Coming off a 6-1 throttiling of the Central Division leading Brampton Battalion, the Niagara IceDogs will now travel to Windsor on Friday night to take on the Spitfires, followed by a Saturday night showdown with Nail Yakupov and the Sarnia Sting. 

In a match up between the second-least (Niagara) and most (Windsor) penalized teams in the league, the Spitfires will look to avenge a 4-3 loss to the IceDogs in St. Catharines on November 12th.

Since then, Alexander Khokhlachev has maintained his torrid scoring pace, logging nine points in four games.  His 33 points this season are tied for tenth in the league.  Niagara was able to hold Khokhlachev without a point in their last meeting, and will seek to do the same again in Windsor.  

The Spitfires are also getting support offensively from rookie Ben Johnson.  Signed as a free agent with Windsor this summer, the Michigan native has seven points in his last four games, including the first three goals of his OHL career.  

Captain Adrian Robertson has been strong for the Spits, also recording seven points in his last four games, including a four-point output in Windsor’s November 13th win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Niagara concludes their weekend in Sarnia, the first game of two games between the Sting and IceDogs this season.  Sarnia sits comfortably in third place in the Western Conference standings with a 15-4-1-3 record, and was also ranked as the seventh best team in the CHL this week.  

Sarnia has played well recently, recording 13 of 20 possible points in their last 10 games, including their November 19^th game versus Saginaw in which they exploded for five goals in the first period.  They are, however, coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Barrie Colts on Thursday night.  

The Sting's offence is led by budding superstar Nail Yakupov who has 46 points in 23 games, is considered one of the top two overall picks of next year’s NHL Entry Draft, after being named the OHL and CHL Rookie of the Year last season.

Also considered a top prospect for the 2012 Draft, Alex Galchenyuk, who was ranked second among OHL skaters in a recent NHL Central Scouting poll, has yet to play a regular season game for the Sting after suffering a torn ACL in the preseason which required surgery.  

However, Charles Sarault has picked up a great deal of slack with Galchenyuk out, sitting fifth in the OHL’s scoring race with 37 points in 24 games.  In his previous three years with the Kingston Frontenacs, Sarault never exceeded 38 points in one season.