Oshawa Generals retake lead in Buzzing The Net Dynamic Dozen

For the second time in three weeks, the Michael Dal Colle-led Oshawa Generals top the Buzzing The Net Dynamic Dozen.

The return to the top spot comes right as the Generals are due to see Dal Colle, forwards Cole Cassels and Tobias Lindberg and defenceman Sonny Hertzberg off to join various national junior team camps. Of course, the team they just displaced for first overall, the Erie Otters, has already been living that for a month since Connor McDavid went down.

1. Oshawa Generals, OHL (.573 RPI, +2.0 SRS, +2) — Sunday's decisive win over Erie moved the Generals to a perfect 7-0 against the Western Conference, which isn't a portent that the OHL championship banner might move East, but is still something. Dal Colle, Lindberg, Josh Brown, Mitchell Vande Sompel and Co. have also bagged four wins over teams from the stacked Midwest Division, so it does appear that the Gennies are not just a creation of playing in the junior varsity league. The big takeaway from the win over the Otters was how Lindberg, 17-year-old worker bee and 19-year-old Calgary Flames second-rounder Hunter Smith collaborated. Smith scored his first goal in five weeks while playing host to the young boy he collided with during a pregame warmup on Nov. 28. The Generals haven't lost since.

2. Medicine Hat Tigers, WHL (.562 RPI, +1.3 SRS, +2) — The Tigers won from a ranking perspective while losing in Portland, which is as it should be since that was the last game of a 3-in-3 U.S. Division trip that began with taking "13 or 14 hours just to get to Everett." Coach Shaun Clouston's team has been steady across this nearly half-finished season, seldom staying down for long. Fourth-leading scorer Chad Butcher, however, was injured during the trip and that could set the Tigers back during a week that includes games vs. resurgent Kootenay and fellow Double-D pillar Kelowna.

3. Rimouski Océanic, QMJHL (.561 RPI, +0.9 SRS, -1) — The Océanic are on the road for their first week of life without Team Canada candidates Frédérik Gauthier and Samuel Morin, along with Czech defender Jan Kostalek. (Coach Serge Beausoleil was a little confused about why his team had a one-game trip to Victoriaville, then had to go back home before making a trip west.) Rimouski's loss in Victoriaville on Sunday was basically a pick 'em, but some quality road wins would be nice to see since it's 1-6 away from home since the third week of October. The next two weeks offer a chance to work in overage defender Charles-David Beaudoin, picked up from Drummondville.

4. Kelowna Rockets, WHL (.554 RPI, +1.7 SRS, -3) — The Rockets go over the Rockies without Rourke Chartier and Madison Bowey, which is concern troll-worthy since they becoming a "one-trick pony offensively" in contrast to the well-balanced 2012-13 and '13-14 iterations. After co-WHL scoring leaders Chartier and Nick Merkley, the complementary scorers such as Tyson Baillie (two points in the last six) haven't had a point payoff of late.   .

A .500 record on the five-game trip seems like a reasonable litmus test. Kelowna's blueline elders such as Jesse Lees, Cole Martin and Riley Stadel have some slack to pick up during Bowey's absence.

5. Québec Remparts, QMJHL (.553 RPI, +0.8 SRS, —) — Coming off the big swap with Moncton, coach-GM Philippe Boucher plans to have a Kurt Etchegary-Vladimir Tkachev-Adam Erne first line with the two 19-year-olds each cutting in on their off wings. That leaves a second line of Edmonton Oilers second-rounder Marc-Olivier Roy, rookie scoring leader Dmytro Timashov and overage scorer Jérôme Verrier.

Tkachev's Remparts debut is slated to be against none other than Moncton on Wednesday. Meantime, the New York Rangers loaning Duclair to Team Canada is one thing. From a junior perspective, sending him back to the Remparts would just be unfair with the top six the Remparts stand to have come January.

6. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL (.549 RPI, +1.5 SRS, +3) — The Soo's three-spot jump validates the contention that they had what coach Sheldon Keefe called "our best road trip thus far," even though they got into goalfests with both Windsor and Sarnia. The reality of the latter is that New York Rangers-drafted goalie Brandon Halverson has been encumbered by a hip injury that has limited the practice time that a big goalie needs to stay sharp. Really, the 'Hounds were one ill-advised Sergey Tolchinsky mishandling of the puck from having a 6-for-6 week.

7. Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL (.547 RPI, +1.1 SRS, -1) — The silver lining in a 1-2 week was that overage captain Peter Quenneville broke a goal drought while tallying five points over the three games. Scoring from 20-year-olds tends to come more to the fore as a season unfolds. Brandon seems to have a capacity for more of it since Quenneville (30 points, including 23 assists, over all 31 games) and Calgary Flame-drafted defenceman Eric Roy are the only two OAs.

Being swept by Regina showed that the Wheaties are human, but they rebounded nicely with a power play-fueled win in Swift Current.

8. Portland Winterhawks, WHL (.542 RPI, +0.5 SRS, +2) — What does Adin Hill have to do in order to be named the No. 1 goalie? Well, it is early yet but the 18-year-old Calgarian has a 2.24/.936 slash line on 35 shots per game in his seven starts across the past three weeks. Winterhawks coach Jamie Kompon, though, has to keep both goalies engaged, which probably explains his "1 and 1A" comment on Sunday regarding Hill and fellow 6-foot-4 'tender Brendan Burke.

The Winterhawks are losing two of their top three forwards to international duty this week, but Winnipeg Jets-drafted Team USA hopeful Chase De Leo will hang around for the weekend.

9. Regina Pats, WHL (.540 RPI, +1.0 SRS, +10) — The Pats broke into the Double-D just in time for an ad hoc symposium on this being a "potential fragile time [due to] significant holes in upcoming bantam drafts." Not to do the Cliff Fletcher "draft, schmaft," but in a league where drafting out of bantam leaves ample opportunity to patch holes by listing later bloomers, should that be an override? The Pats, who have won 13-of-15, are only going to have frontline talent such as 16-year-old Sam Steel and 19-year-old Morgan Klimchuk together for this season. Then again, they would have to get by Brandon to get out of Round 2. Hence the dilemma.

10. Erie Otters, OHL (.538 RPI, +1.8 SRS, -3) — When McDavid was healthy, the Otters as a team had a shooting percentage up in the 15 per cent range. It's now down to 13.15%, which is part McDavid's absence and part a natural regression that occurs over time. As far as the on-ice product goes, a winless weekend (shootout loss at Belleville, loss to keyed-up Oshawa) is hardly cause for panic.

11. Owen Sound Attack, OHL (.535 RPI, +0.7 SRS, +10) — From cold team to being safe and warm in to the top quintile of our attempt to quantify the performance of all 60 major junior teams. The Attack, with 17-year-old goalie Michael McNiven kicking out 58-of-60 shots, swept their home-and-home with Kitchener by an aggregate 8-2. Evidently, they also began taking a more direct route to the opposing net. .

12. Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL (.534 RPI, +0.9 SRS, —) — The Tigres beat Quebec (7-5) and Rimouski (4-3) and found four new shareholders in the franchise, so they had a very good week. Overage Angelo Miceli's eight-game point streak has helped him move into third in the Q scoring race. Victoriaville has a challenging week ahead of it, facing fellow surprise team Saint John before Saturday's visit to Chicoutimi and their former coach-GM Yanick Jean. Emotions could be running high for that matchup.

The not as dynamic but still very distinguished dozen — 13. Calgary Hitmen, WHL (.529, +15); 14. London Knights, OHL (.529, +3); 15. Red Deer Rebels, WHL (.527, -1); 16. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, QMJHL (.526, -8); 17. Shawinigan Cataractes, QMJHL (.520, +10); 18. Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL (.518, +13); 19. Guelph Storm, OHL (.517, +6); 20. Swift Current Broncos, WHL (.513, —); 21. Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL (.511, -3); 22. Barrie Colts, OHL (.511, +11); 23. Sarnia Sting, OHL (.510, —); 24. Sherbrooke Phoenix, QMJHL (.510, -8).

Hot team — Calgary Hitmen, up 15 (13 to 28).

Cold team — Spokane Chiefs, down 18 (48 to 30).

Nowhere to go but up — Lethbridge (.418).

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.