was locked in all night, looking both strong on his angles and rebound control. With the shutout, he has a 2.75 goals-against average and .926 save percentage since joining Mississauga.

No. 2 star: Jack Campbell, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)

Campbell came on top in a goaltenders' duel against the young man who replaced him in Windsor, Jaroslav Pavelka, making 31 saves in Sault Ste. Marie's 2-1 overtime victory. The night ultimately didn't settle much in the playoff race since both teams earned at least one point, but Campbell was on his game, matching Pavelka save for save and getting some help from the posts on chances by Windsor's Michael Clarke and Nick Czinder in the third period. Clarke later tied the game off a great centring feed from Zack MacQueen and Windsor had momentum, but the difference in the 'Hounds of late is that they don't recoil from a challenge. Campbell held the fort down until Brett Findlay finished off a 2-on-1 in OT to give Campbell one of his most satisfying wins of his career.

"I played in the world juniors and I won that gold medal [with Team USA in 2010]," Campbell told TV Cogeco Windsor. "But tonight I wanted this game more than anything I've ever wanted. To finish it off in overtime just made it sweeter ... Tonight was a good start as far as making the playoffs goes, but we still have five more games."

Think Campbell was composed tonight?

How calm is Sault G Jack Campbell for tonight's playoff showdown with the Windsor #Spitfires. Stopped to sign a few autographs after warmups

— Jim Parker (@winstarparker) March 8, 2012

Calgary Flames first-round pick Sven Bartschi of the Portland WinterhawksThe most proficient player in the WHL, Portland Winterhawks star Sven Bärtschi, jumped unexpectedly from one playoff race to another when the Calgary Flames made him an emergency recall on Wednesday.

Since the big league trumps junior in importance, the focus is no doubt on the fact the Flames called up the Swiss star since he's the only player in their system remotely capable of giving the Flames some offensive punch. (That might say a lot about how Calgary has drafted of late but that's neither here not there.) Bärtschi, as Vicki Hall noted, can only stay up in Calgary until any two of the Flames' plethora of injured players return to the lineup. That likely means the Winterhawks, who fell out of both the conference and league lead after losing 5-1 in Kamloops on Wednesday, might not see Bärtschi and his two points per game until the final weekend of the regular season.

As Hall noted:

The number of Calgary forwards in sick bay is staggering. Seven are sidelined with various and sundry ailments after Tim Jackman (upper body) went down on his first shift Tuesday against Montreal.

He joins Lee Stempniak (high ankle sprain), Blair Jones (cracked ankle), Mikael Backlund (shoulder), Michael Cammalleri (upper body), Blake Comeau (upper body) and Lance Bouma (upper body).

The Flames hope Comeau, Bouma, Jackman and defenceman Chris Butler (thigh laceration) will return within five to seven days. Cammalleri is day-to-day. Jones is skating again and lobbying hard to return, but more X-rays and an MRI are needed to determine a timeline.

Baertschi must return to junior once two of the injured players return to the lineup.

"I'm so excited," the 19-year-old said. "So pumped. It's hard to put into words how you feel when they tell you something like that." (Calgary Herald)

However, people should not read too much into Portland's result on Wednesday,even though it left them one point off the Western Conference and WHL lead with five games to go.

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WHL

Sven Bärtschi is going to The Show after the injury-riddled Calgary Flames summoned the Portland Winterhawks star as an emergency recall. (Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun)

The Kamloops Blazers owned the final 20 minutes against Portland and stayed in the thick of the Western Conference race. (Kamloops Daily News, Portland Tribune)

Thanks to Kristians Pelss' OT winner, the Edmonton Oil Kings have a near insurmountable seven-point lead in the Eastern Conference. (Edmonton Journal)

Chicago Blackhawks-drafted goalie Kent Simpson helped his Everett Silvertips win a game where they only had two shots in the third period. (Everett Herald, Victoria Times-Colonist)

Colorado Avalanche first-rounder Duncan Siemens had a point in his first Saskatoon Blades game since returning from a concussion. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

It is probably time to start contemplating what effect a NHL labour stoppage would have on junior hockey. Jordan Weal playing an overage year?! (Regina Leader-Post)

No one wants to face Kelowna in the first round of the playoffs. (Dub Nation)

Barrie Colts F Ivan TeleginNo. 1 Star: Ivan Telegin, Barrie Colts (OHL)

Ivan Telegin has been on a wicked tear for the Barrie Colts lately. In his last ten games, the Winnipeg Jets prospect is putting up Cy Young numbers: 16 goals, six assists. Tonight against Owen Sound it was more of the same, with the Russian putting up a season-high four goals, his third hat-trick on the season, in a 6-2 win for the Colts against the defending champion Attack.

Telegin kicked it off just 7:28 into the game with a shorthanded marker and gave a nice assist to Zach Hall for the 2-0 advantage just 5 minutes later. It was all downhill for the Colts from there. Good friend Brandon Sudeyko of In The O Radio notes that Telegin's recent scoring outburst has coincided with his girlfriend's arrival in Barrie.

Halifax Mooseheads left wing Andrew RyanAndrew Ryan's been part of a turnaround season in Halifax, although it hasn't been the smoothest sailing for the Newfoundlander.

Ryan was in dry dock for the first two-and-a-half months of the QMJHL season after breaking his ankle in August. The long recovery might partially explain why it took time for him to produce this season, but that might be trumped when one considers who he plays with for the much improved Mooseheads. The 6-foot-2, 203-pound left wing has been skating of late with two highly ranked draft prospects, 16-year-old wunderkind Nathan MacKinnon and 18-year-old right wing Martin Frk. That should speak well for Ryan, considering the Mooseheads have another nice power winger option in Vancouver Canucks draft pick Alexandre Grenier.

"I'm a big guy, I have some skill and I like to take pucks to the net," says the Paradise, N.L., native who was ranked 64th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting in January. "We've great results this year for sure so far in Halifax. There's a lot bigger fanbase this year. More fans are coming  out and it is great to be part of."

The Mooseheads have won four of their past five games as they attempt to enter the playoffs on an upswing, including a 7-0 rout of Acadie-Bathurst on Wednesday when the MacKinnon-Ryan-Frk line combined for seven points. Ryan, whom Halifax initially thought would become a rangy centreman after they took him 19th overall in the 2011 QMJHL draft, has adapted well to playing the wing and creating opportunities for his two well-known linemates. He has nine goals and 20 points in 40 games on the year.

"He's got size, also he has really good hands," says Mooseheads coach Dominique Ducharme. "He's just complementing Marty and Nathan very well. He's the type of forward who can be very dangerous around the net.

"He's not a bad skater, he's faster than you might expect. Tall guys sometimes look a little slower, the first step. But to reach the level, everyone needs to be faster and that's certainly something he can improve in."

For Ryan, he's mostly grateful to have put some distance between himself and the busted ankle that shortened his season. It was a big setback, since much like many taller forwards, improving his skating is a high priority.

"The most frustrating part about being out is not being to able to do anything about it," he says. "It was just something where I had to wait for it to heal and watch a lot of hockey games."