OHL Western world is wild
Buckle up. It is setting up to be a wild ride in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League in the 2026 portion of this season’s schedule. No less than five teams are vying for any one of the top four spots — which means home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Following are my three favourites in the Western Conference, with due respect to the Kitchener Rangers and London Knights.
Flint Firebirds. Who saw this coming? Not me. And I like the Firebirds. Quite a bit in fact. While most pundits had Flint finishing anywhere from sixth to eighth in the Western Conference this season I did slot the Firebirds in at fourth or fifth in my pre-season forecast. I liked what general manager Dave McParlan was building. But I didn’t see the Firebirds being in sole possession of first place in the Western Conference at the midway point of this ’25-26 season, slightly ahead of the Windsor Spitfires. Here we are though and Flint, led by head coach Paul Flache and his staff, is in top spot. Forward Nathan Aspinall leads the entire OHL in scoring, former Soo Greyhound Alex Kostov is fifth in the league in points, Jimmy Lombardi is ninth and retread goalie Mason Vaccari, formerly with the Kingston Frontenacs, has been outstanding as an overage puck stopper. All in all, the Firebirds are looking really good, top to bottom. Credit to McParlan, Flache and head scout Mike Oliverio, who is based in Sault Ste. Marie and is a former Greyhound scoring star from the mid 1980s.
Windsor Spitfires. I picked the Spitfires to finish first in the Western Conference — and I still believe that they will, albeit with some trade deadline additions from general manager Billy Bowler. To me, overage Joey Costanzo is the best goalie in the Western Conference, defensemen Carson Woodall and Anthony Cristoforo are two of the best in the league, as are forwards Liam Greentree and Ethan Belchetz at their position. Coaching? Greg Walters has never had a losing record in five previous years as an OHL head coach — two with the Oshawa Generals, two with the Owen Sound Attack and last season with Windsor. And this season will be six in a row for the affable bench boss. All in all, I like the depth of the Spitfires — and I like the decision makers in charge. Windsor remains my choice to prevail in the Western Conference.
Soo Greyhounds. This isn’t about me favouring my hometown team from Sault Ste. Marie. On the contrary, I have never given preferential treatment to the Greyhounds in 50 years as a hockey writer and broadcaster. Never. I just like the feel of this season’s Greyhounds. I like the trades that general manager Kyle Raftis has made to bring in forward Colin Fitzgerald and defenseman Lukas Fischer. I love the way Team Canada forward Brady Martin plays. I love the way defenseman Chase Reid plays. This can be a scary team come playoff time, especially if goalie Landon Miller is as consistently good as he can be. I am a big Miller fan, dating back to when he tended twine in the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League as a 16-year old. Yep, I like the Greyhounds, even if I am not a fan of their head coach.