The Owen Sound Attack go for a series sweep tonight in their Ontario Hockey League Playoff series with the Plymouth Whalers.
Heading into Game 4 of their best of 7 tonight at the Compuware Sports Arena, the Attack lead the Western Conference semifinal 3 games to none over the Whalers.
The margin suggests that Owen Sound has earned a commanding lead, and I’m certainly not discounting what the series score suggests, but in reality there’s not much separating the two clubs to this point.
Let me ask you this;
What if Plymouth held their 3-1 lead in Game 1 of the series ?
Or what if a Whaler, rather than Jesse Blacker of the Attack, scored the overtime winner ?
And how about this….what if the Whalers could erase 1 bad minute in Game 2 when Owen Sound scored twice to erase another 2 goal Whaler lead.
The Attack were the better team in Game 3 of the set, yet still needed a power play goal midway through the game followed by another power play marker with a lengthy 5 on 3 advantage to build a wedge and take the 3-0 lead.
Owen Sound has worked hard to make their breaks in the series, but it’s not unreasonable to suggest Plymouth could hold a 2-1 advantage had the breaks gone their way.
Truthfully, I did not forsee a sweep in this series for either team at the outset, and based on the tiny margin of difference between winning & losing over the first 3 games it’s not a wild stretch to imagine there could be a Game 5 tomorrow night at the Harry Lumley-Bayshore Community Center
I’m Fred Wallace