How are the @OHLBarrieColts looking half way through the season? #OHL

The Team.
The Barrie Colts are half way through the 2014-15 regular season.

They are currently sitting in first place in the Central Division with a 21-12-1-1 record but only have 3 more points than North Bay who have played 2 less games. They also sit 2nd in the Eastern Conference but trail the leading Oshawa Generals by a huge margin of 13 points.

The Colts are the most penalized team in the league having 634 PIM. The Knights and Whalers are the only other teams in the OHL with over 600 PIM.

The Colts currently have been riding a hot streak and have the best record in their last 10 games with a 9-1-0-0 record.

The Colts have allowed the 7th least goals against in the OHL and have the 5th most goals. The team as a whole are a +27.



Players.

Kevin Labanc currently leads the team with points having scored 16 goals, 43 assists for a total of 59 points (4th most points in the OHL). Labanc also is on a 21 game point streak which began November, 1st of last year. It also can be noted that of his 16 goals, 10 of them have been on the power play and during his current point streak the Colts have a 14-6-0-1 record.

Labanc doesn't have a huge point lead on team captain Joseph Blandisi. Blandisi currently has 58 points with 23 goals and 35 assists (5th most points in the OHL). Blandisi has also recorded 2 hat tricks this season and leads the league with the most short handed goals having scored 6 this year. Of the top 20 point leaders in the OHL, Blandisi is tied for first for most penalty minutes having spent 58 minutes in the sin bin.

Andrew Mangiapane currently is averaging 1.54 points per game. He is 8th for points in the league with 21 goals, 33 assists for a total of 54 points.

Brendan Lemieux has the 3rd most goals in the OHL with 27. He has also assisted on 10 goals. He leads the team with the most penalty minutes (85) which is the second most in the league. The month of December was by far his best this season having scored 13 of his goals. 5 games that month he registered at least 2 goals, including a 4 goal night December 19th in Sudbury.

Rasmus Andersson leads the team in points for a defenseman with 33 points. His 26 assists are the 4th most on the team. Though, he currently has a -1 on the season, while his blue line partner C.J Garcia has a +5. Still, he is averaging .94 points a game and has 2 short handed goals this year. He is proving to be one of the best pick ups for the team.

Mac Blackwood has had a huge season for the team. When he was injured the team looked pretty brutal but since coming back to the line up the team has been great. In 24 games played, Blackwood has a 16-6-1-0 record. His SAV% is is .914 and he has recorded 1 shut out. With 7 more wins, Mac will have tied his best season where he had 23 wins last season. He currently has played 20 less games so from the looks of things, he will beat that.



Overall.
The team looks good. Minus a poor record when they were dealing with goaltending issues they are now improving. All season, discipline has been an issue but as of now it doesn't seem to be hurting the team but as the season goes on all these penalties could wear out the team especially when the playoffs come. You don't want the team to lose their edge but at the same time they need to reconsider some of the penalties they are taking. If they can keep up this pace, the should finish the season with a 41-23-2-2 record. A record like that could put them in good positioning when playoffs start.

We asked Aaron Ekblad his thoughts on how well the team has been since joining the Florida Panthers and he had this to say..

What are your thoughts on the team so far this season? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments, or @ us on Twitter or comment on our Facebook page!