OHL Heads into Second Round

The last of the first round match-ups ended last night when Guelph stormed into London and shut out the Knights in game five 5-0. The four other outstanding series ended Thursday night as Oshawa and Sault Ste Marie completed the sweep and Barrie and Sarnia won their respective series in five games.

The matchups for the second round look like they will produce closer games and be a lot more exciting then the initial round. In the West, the Kitchener Rangers host the Sarnia Sting while the Sault Ste Marie take on the Guelph Storm. Here in the East, the Belleville Bulls host the surprise Barrie Colts while the Oshawa Generals face off against the Niagara IceDogs. During the regular season, the Rangers won all four games against the Sting; Guelph and the Soo split their four games; Belleville won the two contests against the Colts; and the Generals and IceDogs split their two meetings.

The Rangers scored six or more goals in each of the four games against Plymouth and are determined to earn a spot in the Memorial Cup despite already getting a spot as the host. The Sarnia Sting went through the season under the radar, probably due to injuries to key players, but now that they are healthy they have the tools to upset the OHL's top team. A key trade with the Barrie Colts prior to the trade deadline solidified the defensive end for the Sting with goaltender Andrew Perugini and defenceman Vladimir Nikiforov. For the Sting to win, Steven Stamkos and company will have to be better than the Rangers scoring trio of Matt Halischuk, Nick Spaling and the OHL scoring leader Justin Azevedo and the World Junior MVP Steve Mason. This should be a long series and it could go either way.

In the other western conference series, the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds are looking to Dustin Jeffrey to lead the offence and Kyle Gajewski to continue his solid play between the pipes. The Storm are looking for a continued team effort with top prospect Drew Doughty to hold up the defensive end, along with creating some offensive chances. If Guelph keeps the pressure on the Greyhounds, this will be a very entertaining series. The Greyhounds post season run last year gave them the experience and desire for more this year and will take this series in 5 or 6 games.

The Belleville Bulls are expecting to be in the OHL final and are likely pleased with their second round matchup. With their star forward Shawn Matthias out of the lineup, the Bulls still had no trouble producing offensively against the Petes and are looking for better things once Matthias returns. After trading their starting goalie and best defenceman before the trade deadline, the Barrie Colts were not suppose to win anything in the playoffs. I guess the players missed that memo as they made fairly quick work of the Brampton Battalion in the first round. It did take two overtime wins but they still advanced after playing only five games in the first round. As long as the Bulls don't take the Colts too lightly their dream of an OHL title will continue. Bulls in 5.

While the Oshawa Generals stumbled into the playoffs, the Niagara IceDogs won their last five regular season games and seven of their last eight including a shootout win at home against the Generals. Niagara had no trouble with Mississauga in the first round as they blanked the Majors twice and allowed only four goals total in the other two games. Scoring was not an issue for them either as they scored eighteen in the four games. Oshawa was not as productive offensively as the IceDogs, scoring only fourteen times on the '67's, but their goaltender Michal Neuvirth only allowed six goals, all of them in shorthanded situations. The goalies for both teams are big game players so this series could see a lot of extra time. I like the team chemistry of the IceDogs and think they will surprise the Generals and take the series in 6 long games.