Schedule
1. Fri Mar 22 Ottawa
2. Sun Mar 24 Ottawa
3. Tue Mar 26 Hamilton
4. Wed Mar 27 Hamilton
5. Fri Mar 29 Ottawa
6. Sun Mar 31 Hamilton
7. Tue Apr 02 Ottawa
Ottawa PP 23.2% 8th --- PK
Hamilton PP 25.2% 4th --- PK
What to watch for
The 183 goals allowed by the 67s is the lowest total given up by an Eastern Conference team since the Oshawa Generals gave up only 157 goals in 2014-15.
Hamilton are the reigning OHL champions but they return 0 minutes of experience between the pipes and 0 games on the blue line from last years squad.
Even with missing the playoffs last year with Erie Kyle Maksimovich ranks 77th all time in career playoff games with 55 in his OHL career.
Arthur Kaliyev finished the year with 51 goals and 51 assists. It is rare that an OHL player is added to Team USA for the U18s but could Kaliyev be the exception this year?
Prediction
Ottawa in 4 games
(2) Niagara Icedogs vs (7) North Bay Battalion
Schedule
1. Thu Mar 21 @ Niagara
2. Sat Mar 23 @ Niagara
3. Tue Mar 26 @ North Bay
4. Thu Mar 28 @ North Bay
5. Fri Mar 29 @ Niagara
6. Sun Mar 31 @ North Bay
7. Tue Apr 02 @ Niagara
Special Teams
Niagara PP 28.1% 2nd --- PK 77.2% 14th
North Bay PP 24.1% 6th --- PK 77.6% 11th
What to watch for
Getting through these early round games will be paramount for the Icedogs. Starting goalie Stephen Dhillon leads the OHL with 3418 minutes played this year and 1855 shots faced. In the last 3 seasons he has finished 1st, 8th and 2nd in the league in minutes played.
Likely OA player of the year Justin Brazeau set a Franchise mark for the Battalion with 61 goals this year. will likely have an NHL contract by the end of the playoffs with 5 teams expressing varying levels of interest including the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins.
Jason Robertson won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy for leading the league in scoring. It is the 2nd straight year the winner of the award was involved in a mid season trade and 4th since 2008-09. The others. Aaron Luchuck, Vincent Trocheck and John Tavares all fell short in leading their new teams to an OHL title.
North Bay gave up the 2nd most amount of shots this year in the OHL with at 2563. What makes this troubling is that Niagara led the league with 2587 shots.
Prediction
Niagara in 4 games
(3) Oshawa Generals vs (6) Peterborough Petes
Schedule
7. Tue Apr 02 @ Oshawa
Special Teams
Oshawa PP 24.5% 5th --- PK 81.9% 5th
Peterborough PP 19% 15th --- PK 77.7% 10th
What to watch for
Kyle Keyser finished 2nd in the league with a .915 save percentage. A large reason for that is Oshawa's ability to keep the play to the outside. Over 79% of the shots he faced 5on5 were from low danger area's which were the most in the league among goalies with 20 games played
Hunter Jones finished 3rd in the league with 3156 minutes played. He is getting hot at the right time with a save percentage over .900 in 6 of his last 8 outings. In his previous 14 games? Only 2 with a save percentage over .900 with 3 in that stretch of .800 or lower.
OA forward Brandon Saigeon finished the year with with 92 points. 45 of which came on the power play which led the OHL. Their other OA forward Anthony Salinitri led the OHL with 7 SHGs and finished 2nd to Morgan Frost with 10 short handed points.
Only 1 player on the Petes averaged more than a point per game this year while in a Peterborough uniform. That was Nick Robertson with 55 points in 54 games
Prediction
Oshawa in 6 games
(4) Sudbury Wolves vs (5) Mississauga Steelheads
Schedule
7. Mon Apr 1 @ Sudbury
Special Teams
Sudbury PP 13.6% 20th --- PK 83.3% 2nd
Mississauga PP 23.8% 7th --- PK 79.9% 6th
What to watch for
In 30 games since coming over from the Sarnia Sting Adam Ruzicka picked up 41 points in 30 games with 24 goals and 17 assists. On top of that he averaged over 4.5 shots per game in Sudbury and was 56.9% of his face offs.
14.14% of the shots that Steelheads goalie Jacob Ingham has faced this year are from High Danger areas. That is tops among OHL starting goalies. In fact only 69.4% of the shots he faced were from Low Danger areas which was the lowest total among OHL goalies in the playoffs at 5on5.
How rare is it for a team with the worst PP in the league to get home ice in the 1st round? Well ut of the last 4 teams to do 1 was an 8th seed and the other 3 missed the playoffs but in 2013-14 the North Bay Battalion finished with the worst power play picked up the #2 seed and marched to the OHL finals.
With 15 goals this year rookie James Hardie tied Owen Tippets output which is the most by a Mississauga 16yo rookie since Casey Cisikas picked up 18 in his rookie year.
Prediction
Sudbury in 5 games
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