London and Niagara compete for OHL championship
Game 1 in OHL finals is Thursday, May 3
The London Knights are 12-2 in the playoffs and have won their last seven post-season games to claim the Western Conference crown, while the Niagara IceDogs are 12-3 in winning the Eastern Conference.
This is the preview story I penned for The Canadian Press:
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By Mark Schadenberg
LONDON -- With a dozen players drafted by NHL teams, you might think the lower seeded team in the Ontario Hockey League championship, the Niagara IceDogs, would be favoured to win.
The London Knights owned the OHL's top point total in the regular season at 99 (49-18-1) to earn home-ice advantage in the finals, have compiled a playoff record of 12-2, including currently enjoying a seven-game win streak, and even witnessed a seamless coaching change back in November, so many knowledgeable junior hockey fans would be smart to select the Knights to win the finals and hoist the J. Ross Robertson Cup.
The OHL champs also receive an invitation to compete for the Memorial Cup in Shawinigan, Quebec, May 18 - 27.
The IceDogs, which are based in St. Catharines, completed its road to the Eastern Conference title (Bobby Orr Trophy) with 47 regular season wins and playoff victories over Oshawa, Brampton and Ottawa. During the 68-game regular schedule, Niagara earned the league's best goal differential mark of 291-169 versus 277-178 produced by the Knights.
Along the way, Niagara goalkeeper Mark Visentin (Coyotes prospect) set a new league all-time record for shutouts in one season with 10, while compiling a microscopic 1.99 goals-against-average. Making those numbers even more impressive is that Visentin missed several weeks with Team Canada at the world juniors. Staying with that event, Niagara's roster has five national team members -- Visentin, brothers Freddie (Sharks) and Dougie Hamilton (Bruins), Ryan Strome (Islanders) and Jamie Oleksiak (Stars).
"We're excited about this series and we're eager to get it going," said IceDogs head coach and general manager Marty Williamson by telephone during a Wednesday press conference.
With players at NHL camps to begin the regular season, Niagara started with just three wins in 10 starts.
"We got off to a rough start, but we stayed the course," explained Williamson. "We believed in the team we had. We added a couple players at the deadline and we continued to get better as the year went along."
The Knights' trek to winning the Wayne Gretzky Trophy for the Western Conference crown included eliminating Windsor, Saginaw and Kitchener.
"At the end of the day, this is a championship series between two good teams," said Mark Hunter, vice president, general manager and head coach of the Knights. "Niagara has a potent offence, so we will have to match their speed and keep the tempo up."
The London coaching change occured on Nov. 28 when the club was 20-5-1 and Dale Hunter accepted the head coaching role with the Washington Capitals. Mark Hunter, who was behind the OHL's Sarnia Sting bench for more than four seasons and the AHL's St. John's Maple Leafs for one, assumed the reins and maintained the Knights atop the OHL overall standings.
It could be argued both club's have a netminder as its top talent as London's Michael Houser was named the league's amost outstanding player Wednesday (Red Tilson Award), tied the league record for wins (46) in a season, appeared in 62 of 68 contests, and was tied for second in shutouts (6).
The Knights offence has been paced all season by Seth Griffith, who like Houser has not been drafted by a NHL club. Griffith notched 45 goals and 85 points in the regular season and leads the post-season numbers with eight goals and 19 points.
The emerging player of the playoffs is defenceman Olli Maatta of Finland, who was the No 1 overall CHL import pick last summer, and also has 19 playoff points for the Knights, including five goals. Maatta is also the current CHL player of the week and is No. 8 in the NHL central scouting final 2012 rankings.
With IceDogs' Strome and Dougie Hamilton missing portions of the OHL regular season, it was captain and overager Andrew Agozzino who led Niagara with 88 points in the regular season. The club's overwhelming depth now has Agozzino sixth in team production in the post-season, trailing Strome (21), Canucks draftee Alex Friesen (21), Freddie Hamilton (21), Dougie Hamilton (19) and Blackhawks prospect David Pacan (18) leading the way. Steve Shipley (Sabres), Brett Ritchie (Stars), Brock Beukeboom (Lightning), Mitch Theoret (Islanders) and Tom Kuhnhackl (Penguins) are also claimed by NHL clubs via the draft. Theoret has only three post-season goals, but supplied the overtime winner in the opening game of the Eastern final over the 67's.
London's key to victory could be the addition of Greg McKegg to the lineup as the Maple Leafs draft choice missed the entire Western final with an undisclosed injury, but the Knights have confirmed he is now healthy and ready.
The Knights will also rely on the defence of Canadian world junior Scott Harrington (Penguins), plus captain Jarred Tinordi (Canadiens), and reliable play of Tommy Hughes and overager Brett Cook, along with forwards Vladislav Namestnikov (Lightning), Austin Watson (Predators), Jared Knight (Bruins) and an impressive list of yet-to-be-drafted forwards in Max Domi (Tie's son), Bo Horvat, Andreas Athanasiou, Josh Anderson, Chris Tierney, and twin brothers Ryan and Matt Rupert. Watson's 14 points is third on team scoring in the playoffs, but he is also relied upon strongly for killing penalties. Watson was acquired from Peterborough at the January trade deadline.
London last won the OHL title in 2005 and would also earn a Memorial Cup title that spring.
The Niagara / Mississauga IceDogs have never won an OHL championship. As head coach in Barrie, Marty Williamson lost in the 2010 final to Windsor. The last St Catharines based team to win the Robertson Cup was in 1974, the Black Hawks, which later became the Niagara Falls Flyers.
OHL Finals
Game 1: Thursday, at London, 7 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, at St Catharines, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Monday, at London, 7 p.m.
Game 4: Wednesday, at St Catharines, 7 p.m.
x-Game 5: Friday. May 11, at London, 7
x-Game 6: Sunday, May 13, at St Catharines, 2
x-Game 7: Monday, May 14, at London, 7
x- if necessary.
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