Shawinigan Cataractes forward Michael ChaputOnce again, the Quebec league's two heavyweights occupy the top spots, but they've traded places.

The Saint John Sea Dogs have the most recent laugh in their broiling rivalry with the Shawinigan Cataractes. However, a superior strength-of-schedule coupled with their strong work closing out opponents lately has helped the Éric Veilleux-coached Cats regain top spot in this week's Dynamic Dozen. Of course, the actual tangible battle between the two for first overall will depend on whose game travels better. The Cataractes play nine of their last 13 games away from Centre Bionest whereas Saint John leaves Harbour Station for seven of its last 13.

It is a good week ahead for matchups between top teams, particularly in the Pacific Time Zone. The conference leaders in the WHL square off Tuesday when Edmonton visits Kamloops, followed by a Tri-City vs. Portland first-place showdown 24 hours later. Meanwhile, for the first time in a while, the OHL managed to get a third team into the rankings.

1. Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL (.571 RPI, +1). Losing star defenceman Brandon Gormley for 4-6 weeks with a foot injury hurt so much that all the Cats did was allow 40 shots last weekend across two games. Of course, that was on home ice. Shawinigan's epic stretch of road games begins Friday in Baie-Comeau.

2. Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL (.569, -1). Making a team with four world junior players and a two-time CHL coach of the year angry is always a great strategy. The decision to strip the Sea Dogs of a Jan. 4 victory because forward Maxime Villemaire had not signed a player card, which is like calling for a stick measure times 10 to the 11th power, might just further galvanize the defending champions.

How ridiculous has Card-Gate become? The QMJHL initially deleted the win from goalie Mathieu Corbeil's statistics. Of course, the individual stats of a forfeit still count, so Corbeil gets credit. The Sea Dogs had to correct the record.

3. Portland Winterhawks, WHL (.555, +2). The 'Hawks, with the Sven Bärtschi-Marcel Noebels-Ty Rattie line back together, can move into the No. 2 seed in the conference by beating Tri-City on Wednesday. They are banged-up on the blueline with William Wrenn sidelined. Pittsburgh Penguins first-rounder Joe Morrow is also shelved for Wednesday's game for a check from behind that occurred the last time they played the Americans. Portland's other two overagers, Cam Reid (hat trick last weekend) and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Oliver Gabriel, have had a lot to do with the drive to overtake Tri-City.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

Want to watch all 51 of Emerson Etem's goals? You got them. The Anaheim Ducks first-rounder is the first WHLer to score 50 in 50 games in 11 seasons. (WHL)

The Kamloops Blazers are getting closer to adding their first banner of any kind since 2002. (Kamloops Daily News)

How has going back to junior worked out for former NHL head coach Cory Clouston? (Ottawa Citizen)

What could willowy sniper Ty Rattie use? About "10 pounds." (Spokane Spokesman-Review)

Forward Joel Hamilton is out at least a month for the Red Deer Rebels with two fracture vertebrae. (Red Deer Scene)

Getting to know Calgary Hitmen goalie Chris Driedger, who's in his draft season. (Dan Sallows)

Kamloops goalie Cole Cheveldave had a great bounce back from getting an early hook in his previous start. (Dub Nation)

Either the Regina Pats fixed their power play or anomalies occasionally happen. (Regina Leader-Post)

OHL

Two more

A loose Nail can unravel not just a sweater but a desperate hockey team.

Top NHL draft prospect Nail Yakupov had his first vintage game on Sunday since returning from the widely criticized two-game suspension he received for skipping the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game due to the lingering effects of a knee injury, much to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' chagrin. The 'Hounds, who had once been up by three goals, looked like they were going to escape with two points, up a goal and on the power play heading into the final two minutes.

Then, well, Yakupov happens. Somehow, he got behind a defender to take a lead pass from Alex Basso and scored on a backhand from just in front of the goal line to force overtime. That was the middle part of a triptych that included stripping the puck from 'Hounds defenceman Gianluca Curcuruto at centre ice and going in for an unassisted goal and sniping the shootout winner, which he punctuated with a salute to the Soo fans.

