2025–26 OHL season

2025–26 OHL season
LeagueOntario Hockey League
SportHockey
DurationPreseason
August 29, 2025 – September 14, 2025
Regular season
September 18, 2025 – March 22, 2026
Playoffs
March 26, 2026 – May 2026
Teams20
TV partner(s)Rogers TV
YourTV
TSN
FloHockey
Draft
Top draft pickKaden McGregor
Picked byPeterborough Petes
2025–26 CHL season
LeagueCanadian Hockey League
SportHockey
DurationOHL
September 2025 – May 2026
QMJHL
September 2025 – May 2026
WHL
September 2025 – May 2026
Teams61
TV partner(s)RDS
TSN
Rogers TV

The 2025–26 OHL season is the 46th season of operation (45th season of play) of the Ontario Hockey League. The league will play a 68-game regular season which began on September 18, 2025, and will conclude on March 22, 2026. The post-season will begin on March 26, 2026, and conclude in May 2026.

The team who wins the championship will win the J. Ross Robertson Cup and will represent the Ontario Hockey League at the 2026 Memorial Cup, which will be hosted by the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. The tournament will be held at Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia.[1]

Off-season

Interleague schedule

On June 3, the OHL and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League announced four interleague games between the two leagues.

The Ottawa 67's will host the Gatineau Olympiques on January 16 at TD Place Arena before making the trip to Gatineau, Quebec to face the Olympiques at Centre Slush Puppie.

The Sudbury Wolves will host the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies at the Sudbury Community Arena on January 14. The two clubs will faceoff again in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec eleven days later at Aréna Glencore on January 25.[2]

Rivalry week

On June 13, the OHL announced its first ever OHL Rivalry Week, as it highlights intense matchups in a four-day window from October 16 until October 19. The matchups will feature a home-and-home between two familiar opponents.[3]

The matchups will include:

Broadcasting rights

On August 26, the OHL and FloSports entered into a seven-year media partnership that establishes FloHockey as the global home for live and on-demand streaming coverage of the OHL. All regular season games, playoff rounds and other marquee events are included in the deal.[4]

Pre-season

On July 7, 2025, the OHL announced the preseason schedule for the 2025–26 season. In total, there was 50 preseason games which began on August 29 and concluded on September 14.

This years schedule had a pre-season showcase at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium over Labour Day weekend that included the host team, the Kitchener Rangers, as well as the Brantford Bulldogs, Oshawa Generals and Saginaw Spirit.

Neutral site games include:

Exterior of the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium hosted the pre-season showcase over Labour Day weekend.

OHL training camps began in late August in preparation of the 2025-26 season, which started on September 18, 2025.[5]

Regular season

Season standings

Note: DIV = Division; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime losses; SL = Shootout losses; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against;
PTS = Points; x = clinched playoff berth; y = clinched division title; z = clinched conference title

Standings as of February 16, 2026[6]

Eastern conference

Rank Team DIV GP W L OTL SOL Pts ROW GF GA
1 x-Brantford Bulldogs East 54 38 8 6 2 84 36 236 146
2 x-Barrie Colts Central 54 37 11 2 4 80 32 195 151
3 x-Ottawa 67's East 54 38 13 1 2 79 35 204 134
4 Peterborough Petes East 54 31 20 1 2 65 29 184 189
5 North Bay Battalion Central 54 29 22 2 1 61 24 182 174
6 Niagara IceDogs Central 54 26 23 4 1 57 25 170 196
7 Kingston Frontenacs East 54 24 26 2 2 52 22 163 170
8 Sudbury Wolves Central 54 22 30 2 0 46 21 171 207
9 Brampton Steelheads Central 53 15 29 6 3 39 14 134 188
10 Oshawa Generals East 53 13 37 2 1 29 13 131 209

Western conference

Rank Team DIV GP W L OTL SOL Pts ROW GF GA
1 x-Kitchener Rangers Midwest 55 37 12 4 2 80 36 204 146
2 x-Windsor Spitfires West 55 36 12 5 2 79 34 214 142
3 x-Flint Firebirds West 56 37 14 3 2 79 35 218 161
4 x-Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds West 55 33 16 1 5 72 29 214 165
5 x-London Knights Midwest 55 32 18 4 1 69 29 193 165
6 Guelph Storm Midwest 53 23 26 2 2 50 21 180 211
7 Saginaw Spirit West 55 20 28 3 4 47 19 181 232
8 Owen Sound Attack Midwest 55 20 29 2 4 46 19 195 233
9 Sarnia Sting West 55 17 32 5 1 40 14 164 233
10 Erie Otters Midwest 54 17 33 2 2 38 15 141 216

