Erie Otters top regular season's final Buzzing The Net Dynamic Dozen

Like Georgia State against Baylor, minus the coach on a chair, the Erie Otters never led until the clock hit triple zeroes.

Connor McDavid and cohorts' 10-win streak to finish off the regular season bumped them ahead of the OHL regular-season champion Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the Buzzing The Net Dynamic Dozen, the weekly exercise in quantifying the performance of all 60 Canadian Hockey League teams. Erie's individual statistical exploits probably need no further belabouring, except for pointing out that wing Taylor Raddysh probably didn't get enough attention for leading all 16-year-olds with 21 goals.

Cautionary caveat: Erie also topped the season-ending ranking in 2010-11 and wound up losing in the first round to the Ryan Ellis-led Windsor Spitfires. It's a little different this time.

1. Erie Otters, OHL (.573 RPI, +1.8 SRS, +1) — Cannot fault the Otters, as the McDavid Show nears its finale, for seeing if consumers in northern Pennsylvania are willing to fork out a little more for the privilege of seeing him in action. Erie has been exciting as it gets with the combination of the 1997-born trio (McDavid, Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat) and the two 19-year-old additions, Remi Elie and Nick Baptiste, who both had a run at Team Canada last December. Like Brendan Gaunce last year, the Otters picked wisely with finding a veteran who could deal with not having top billing.

DeBrincat's 50th of the season happened to come inside of the five-minute mark of the final Plymouth Whalers, giving an excuse to include the clip.

2. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL (.569 RPI, +2.0 SRS, -1) — Strength-of-schedule played heavily into the Soo settling into second. The 'Hounds final four games were all against teams that finished sixth or lower, including the also-rans Plymouth and Windsor. Now, should one make anything of the 'Hounds leading the league with 340 goals without having a 100-point scorer? Not necessarily; both Sergey Tolchinsky (95 points in 61 games), and Anthony DeAngelo (89 in 55 to repeat as the top defenceman scorer) tallied at a century-mark clip. Jared McCann (81 in 56) might have made it too, if not for a mononucleosis-influenced slow start and a recent wrist injury that cost him a week.

3. Rimouski Océanic, QMJHL (.560 RPI, +1.3 SRS, +1) — The Océanic finished as the class of the Q by a fair margin over the league's next rep on the list, Blainville-Boisbriand. It is also nice, in a sport where finishing first overall is often treated as no more than a means to an end, the Rimouski savoured the feat of  overcoming a busy closing sprint (15 games in 31 days) and myriad injuries to finish first. Among others, younger defencemen such as 18-year-old Beau Rusk and Andrew Picco, a 17-year-old Newfoundlander, were cited for helping cover for the absence of steady overage Charles-David Beaudoin, who should return by the time the playoffs get serious.

4. Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL (.555 RPI, +1.5 SRS, -1) — The Wheaties should be a heavy favourite against wild card Edmonton in  the first round, and at least eliminated the talking point about their inability to win at Rexall Place. A win back on Jan. 13 ended a 14-loss streak in that arena spanning over six seasons.

By the way, there is a logic to Kelly McCrimmon helming this summer's Canadian under-18 team. Brandon had two high picks in 2012-13 when the 1998-birth cohort came of age for the bantam draft, so McCrimmon knows that talent pool well. Think Nolan Patrick might be on that team?

5. Portland Winterhawks, WHL (.546 RPI, +1.0 SRS, +1) — It is hard to believe it's been nearly a decade since the 'Hawks and geographically convenient rival Seattle Thunderbirds hooked up in the second season. (Brandon Dubinsky was playing!) The matchup might hinge on the Winterhawks' somewhat no-name defence, led by Vancouver Canucks draftee Anton Cederholm, continuing to hold it together. It is tough to keep the double-barreled 'Hawks offence — the Oliver Bjorkstrand-Nic Petan line, then the Chase de Leo and Paul Bittner second wave, typically — down for all 60 minutes.

Bjorkstrand becoming the Dub's first goal-per-game scorer of this millennium, with 63 in 59 games amid a lowered scoring climate, is the best argument for how the league is shorting fans by not counting individual shots. Was it based on an unsustainable shooting percentage. Or did Petan, et al., just create that much opportunity for the Herning Howitzer?