That was actually Yakupov's first

Guelph Storm right wing Scott KosmachukThe best development for Scott Kosmachuk is that his team's situation has helped him grow up fast.

The right wing has become an offensive leader for a very young Guelph Storm which is hanging around the fringes of the playoff race in the Ontario Hockey League's Western Conference playoff race. That has helped the 18-year-old Kosmachuk, who cops to having some issues with consistency, get on the NHL draft radar. If he can help the Storm squeak into the second season, it could do wonders for his draft stock.

"People don't expect us to do well because we're a young team, but we're a hard-working bunch and we're going to continue to develop," says Kosmachuk, who was 23rd among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting's January midterm ranking.

The Richmond Hill, Ont., native likely falls in the range between having an outside chance at sneaking into the first round and being a more probable second-rounder. Kosmachuk can make plays at speed and is a strong north-south player. He is third in team scoring with 24 goals and 45 points in 51 games. At 5-foot-11 and 182 pounds, he's also willing to get his nose dirty; he's actually second on the Storm in penalty minutes, which is an odd distinction for a top-6 forward.

The Storm, who also have defenceman Matt Finn projected to go in the first round, are one of the more scouted OHL teams. For Kosmachuk, that means he has a chance to grow on the scouting community. He is hopeful he can block that out and focus.

"You just have to fun with it," says Kosmachuk, who played in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game two weeks ago. "You know the scouts are going to be there every game. I try to bring a lot of energy to my game and bring a lot of consistency, put up numbers offensively and play a good all-around game."

Or, in Buzzing the Net speech, a Mike Vellucci special.

This is one of those many moments that you just have to hope pop up on YouTube at some point. In Sunday's clash between the Calgary Hitmen and the Kootenay Ice, some ticky-tack calls led to a 2-0 deficit early in the third period at home. The Hitmen were flagged for two instigator penalties and a bevy of non-calls led to Calgary coach Mike Williamson losing his cool at the start of the third period.

Hopefully his tirade didn't make him thirsty, because he was tossed for throwing two water bottles from the Hitmen bench in the direction of the officials (the game was being worked by Steve Papp and Colin Watt) during the run of the game. He was called for a bench minor and was (duh) ejected.

It's not uncommon for the pot to boil over during games featuring two good divisional opponents, but what made this game a rarity was the absurd number of penalties assessed towards the end of the second period. Calgary's Ron Trzonkowski and

Owen Sound Attack forward Cameron BraceNo. 1 star: Cameron Brace, Owen Sound Attack (OHL)

Brace's career night was covered off previously on BTN. The 18-year-old right wing became the first Owen Sound player to record a seven-point night since the franchise adopted its singular sobriquet in 1999.

He was remarkably consistent during the Attack's 12-0 pulverizing of the Peterborough Petes. Brace had at least two points in each period and at least two in each manpower situation for a Lemieux hat trick on steroids. It was the first major junior hat trick for the former member of the Junior A Huntsville (Ont.) Otters.

No. 2 star: Emerson Etem, Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)

The premier pure goal scorer in the CHL reached 50 goals in 50 games in dramatic fashion with the tiebreaking third-period goal in The Hat's 4-2 home win over the Brandon Wheat Kings. Etem also added the empty-netter, giving him an eye-popping 51 with 15 games remaining.

The feat was all the more impressive since the Tigers were short-staffed with 40-goal scorer Hunter Shinkaruk and veteran Kale Kessy out with injuries. Etem was playing the heretofore obscure Rhyse Dieno (who scored a goal) and Dylan Bredo much of the night and was still his usual dangerous self. He pinged the crossbar and a post during the first two periods before striking with 13:56 left.

"Dylan Bredo and Rhyse Dieno had on great forecheck putting pressure on them," Etem told Medicine Hat's CHAT 94.5. "I was able to chip the puck by and get open. Nothing else was working. I was figuring I'd just shoot the puck. It was one of the greatest feelings I've had."

Owen Sound Attack right wing Cameron BraceWith Valentine's Day approaching, Cameron Brace reminded us all that the most important woman in a man's life is not always a spouse or significant other.

