The St Catharines club has won its last 10 in a row, including sweeping both Barrie & Kingston
By
Mark Schadenberg
I’m
a full-time Realtor -- with an enjoyable, yet very serious hobby.
My
priority is to develop client relationships with buyers and sellers of homes –
mostly in Oxford County – but, elsewhere also.
However,
as a broadcaster for Rogers TV, at this moment I submit to you my thoughts on
the Ontario Hockey League championship series for 2016, pitting the London
Knights against the Niagara IceDogs.
London
should win the series. The Knights were 51-14-2-1 for 105 points and are 12-2
in the playoffs, including nine straight victories.
Every
junior hockey fan must give the IceDogs credit as they were the No 4 seed in
the East Conference at 35-26-4-3 in the regular season for 77 points and ousted
the Ottawa 67’s in five, swept the top seed (46 wins, 97 points) Kingston
Frontenacs in four, and then strung together four more consecutive wins to eliminate
the Barrie Colts. The St Catharines based OHL club has won 10 in a row to reach
the finals to compete for the J Ross Robertson Cup, and the OHL Finals winner
will thus also earn a berth to the Memorial Cup tourney in Red Deer, Alberta.
So,
the IceDogs must be the team to beat because they are certainly on a roll
entering the finals against London?
My
Prediction: London in 5
With
Marty Williamson as head coach, and junior stars such as Josh Ho-Sang (21
playoff points in 13 games after 82 in the regular season), Brendan Perlini,
Stephen Harper and Vince Dunn – Niagara is a formidable foe for London. As the
regular season progressed, the IceDogs acquired Harper from Hamilton, Pavel
Jenys (Wild draft choice) from Sudbury, and Carolina draft pick (defenceman) Josh
Wesley from Flint. The club’s blueline is solid with Dunn, Wesley, Blake
Siebenaler, Aaron Hayden, William Lochead (of London) and Russian Alexander
Mikulovich.
To
top it off, many believe the best OHL goalie at this moment in time is Alex
Nedeljkovic, who is also a Carolina draft selection and was also picked up in a
trade from Flint back on Dec. 5. Nedeljkovic earned a goals against average (GAA)
of 2.72 in 30 regular season contests with the IceDogs, but in the post-season
bracket time he has lowered his GAA to 2.33 with a .918 save percentage.
My
Prediction: London in 5
In
almost catching the Erie Otters for first overall (Both teams had 105 points,
but Erie had one more win), the Knights would win nine of their last 10 in the
regular schedule, so in their part 24 contests, they are a remarkable 21-3.
The
offence all season has been astounding for London with a league-leading 319
goals (Niagara was 13th with 213) and the Knights allowing the
fewest at 182. London’s top power play of 29.1 percent during the season is now
29.6 in the playoffs, while Niagara is at 26.0 in the playoffs.
In
the playoffs, whether you have home ice advantage or not, you must win on the
road and the Knights are 7-0 on the road and 5-2 at Budweiser Gardens (losing
2-0 and 4-3 to Owen Sound in the opening round).
Barrie’s
overage forward Kevin Labanc, who is now a member of the Sharks system with OHL
graduation, led the league in scoring with 127 points, but three of the top five
were Knights, and since the playoffs began Mitch Marner (116 points in just 57
contests) has been compiling huge numbers with 37 points in only 14 games, including
15 goals. Including last season when Marner was injured in the second round of
the West semifinals, in his past 21 playoff games he has 24 goals and 29
assists. It’s easy to see why many scouts and experts feel he could begin next season
with the Maple Leafs.
Mitch Marner on Tuesday, May 3rd was announced as the winner of the Red Tilson Trophy as the league's most outstanding player.
Mitch Marner on Tuesday, May 3rd was announced as the winner of the Red Tilson Trophy as the league's most outstanding player.
In
comparison, the best playoff totals in recent times would be the 51 points of
Justin Papineau with the former Belleville Bulls way back in 1999.
Marner
is averaging 2.6 points per game, to also put his dominance into perspective
Connor McDavid last year had 49 points, while back in 2006 Rob Schremp had 47
points for the Knights in the post-season.
Marner,
Christian Dvorak and Mathew Tkachuk are the top three forwards remaining in the
OHL playoffs. Tkachuk, Max Jones (Will be back for Game 3 after suspension is
over) and defenceman Olli Juolevi will all be selected in the first round of
the NHL Draft in June in Buffalo.
London head coach and team president
Dale Hunter
OHL - Regular Season
The
shutdown line of JJ Piccinich, Owen MacDonald and CJ Yakimowicz will be
assigned the chore of limiting the chances of Ho-Sang and friends. Cliff Pu and
Aaron Berisha will supply the necessary secondary scoring, and the defensive
depth (Juolevi, Jacob Graves, Victor Mete, Chris Martenet, Brandon Crawley and Aiden
Jamieson) of the Knights will be more than enough to prevail and for London to
win its third championship since 2012.
As
for goalkeeper Tyler Parsons, he’s now the No 1 rated OHL goalie for the
upcoming draft by NHL Central Scouting and he led the OHL in GAA (2.33) and
save percentage (.921) in the regular season and in the tough playoff
atmosphere his numbers have not faltered and have actually improved (2.27 /
.924). London was outshot in each and every game versus Erie, but won four in a
row with the stellar play of Parsons.
My
Prediction: London in 5
Watch
Rogers TV on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. for The Warm Up show, which is our pre-game
analysis program. Rick Doyle, Greg Sloan, and myself, and then Pete James and
Ryan Robinson on the post-game The Wrap show are ready for the OHL Championship
series to begin.
Mark Schadenberg, Greg Sloan, Pete James & Rick Doyle
Recent OHL Champions
LINKS:
Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
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