The Top 25 Men's Teams in North America

Friday, 11 August, 2017 07:37

In existence since 1974, the OBHA continues the next phase in ranking the top 25 teams heading into the 2017/18 campaign and 44th year producing excellence in the sport of ball hockey.

The North American Ball Hockey rankings for 5 on 5 indoor version of the sport via reports from the scouting staff and without further ado……

The Top 25 North American Ball Hockey rankings (based on club teams and not all star team/pick ups for events):

2017/18 Rankings

1) Montreal Red Lite

• Best Players – Yannick Labonte, Carl Ghilarducci, Kevin Kuczmarski

• X-Factor – Danick Martel – plays much bigger than his slight frame and is gifted offensively

2) Metro Orangemen

• Best Players – Chris Creador, Chris Cerqueira, Ricardo Pires

• X-Factor – Paul Zarnett – the team plays defense first and where else does that start, but in the net and among the best is this tendy

3) Pittsburgh Gods

• Best Players – Steve Gregory, Rick Zimmick, Jon Rethage

• X-Factor –the sum of their parts is much greater than the individual accomplishments and this is their strength, but also biggest weakness as the shortage of the ‘go to guy’ in big games is the teams greatest need

4) Chamber of Montreal

• Best Players – Steve Proulx, Mytia Moisseron, Phil Di Giacomo, Mattieu Ferron

• X-Factor – Proulx, Di Giacomo and Ferron seem to be the next stars coming from the Belle Province

5) Brampton Express

• Best Players – Shawn Hannon, JK Gill, Anthony Loveless

• X-Factor – Matt Tremblett – Mr. Everything for this team as they continue to find themselves in transition and attempting to find balance between veterans and youngsters

6) Boston Saints Best Players

• Luke Jones, Ricky Masterprieto, Matt Gilchrest

• X-Factor – Sean Ferguson – he is a legit first line center with size, experience, and knowledge and has competed at the international level where he was a strong supporter to the team

7) Dek Hockey Boucherville

• Best Players – Olivier Levasseur, Alexandre Richer, Jesse Arbour-Roch, Steven Arbour-Roch

• X-Factor – Levasseur is the best defenceman outside of Quebec that isn’t known yet! but can flat out play

8) Quebec Sports Elite

• Best Players – Kevin Gauthier, Kevin Lamothe, Cedric Jean, Anthony Nellis

• X-Factor – the team comes from a 3 on 3 version of the sport so how quickly they adapt to the 5 on 5 game is key and impressed at the US Nationals

9) Edmonton Savages

• Best Players – Tony Brar, Scott Holben

• X-Factor – this team needs to find that extra gear as they seem to have dominated the province of Alberta and need to find the next gear to compete against the best teams

10) Newfoundland Blackhorse

• Best Players – Scott Bray, Marcus Power, Patrick O’Keefe

• X-Factor – the torch has been passed to the youngsters and now it is up to them to maintain the spirit of the Black Horse

11) St. Catherines War Pigs

• Best Players – Eric Tardif, Munavar Hamdami, Brian Szolga

• X-Factor – Bram Leggat – underrated netminder that has a tremendous amount of pressure on him as he must keep the opposition under two goals against every game in order to grab wins

12) Leominster Americans

• Best Players – Korey Wilson, Matt Caron, Jorden Senacal

• X-Factor – the biggest challenge for this group of youngsters is showing up for every game

13) Vancouver Falcons

• Best Players – Marcel Lafortune, Dylan Churchwell, Chris Sirovyak

• X-Factor – Smitter Kaila – multi talented and all purpose player who while playing at the top level is teaching the next core of young players

14) North York Hitmen

• Best Players – Jonathan Puliccichio, Victor Azevedo

• X-Factor – Victor Azevedo – he is a shut down defenceman with offensive flair and with his size/speed and can alter the tempo of the game as he glides effortlessly around the floor

15) Granby Pile Ou Face

• Best Players – Jason Larochelle, Olivier Davignon, Keven Rousseau, Charles Monette

• X-Factor – Raising their game in the big games

16) Penn Hill Arsenal

• Best Players – Bill Sullivan, Matt Kiesel, Mark Kiesel

• X-Factor – Goaltending is where the team seems to fall just short and they need their goalies to come up big as the forwards and defence to be there in the big games

17) Team Manitoba

• Best Players – Remi Laurencelle, Kalan Kastas, Dylan Kelly

• X-Factor – Dustin Kelly – the go to guy for the ‘Big M’, he can play in all facets and is relied upon to lead the team offensively which proves difficult when others can’t match his skill set

18) Leominster Rams

• Best Players – Bobby Housser, Doug Croteau, Mike Colcord

• X-Factor – Housser is loaded with skill and speed making him a dangerous and valuable player on this long time powerhouse

19) Montreal Powerball

• Best Players – Jonathan Gagne, Marc-Andre Trudeau, Olivier Gremier, Pierre-Olivier Girouard

• X-Factor – Coming together versus the best teams proves to be their obstacle with a team loaded with talent

20) Belleville Msagro

• Best Players – Evan Greer, Liam Hayes, Pat Millington

• X-Factor – try to find that chemistry to match the individual talent from a group that is built from players throughout their league program against teams that play together all year long

21) Quebec DDLC

• Best Players – Guillaume Nadeau, Antoine Fortin, Gabriel Parent, Steve McKinnon

• X-Factor – stepping up and matching the top teams offence

22) Penetanguishene Blazers

• Best Players – Matthew Paul, Jacob Robitaille, Brian Valentine

• X-Factor – try to find the right mix of players from a small league to raise their game and play on the big stage against the best

23) Granby Dek Hockey

• Best Players – Samuel Lauzon, Jason Tracey, Jonathan Delorme, Samuel Deslande

• X-Factor – goaltending and defence is essential for the team to move up into the top 20

24) Niagara Rebels

• Best Players – Daniel Setacci, Joe Barbas, Mike Barbas, Jesse Barbas

• X-Factor –taking one step forward and two steps back is what this group must fight against and continue to build the chemistry they seem to have lost the last few years

25) Saint John Most Wanted

• Best Players – Riley Craft, Matt Morehouse

• X-Factor –the torch has been passed to the youngsters to carry on the Most Wanted tradition

Tags: Ontario