6. Oshawa Generals, OHL (.545 RPI, +1.6 SRS, -1) — The Gens enter the now-or-never stage, having depleted their stock of second-round selections to "get bigger" by adding 19-year-olds Michael McCarron and Brent Pedersen for a push for the Memorial Cup. Should they end up in an Eastern semifinal with Niagara, it will be appointment viewing; the IceDogs (27-5-2-0 in the second half) have a better record than the Gens (23-6-2-3) over the same span, although the former was making up ground while chasing a higher playoff seed.

7. Calgary Hitmen, WHL (.542 RPI, +1.1 SRS, +2) — Coach Mark French's charges made a nice little jump with their finishing kick to win the Central Division title and get the "booby prize" of a rematch with nemesis Kootenay and Sam Reinhart. The smoking gun was that the Hitmen couldn't stop taking penalties and their third-ranked penalty killing unit could not keep Reinhart and Jaedon Descheneau from capitalizing. Once again, Calgary had the Dub's third-best PK and the whole gang, including Travis Sanheim and Ben Thomas on the back end, need no reminder about letting that happen again.

8. Kelowna Rockets, WHL (.537 RPI, +1.3 SRS, -1) — The playoffs might be the new challenge that the Rockets are in need of after cruising through the "predictable West" in March while playing without Josh Morrissey, who hasn't dressed since Feb. 28. Rourke Chartier, Leon Draisaitl, Nick Merkley and the crew having to shoot on Tri-City's Eric Comrie is also a boon, since they're unlikely to meet a more formidable puck-stopper at any other stage of the playoffs.

9. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, QMJHL (.534 RPI, +0.9 SRS, +3) — Philadelphia Flyers signing Danick Martel was stopped two goals shy of the big five-oh, yet he does take up a prominent position on an imagined roster of players who were never drafted by a Quebec League team. The Armada's ability to find late bloomers such as Martel and defencemen Nathanael Halbert and Daniel Walcott is one reason they've stayed high up in standings despite being low in the draft order.

10. Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL (.532 RPI, +0.8 SRS, -2) — 'Tis the season for Marvin Cüpper, the Last Import Goalie, to be the X factor for Shawinigan, which has drawn Nikolaj Ehlers and Halifax in first round.

11. Guelph Storm, OHL (.528 RPI, +0.3 SRS, +2) — It is hard for the Storm to match the dizzying highs of last season. Here's an indicator that they had a pretty good season despite the turnover, the coaching change from Scott Walker to Bill Stewart and all the injuries, with Robby Fabbri playing only 30 OHL games and Zac Leslie shutting down for shoulder surgery. Meantime, as Tony Saxon points out, Storm fans should be hopeful that 40-goal scorer Pius Suter gets drafted and has reason to stay in junior instead of playing pro in Switzerland.

12. Moncton Wildcats, QMJHL (.527 RPI, +0.5 SRS, -2) — Remember when the Q came out with the 'draft more Americans' initiative and most people predicted it wouldn't change the status quo? Beyond league scoring king Conor Garland, the 'Cats have also had contributions from five New Englanders all age 18 or under whilst finishing second overall. Cam Askew and Will Smith were steady contributors up front, while undersized D-man Zachary Malatesta had a fine first season with 29 points. Liam Murphy also cracked the lineup in his age-16 season.

The not as dynamic but still very distinguished dozen — 13. London Knights, OHL (.527, +2); 14. Everett Silvertips, WHL (.526, +2); 15. Québec Remparts, QMJHL (.525, -4); 16. Val-d'Or Foreurs, QMJHL (.523, -2); 17. Seattle Thunderbirds, WHL (.522, +7); 18. Owen Sound Attack, OHL (.520, +3); 19. Medicine Hat Tigers, WHL (.520, -1); 20. Ottawa 67's, OHL (.514, -1); 21. Kingston Frontenacs, OHL (.513, +6); 22. Kitchener Rangers, OHL (.513, -5); 23. Niagara IceDogs, OHL (.511, -3); 24. Gatineau Olympiques, QMJHL (.510, +5).

Hot team — Seattle Thunderbirds, up 7 (17 to 24).

Cold team — Spokane Chiefs, down 8 (36 to 28).

Nowhere to go but up — Sudbury (.424).

An explanation on rankings — Buzzing The Net uses Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) with a recency factor. RPI combines a team's record with the strength of its opponents to produce an overall rating. Our method also gives more weight to recently played games. Shootout wins and losses are classified as ties, for philosophical and practical reasons. Simple Ranking System (SRS), a ranking which combines goal differential and strength of schedule, is used as a complement. All three CHL leagues are considered equivalent in quality.

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