[2011 OHL Playoffs] DY's OHL Western Conference Predictions
EASTERN CONFERENCE MATCHUPS - competing for the Wayne Gretzky Trophy
Owen Sound Attack (1) vs. London Knights (8)
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Attack-Knights' Season Series: Tied 3-3
Preview: The Knights-Attack series is an interesting one to predict. Both teams ended the season very differently. London went 3-7-0 in their final ten games whereas Owen Sound continued their dominance going 8-1-0-1. London will need their goaltending to step up huge (which it has most of the season) in order for them to beat the Western Conference regular season winners. There is a chance of an upset here but I am not sure that London's youthful lineup has the experience to go toe-to-toe with Owen Sounds' lineup. London "sold-the-farm" at the trade deadline which allowed for some of their younger players to shine over the final few months and the Knights will need players to step up huge. London does have some veteran presense (Tinordi, Jared Knight, Seth Griffith and Scott Harrington) to go with some youthful energy (Dane Fox) so Owen Sound shouldn't take them too lightly. Michael Houser (LDN- G) is definitely capable of stealing some games too but in the end I think London is overmatched here. I expect Joey Hishon (COL) and Jesse Blacker (TOR-D) to lead their Attack into the second round.
Preview: I am ready to take my first underdog and run with the Guelph Storm in this series. Why? Guelph has been playing much better hockey than Saginaw in the recent weeks. Guelph finished the season 5-3-0-2 while Saginaw comes into the post season with a record of 3-5-1-1 over their final ten games. Saginaw had the ewest goals against in the Western Conference so their defence could win them this series but I have a feeling the squad from Guelph will emerge on top with the strong play of their leaders Michael Latta, Taylor Beck, Peter Holland, Richard Panik and Andrey Pedan (D). Guelph is a better team than their seventh seed dictates and this series will be determined by the team that plays better defensively
Preview: My favourite matchup of the OHL playoffs! The Plymouth Whalers are a team that I was able to watch a lot and they are extremely tough to play against physically. The Whalers only have two forwards and two defensemen under 6-feet which makes playing against them extremely difficult. Plymouth was led offensively by Stefan Noesen (2011 draft eligible) and Robbie Czarnik (LAK); however, Tyler Brown (signed by PHI a few weeks back) and Rickard Rakell (2011 draft eligible) provide some solid secondary scoring. The Rangers should have enough fire power with Landeskog, D'Amigo, Akeson, Catenacci, Murphy and Doornbosch but the Whalers will definitely not make it easy on them. If you are a Rangers' fan then Plymouth is not a team that you want to see them matchup against. If Kitchener gets past Plymouth they could find themselves beat up a bit and extremely fatigued.
Preview: This is another fantastic matchup (as you can see by the season serie records). The Windsor-Erie series is the most difficult to predict and there will be one team going home after this series that likely deserves to be in the final eight. Windsor enters the post-season on a 7-2-1-0 record and Erie on a 8-2-0-0. Both teams bring experience and depth into the playoffs but in the end I feel the Erie Otters are the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. Otters' goaltender Ramis Sadikov has been absolutely lights out and he could be the difference maker. At the other end of the ice, 2010 WJC star Jack Campbell has been extremely disappointing and the uncertainty between the pipes could be Windsor's biggest issue. In the end, watch this series closely because the team that emerges will make some noise. Ryan Ellis, Zack Kassian, Jack Campbell and Kenny Ryan all have playoff (and big game) experience so this series should be a DOOZY
Prediction: Otters in 7
OHL Pick-Em CHALLENGE:
Try your own luck at correctly picking the brackets for the OHL playoffs
Unfortunately my computer crashed a few days ago so I am restricted to using my BB for posting until I purchase a new one. As a result, I will not be posting long Previews like I did for the first round of action. However, I will provide my Predictions and I hope I can do better than the 1 for 4 I went in the OHL's Western Conference first round
[2011 OHL Playoffs] DY's OHL Western Conference Predictions
EASTERN CONFERENCE MATCHUPS - competing for the Wayne Gretzky Trophy
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