It has been a long time since London dropped a first-round series against the Windsor Spitfires, and if all goes according to plan for the Knights, that streak will likely continue.
The last time the Knights fell to the Spitfires in the opening round was 1991 — nearly a decade before the Hunters took over the team.
With 39 points separating the two teams, on paper, this is your typical David versus Goliath match-up between the first and eighth seeds.
Associate General Manager Rob Simpson says they will still need their best effort to get through round one.
“They have a lot of ability there, you see some of their scores throughout the year, they’ve won some tough games against big competition,” said Simpson. “They’re a good team and even though they are a team that’s building around the future but they are a team you can’t take lightly.”
London won five of the six match-ups during the regular season, with Windsor’s only win coming early in the season when Michael DiPietro stopped all 28 shots he faced in a 2-0 victory. Unfortunately, for Windsor, the OHL’s all-time leader in shutouts is now tending goal for the Ottawa 67’s.
Last year, the Knights lost all four games in their first-round match-up against Owen Sound, the first time they were swept in a playoff series since losing to the Detroit Jr. Red Wings in four straight in 1995.
London’s last playoff win was on April 16, 2017, in a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over the Erie Otters.
The Knights posted the OHL’s longest winning streak this season at 15 games.
London owns the No. 1 penalty-killing unit in the league. As late as February, it was flirting with a 90 per cent success rate.
For Windsor, Jean-Luc Foudy led all OHL rookies in assists and teamed with fellow rookie Will Cuylle on Windsor’s top offensive line. Foudy and Cuylle are both 16 years old.
Spitfires’ forward Curtis Douglas is the biggest player in the OHL at just under 6′ 9″ and 240 lbs.
This is their fifth playoff meeting between the Western Conference rivals in the past 11 years, with the most recent a seven-game first-round series in 2017 where the Knights won. Windsor was hosting the Memorial Cup that season, a tournament they eventually won.
Simpson says preparation is particularly important come playoff time.
“We’re looking at a ton of video of the team, we’re looking at their last games, we’re looking at games we’ve played against them,” said Simpson.
“We’re going to break down every player on their roster, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and look at how we want to play and really focus on our game.”
Puck drop for game one is Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens, with game two set for Sunday afternoon.
Games three and four are set for Tuesday and Thursday in Windsor.
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