And boom, just like that, we’re on to the Conference Finals in the Ontario Hockey League
Tonight, the Western Conference Final for the Wayne Gretzky Trophy begins in London where the Knights host the Kitchener Rangers
The Eastern Final for the Bobby Orr Trophy begins tomorrow night in St Catharines where the Niagara IceDogs host the Ottawa 67’s.
London and Niagara are the respective # 1 seeds in their conferences, but for more reasons than that, I make the Knights and IceDogs huge favourites to advance to the OHL Championship Series.
In the East, the IceDogs swept Brampton in the semifinal, while Ottawa went 7 before dispatching a short-staffed Barrie squad.
The IceDogs have 5 National Junior Team members including Mark Visentin who established an OHL record for shutouts in a season
Ottawa ? It’s not unfair to say they don’t have nearly the depth the IceDogs do.
In the West, I can’t see any way that London loses tonight, having been off since disposing of Saginaw Saturday night.
Kitchener advanced Tuesday night with a Game 7 win at Plymouth and less than 48 hours they’re on to the next round.
Furthermore, London has a massive advantage up front; the Knights 4th line would be no worse than a second on almost every OHL team.
Kitchener eliminated Owen Sound who were without Michael Halmo and shaded Plymouth who were without Stefan Noesen for most of the series. The Rangers will have no such luxury against London.
So the Conference Finals begin tonight and I project a London-Niagara Final, maybe within a week.
I’m Fred Wallace