Hicks shines with 50-save performance in second career OHL start: Sunday’s 3 stars

No. 1 star: Connor Hicks, Belleville Bulls (OHL)

Pretty tough for a 17-year-old rookie netminder to rebound from a 7-3 loss in his first career start, then sit on the bench for two weeks, waiting for the nod to go in again.

It was no issue for Bulls rookie Hicks, a 2013 OHL seventh round pick, who rebounded in fine style, stopping 50-of-52 shots in Belleville’s 3-2 win over the Sarnia Sting.

Sarnia outshot Belleville 52-33 in the game, including 20 shots in the first period, and Hicks stopped them all.

Remi Elie snapped a 2-2 draw with 29 seconds left in the game to give the home team Bulls the win, and for Hicks, his first in the OHL.

Not too shabby for a second career OHL start.

Brandon Saigeon and David Tomasek scored the other goals for the Bulls, who held a 2-0 lead after one period despite a 20-9 shots disadvantage.

Sarnia’s Euros, Pavel Zacha and Nikita Korostelev, each scored on the powerplay in the middle frame to even the score after two periods. Anthony DeAngelo had assists on both goals, and took a slashing misconduct penalty at the final buzzer. Justin Fazio took the loss, making 30 saves.

Belleville improved to 8-2-0-0 on the year, while Sarnia dropped to 4-5-1-0.

No. 2 star: Hunter Smith, Oshawa Generals (OHL)

Smith capped off a thee-game-in-three-night effort for the Gens with a hat trick as Oshawa doubled up Sault Ste. Marie 4-2.

The Flames second rounder in 2014 scored the Generals’ last three goals, including the winner, to cap off the win. The hatty game him five goals on the weekend, and eight on the year. He buried two of the goals on the man advantage, and was named first star of the contest.

The big bodied forward now has 12 points in 11 games.

Cole Cassels and Bradley Latour had helpers on two of Smith’s goals, and Michael Del Colle had two assists of his own in the win. Ken Appleby got the win in net, making 27 saves. Brandon Halverson made 33 stops in the loss for the Greyhounds.

The Generals got their OHL-leading ninth win of the season and improved to an OHL-high 9-1-1-0. Sault Ste. Marie was handed their second loss of the season, and they dropped to 8-2-0-0 with the loss.

No. 3 star: Dante Salituro, Ottawa 67s (OHL)

Salituro netted his second hat-trick of the year in the 67s 5-3 win over the Plymouth Whalers. The three-goal effort gives him five on the weekend, and 10 in a five-game scoring streak for the pint-sized forward.

He stuffed in Ottawa’s first two goals and then scored the insurance marker late in the third stanza.

His 10 goals in his last five is all the goals he’s scored this season. He has 11 points in nine games, going for the Cy Young with a 10 goal, one assist statsheet.

Connor Graham and Jacob Middleton each had a pair of assists in the win, while Liam Herbst got the victory in net. Ottawa improved to 4-5-0-0.

Connor Chatham and Mathieu Henderson each had a goal and an assist for Plymouth, who dropped to 4-5-1-0.

Honourable mention: Adam Erne, Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)

Erne led the way for the Remparts in a 7-2 demolishing of Chicoutimi to put an exclamation point on the end of the QMJHL’s rivalry week. He recorded a hat trick and added an assist in the win.

The Remparts have needed their forwards to pick up the slack with Anthony Duclair playing in the show with the New York Rangers. Erne has 14 points in eight games and is doing his part.

Nikolas Brouillard and Dmytro Timashov each had three-point afternoons for Quebec, as they jumped to 8-5-0-0. They did damage on the man advantage, going 3-for-6 on the PP.

Chicoutimi fell to 5-8-1-0, last in the East Division.

Honourable mention: Tyler Bertuzzi, Guelph Storm (OHL)

Bertuzzi had a goal and three helpers in the Storm’s 5-3 win over the Saginaw Spirit.

He evened the score in the first period with a goal in the final minute of the frame, and then added two assists in the second and an assist on the insurance marker in the third period. He assisted on five-on-five, powerplay and shorthanded goals.

Bertuzzi’s teammate Robby Fabbri scored twice in the win, while Justin Nichols grabbed the win in net. Guelph improved to 6-2-0-0 with the victory.

Jake Paterson took the loss for Saginaw, who dropped to 4-5-1-0.

Notables: Travis Sanheim scored twice to cap off a three-point afternoon in Calgary’s 5-1 victory over Regina. Greg Chase had a pair of helpers in the win. … Cameron Darcy scored a goal and added two helpers to lead the way for Cape Breton in a 4-1 win over Halifax. The Screaming Eagles stormed back from a 1-0 deficit after forty minutes, scoring four unanswered goals in the third frame. … Evan Fitzpatrick earned his first career QMJHL shutout, stopping all 26 shots he faced in Sherbrooke’s 3-0 win over Drummondville. Raphaël Lafontaine had a goal and an assist for the Phoenix. … Thomas Schemitsch scored his second of the game at 3:16 of the extra fun and Holden Cook and Daniel Milne each had a goal and an assist in Owen Sound’s 5-4 comeback win over Windsor. … Mathieu Lemay scored twice, snapping a 3-3 tie and adding the insurance empty-net marker in Rouyn-Noranda’s 5-3 win in Val-d’Or. Alexandre Bélanger made 37 saves in the win. … Nicolas Blanchard broke a 3-3 tie in the third period as Acadie-Bathurst edged Charlottetown 4-3. Mark Simpson and Raphaël Corriveau each had a goal and an assist, while Daryl MacCallum stopped 40-of-44 shots for the hard-luck loss. … Nick Paul notched a pair of goals, including the winner, as North Bay came from behind to edge Mississauga 4-3. Spencer Martin took the loss, though no fault of his own with 45 stops. The Battalion outshot the Steelheads 49-17. … Brandon Whitney stopped 32-of-35 and Yan Pavel Laplante had a goal and an assist to lead Victoriaville past Shawinigan 4-3. James Phalen and Kris Hodge had a pair of assists each in the loss. … Maxime St-Cyr scored the only goal in the shootout to cap off a 40-save effort from winning netminder Philippe Cadorette as Baie-Comeau squeezed by Rimouski 3-2. … Danick Martel had a goal and assisted on Nikita Jevpalovs’ winner in Blainville-Boisbriand’s 3-2 victory over Gatineau.