Junior Jottings

 All season long, I thought the 3 best teams in the OHL were the Niagara Icedogs, the London Knights and the Plymouth Whalers, so it's really no big shock that 2 of those teams are meeting in the league final. (Although I still can't figure how Plymouth lost to Kitchener in the Western semis.)

I believe the Icedogs have travelled the much more difficult route in these playoffs, having to dispose of a talented Oshawa Generals team in round one, the super stingy Brampton Battalion in round two and the dangerous although short staffed Ottawa 67's in the Conference final. The Knights meanwhile, were able to easily get past Windsor in four straight, the Saginaw Spirit in six and then had a somewhat surprising four game sweep of Kitchener in the Western final. Which brings us to the Ontario Hockey League's marquee matchup, the Icedogs vs the Knights......

First off, the Knights are for real. Despite being a still relatively young club, with many of their top player’s best seasons ahead of them, with the exception of the odd little blip, London showed no signs of slowing down this season.

Let's compare the two teams then......

In goal, Michael Houser was named the OHL's outstanding goalie, while Mark Visentin won the award last season.

On defense, they both have star power in key roles and a strong supporting cast. The Knights will depend heavily of Montreal 1st round pick Jarred Tinordi, Pittsburgh 2nd rounder and Team Canada defenseman Scott Harrington, and soon to be NHL 1st round pick Olli Maatta.

Up front, there is a brilliant array of talent on both sides. Icedogs fans know about the contribution each and every member of the team has made at various points in the season, and don't forget, this was the top scoring club in the league this season. London relies on somehow undrafted Seth Griffith (45 goals), Ladislav Namestnikov (22), Austin Watson (25 total) Greg McKegg(31 total) and Bruins draft pick Jared Knight (26). The Knights also received a great contribution from some rookie forwards, namely Max Domi, Bo Horvat and Josh Anderson. They also have the Rupert twins, Matt and Ryan, and if you're a Niagara fan, I'll tell you what, you're going to really dislike these guys before the series is through. They're not big, but they play with huge hearts and plenty of emotion, and will be front and centre in the action all series long.

Both teams are great at home, Niagara, in the regular season, went 25-7-0-2 at the Jack, while the Knights were 25-9-0-0 at the John Labbatt Centre.

Niagara was first in goals scored (291) , the Knights third (277).

Niagara allowed the fewest goals (169), while London was next(178). Maybe no surprise then that the two teams with the best defensive records are meeting in the final.

There are two factors which could decide this series......the first, specialty teams. Niagara had the number one power play unit in the league through the regular season, the Knights were tied for 10th at 19.6 %

The Icedogs had the best penalty killing percentage at 85.5%, London was again, in the middle of the pack in 11th at 80.9%.

By the way, I'm only comparing regular season numbers, since as I mentioned earlier, I think the Icedogs have had the far more difficult opponents in the playoffs.

The second biggest factor in deciding this series could be injuries. I think the team that stays the healthiest will win. Both clubs have enough depth up front to overcome the loss of a player, but it would be a crippling blow to either to lose someone on the back end from their respective "big threes". At this level, at this time of year, everybody pretty much plays hurt. In what will probably be a long series, the team with the most guys standing at the end should prevail. With that in mind, it's prediction time....

O.K,O.K., I finally missed by one game in the last series, my instincts told me Niagara in 5 over Ottawa, but I got greedy and went with the Icedogs in 4. Oddly enough, the one game I thought Niagara would have romped over the 67's in, game 2, where Ottawa had to deal with the loss of their Captain Marc Zanetti, was the only game the Icedogs lost....go figure.....

So despite the fact I think this series is a coin toss, because of better special teams, because of a smidgeon more depth up front, because of more experience in pressure situations, because this is the New York Yankees against a small market team, because my wife would kill me if I picked London, it says here the Icedogs advance to the Memorial Cup.............
NIAGARA IN SEVEN....OVERTIME IN GAME SEVEN.....

Enjoy the OHL final, it's an opportunity that doesn't come along every season. Cherish every moment. We have at best four more weeks of hockey left, and that's it. Although I believe training camp starts up again two weeks after that.....

See you at the rink,
Chuck