Connor-icles: McDavid mania means attendance record for Frontenacs, extra buses in Ottawa

In a time when many OHL teams have to hustle just to maintain decent attendance levels, Connor McDavid is filling arenas that often have swaths of unfilled seats.

As a case in point, all three Erie Otters games on their eastern swing through Peterborough, Kingston and Ottawa this weekend are sellouts. The Petes drew about an extra 1,500 fans than they typically do for a Thursday night game, attracting a season-high 3,866 to the Peterborough Memorial Centre for their 6-5 upset of the Otters.

The Kingston Frontenacs, meantime, are projected to have their largest crowd in franchise history for their Friday game against the Otters, which will be broadcast on Sportsnet. The only apt comparison, when it comes to Kingston being agog about a visit from hockey royalty, dates back to 1972 when an 11-year-old Wayne Gretzky played a minor hockey tournament in the southeastern Ontario city.

The Ottawa 67's, who host the Otters at 3 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, have played in front of some small crowds this season during their first year back at TD Place arena after a two-year stint at the Canadian Tire Centre. Yet the 67's sold out their visit from Erie more than a week from advance and also sold out all underground parking. Consequently, the city of Ottawa added additional public transit routes on Sunday to accommodate fans who will have to park at either nearby Carleton University or a nearby shopping mall. The game also coincides with the Winterlude festival in the nation's capital, but keep in mind, the same team drew only 1,898 for its game on Tuesday against Oshawa, the top-ranked team in the entire Canadian Hockey League.

Arguably, no one player has had such an effect in taking interest in the OHL beyond its normal reach since Eric Lindros in the early 1990s. There was a similar curiosity when John Tavares was in his draft season in 2008-09. In fact, the Erie-Ottawa game will come six years to the day that Ottawa, whose arena had a larger seating capacity at the time, drew 9,335 for a game against Tavares and the London Knights.

By and large, though, projected first overall picks don't budge the needle that much. McDavid, though, has proven to be the real deal and also had a central role in Canada winning its first world junior gold medal in six years, giving him more name recognition than the usual consensus top prospect.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.