Back in late September, 20 Ontario Hockey League teams started a schedule filled with 680 games.
Nearly six months later nearly every one of those games has been played. Two days remain.
Those days have more than a few things for the sixteen teams moving onto the post-season to decide.
Here are the scenarios for each team, both in the playoff picture and outside of it.
Western Conference
London Knights – can clinch first overall in the Western conference with a regulation time win over the Spirit in Saginaw on Saturday.
Saginaw Spirit – can leapfrog the London Knights and finish first in the Western Conference with a regulation time win over the Knights on Saturday night or by getting to overtime or a shootout against London and then winning in Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday.
Soo Greyhounds – have clinched the third seed and will play Owen Sound in the playoffs for the third year in a row.
Guelph Storm – have clinched the fourth seed and will play Kitchener in the first round. The Storm went 4-3-1 against the Rangers this year.
Kitchener Rangers – have clinched the fifth seed and will play Guelph in the first round. Their record against the Storm came out at 4-4 during the regular season.
Owen Sound Attack – have clinched the sixth seed and will play the Greyhounds in the opening round. Sault Ste. Marie won both games played between the teams this year.
Sarnia Sting – clinched seventh place in the Western Conference with a shootout win over Windsor on Friday. Will face London or Saginaw in round one.
Windsor Spitfires – clinched eighth place and the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a point against the Sting and an Erie loss to Guelph on Friday. Will play the Spirit or the Knights in round one.
Erie Otters – eliminated from playoff contention with a loss in Guelph on Friday. The Otters will miss the post-season for the second year in a row.
Flint Firebirds – will finish 19th overall and select second in the 2019 OHL Priority Selection on April 6.
Eastern Conference
Ottawa 67’s – have clinched first place in the overall standings and the Hamilton Spectator Trophy. They will play the Hamilton Bulldogs in the first round of the playoffs.
Niagara Ice Dogs – need a win and a lost point by the Sudbury Wolves to clinch the Central Division and the number two seed in the Eastern Conference.
Oshawa Generals – sit one point ahead of Sudbury for the number three seed. Oshawa has one game remaining and it will have a role in deciding this spot because it is against the Wolves and also happens to be the final game on the 2018-19 schedule on Sunday evening. The Wolves are in Peterborough on Saturday where a win would move them a point ahead of the Generals and a single point would leave the teams tied. Right now Oshawa has one extra win, which is the first tie-breaker in a non-elimination situation.
Sudbury Wolves– Along with the Generals scenario, the Wolves also have an outside chance at still winning the Central Division. They are two points behind Niagara at the moment. Both teams have two games left. Niagara is at Barrie and at North Bay. If the Ice Dogs earn three points in those games, they will clinch the Central. One win and a lost point by the Wolves will allow Niagara to clinch the division as well.
Mississauga Steelheads – they trail Peterborough by one point for the fifth seed. Both teams have one game left. The Petes have two extra wins at the moment which means that to move ahead of Peterborough, Mississauga must finish the season with more points. The Steelheads are home to Barrie on Sunday.
Peterborough Petes – can clinch fifth place with any kind of win over the Wolves on Saturday and a Mississauga loss or loss in overtime on Sunday. If the Petes earn a single point against Sudbury, they will need Barrie to beat Mississauga in regulation on Sunday in order to move to fifth.
North Bay Battalion – clinched the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference with a win over Mississauga on Friday and loss by the Hamilton Bulldogs. Will play the number two seed in round one.
Hamilton Bulldogs – their loss to Sudbury on Friday gives them the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and a first-round matchup with the Hamilton Spectator Trophy winners, the Ottawa 67’s.
Barrie Colts – will miss the playoffs.
Kingston Frontenacs – will miss the playoffs and will draft first overall in the 2019 OHL Priority Selection. The expectation is that they will take Shane Wright of the Don Mills Flyers.
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