Team Ranking on OHL website

Does anyone know why Sault Ste. Marie is ranked at number 2 in the west and the conference champion with 88 points as indicated by the y like the Generals are. Guelph in number 1 with 101 points and Erie number 3 with 98 points. Also it shows London in number 4 spot with 97 points. I do not understand why the ranking for the west is shown this way. In the East rankings Sudbury is shown as number 2 but has less points than Kingston which is ranked at number 3.

The y doesn't indicate conference champion, it's division champion. The Greyhounds have clinched first in the West division. The next best team in that division is Windsor with 75 points and four games remaining so the Spitfires cannot catch the Greyhounds. Because division champions are automatically seeded #1 or #2, this means that the Greyhounds have clinched that #2 spot regardless of how many points the #3 or #4 teams have.

Guelph has far more points than the Greyhounds but have not clinched their division. They have 101 points but Erie has 98 and London has 97. All three of those teams are still battling for the Midwest division championship. Whoever wins the Midwest division also earns the #1 seed in the conference since whichever Midwest team finishes first, they will have way more points than the Greyhounds.

It is odd that the #2 seed can be clinched before the #1 seed but that is indeed correct according to how the standings are done. It's happening because one division is so much stronger than the other with three teams battling for that spot. Guelph might have 101 points but if they lose all their remaining games, mathematically, they can actually finish as low as fourth if London and Erie pass them because the Greyhounds have locked up #2 with their division win!

Hopefully that helps and I'm not rambling. I like stats!  

Thanks for the information hockeybeats. At least now now the standings make sense.