Teams sporting pink jerseys worn as part of fundraisers for breast cancer research are now almost ubiquitous in junior hockey and other spheres of the sports world, so it's easy to become numb to the whole endeavour. (Not without reason, either, if you have seen the documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc.; please excuse the soapboxing.) Regardless, cancer is always very real to those touched by it, so it's impossible to be a cynic about the magical night that Brace had on Saturday.

Brace and and the Owen Sound Attack had a sellout crowd for their first Pink The Rink night, which ended up being a 12-0 pounding of the Peterborough Petes. All Brace, a two-way speedster who is undrafted by the NHL but who is often fun to watch, did was tie the Owen Sound record of seven points in a game. It turns out the night was of very personal significance to Brace.

From Bill Walker:

The 18-year-old Markham native used his offensive explosion on the Attack's Pink the Rink night to honour his mom Teresa, who herself is a breast-cancer survivor.

"I just wanted to play for my mom and it's a great feeling to have this happen on this night," Brace said on Saturday after scoring four times and adding three assists in Owen Sound's 12-0 shellacking of the visiting Peterborough Petes in Ontario Hockey League action.

"Cancer is something that has run through my family and everyone in the (dressing) room wrote on the board who they were playing for." (Owen Sound Sun Times)

As Attack coach Greg Ireland noted to the Sun Times, "Sometimes you go into these games and you wear the jerseys and you don't know what it means." That was not one of these times.

Belleville Bulls goaltender Malcolm SubbanMalcolm Subban is anxious to show he can carry a team for the long haul rather than be hot in spots.

The Belleville Bulls goalie, the middle of three brothers in one of Canada's most famous hockey families, is the best goaltending prospect in Canada thanks to how he's expanded on his dexterity and reflexes. However, Subban recognizes that the nagging injuries he's battled this season — an ankle in the fall and a pulled groin suffered in one of the Bulls' first post-Christmas practices — have raised questions about his durability. That's why the 18-year-old, who didn't become a goalie until he was 12,  is not so focused on the fact he leads the Ontario Hockey League in two of three major goaltending categories. Adding to his team's win count and helping the youngish Bulls (26-25-1-0) become a tough out by playoff time would mean a lot for him.

"When your team isn't faring well and you want to get back as quick as possible, that's the biggest thing, you can't rush back from your injury," Subban said Sunday prior to a blowout loss in Ottawa in which he got a mercy pull. "It doesn't mean anything if you're not getting wins, I have a real good goals-against average [2.06], but I can give up two goals and if we lose 2-1, it doesn't matter. You have to get the win. So that's what I focus on, trying to give my team a chance to win. When you're focused on your stats, you're not focusing the game.

"I know [the league-leading London Knights'] Michael Houser's doing a great job this year, he has 38 wins, but he's like sixth in average. Just got to help your team get the wins."

There is an excellent chance Subban could be the first goaltender drafted in June, quite possibly in the first round. The Rexdale, Ont., native has statistically been the best in the OHL with a 2.06 goals-against average and .935 save percentage, albeit it only 23 games due to injury. The Bulls are vastly stronger with him (16-7-0-0, .696 point percentage) than when he's been injured or rested (10-18-1-0, .362).

There was a groundswell of support in November for Subban, whose elder brother P.K. Subban won two world junior gold medals before moving on to the Montreal Canadiens, to be invited to Canada's national junior selection camp. Ultimately, older OHLers Mark Visentin and Scott Wedgewood were given the call to wear the Maple Leaf. Neither became a saviour, although the wisdom of the picks might yet be borne out. Visentin, with a 2.12 and .921 rate stats, could overtake Subban for best average and save percentage by season's end.

"It wasn't my turn yet," said Subban, whose 16-year-old brother Jordan is a rookie defenceman for Belleville. "They picked them for a reason. They're both real great goaltenders, both drafted to the NHL, I'm really high on both of them. I hope I'll have my shot next year. At the same time, there's great goaltenders coming up, I know I have to work hard. I have a late birthday, so that kind of helps me a bit. I just have to keep focusing on my game and do what I did in November and hopefully bring that into next season