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes[7]

Player Team GP G A Pts PIM
Nathan Aspinall Flint Firebirds 53 28 49 77 36
Nikita Klepov Saginaw Spirit 54 31 44 75 31
Cole Beaudoin Barrie Colts 41 25 49 74 27
Marco Mignosa Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 53 25 48 73 26
Egor Barabanov Saginaw Spirit 55 25 47 72 69
Jack Pridham Kitchener Rangers 53 35 36 71 48
Kieron Walton Sudbury / Peterborough 48 34 37 71 18
Christian Humphreys Kitchener Rangers 52 22 49 71 20
Riley Patterson Niagara IceDogs 47 32 38 70 10
Dylan Edwards Erie / Kitchener 55 30 39 69 39

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: OTL = Overtime losses;
SL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals Allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average
[8]

Player Team GP MINS W L OTL SOL GA SO Sv% GAA
Joey Costanzo Windsor Spitfires 39 2219 27 8 3 0 78 4 0.910 2.11
Ryder Fetterolf Ottawa 67's 33 1954 24 7 1 1 69 4 0.922 2.12
Sebastian Gatto London Knights 27 1479 16 6 2 0 58 2 0.918 2.35
Jack Lisson North Bay Battalion 30 1714 18 8 1 1 68 0 0.917 2.38
Christian Kirsch Kitchener Rangers 33 1903 21 8 2 1 80 2 0.894 2.52

Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game

On January 14, the top NHL entry draft eligible prospects participated in the Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre in Peterborough, Ontario in a matchup of the Eastern Conference against the Western Conference.[9]

Alessandro Di Iorio of the Sarnia Sting and Adam Novotny of the Peterborough Petes were named captains for their respective conferences.[10]

Nikita Klepov of the Saginaw Spirit scored a goal and added two assists, leading the Western Conference to a 4-3 win in front of 3,697 fans.[11]

Top Prospects East vs. Top Prospects West

January 14 Top Prospects West 4 – 3 Top Prospects East Peterborough Memorial Centre Recap  
Egor Barabanov (1) - 8:50 First period 15:57 - pp - Ryder Cali (1)
Nikita Klepov (1) - 16:23 Second period 7:54 - Adam Novotny (1)
Rylan Singh (1) - 2:12
Layne Gallacher (1) - 14:42
Third period 17:25 - pp - Adam Novotny (2)
Zachary Jovanovski (19 saves / 21 shots)
Stepan Shurygin (1-0, 15 saves / 16 shots)
Goalie stats Matthew Minchak (12 saves / 13 shots)
Ryder Fetterolf (0-1, 12 saves / 15 shots)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kelowna selected to host the 2026 Memorial Cup". Canadian Hockey League. Retrieved May 24, 2025.
  2. ^ "67's, Wolves to face QMJHL opponents in 2025-26". Canadian Hockey League. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
  3. ^ "Get ready for Rivalry Week starting October 16th!". Canadian Hockey League. Retrieved June 13, 2025.
  4. ^ "FloSports and OHL Enter Landmark Seven-Year Media Partnership". Canadian Hockey League. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
  5. ^ "OHL Announces 2025 Preseason Schedule". Canadian Hockey League. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  6. ^ "OHL Standings". Canadian Hockey League. Retrieved February 16, 2026.
  7. ^ "Canadian Hockey League – Official Site of the Canadian Hockey League".
  8. ^ "Canadian Hockey League – Official Site of the Canadian Hockey League".
  9. ^ "Peterborough to host 2026 Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects game". PTBO Today. Retrieved May 24, 2025.
  10. ^ Brown, Jared. "Adam Novotny & Alessandro Di Iorio Named Captains For 2026 OHL Top Prospects Game". The Hockey News. Retrieved January 16, 2026.
  11. ^ "Klepov leads Team West past Team East in Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game". TSN. Retrieved January 16, 2026.