There is something about being in the final four that feels different.
It doesn’t matter the league.
It doesn’t matter the sport.
“I can’t put my finger on it,” says London Knights assistant coach Dylan Hunter.
The Ontario Hockey League will kick off both the Western and Eastern Conference finals on Friday, April 28 in London, Ont., and North Bay, Ont.
The Knights will meet the Sarnia Sting in the playoffs for the first time since 1999 with the Wayne Gretzky Trophy and a berth in the OHL Championship series on the line.
In the east, the Peterborough Petes will battle the North Bay Battalion for just the second time ever. The clubs went head to head in the first round of the 2016 post-season and went all the way to seven games, where current Vegas Golden Knights forward Mike Amadio scored twice and added an assist to give North Bay the victory in the series.
Here is what you need to know about both series in 2023.
London Knights vs. Sarnia Sting
The teams played six times during the regular season and London won four of those games.
It’s fair to say that any meeting that took place before the trade deadline can be tossed because both clubs added key players.
Post-trade deadline the teams split four games and three of those were as close as you are going to find. One ended 3-2, one went to overtime after a three-goal third-period comeback by the Knights and one went to a shootout.
Comparing these teams requires a microscope and tiny tweezers.
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Both get their scoring from all over the lineup.
London has 10 players who have at least 10 points and that doesn’t even include Ryan Humphrey, who has six goals in nine games.
Sixteen members of the Sting have scored at least once in the playoffs.
There aren’t single game-breakers who you have to try to shut down. There are multiple.
Defensively these clubs are so deep that each has been dressing seven defencemen on a regular basis. Sarnia did it three times in four games in the second round.
Only injuries to Isaiah George and then to Jackson Edward have prevented the Knights from dressing 11 forwards and seven defencemen for their entire playoff run.
Edward suffered a laceration on his head in London’s second-round series with Kitchener but will be ready to go in Game 1 against the Sting.
Power plays have the potential to be very potent. Sarnia led the Ontario Hockey League in power play success in the regular season. Their totals have dropped to the middle of the pack in the post-season but things can always ramp back up if you give them a chance.
The Knights own the third-best power play in the 2023 post-season. It is clicking at just shy of 30 per cent.
Defensively you could draw correlations between players like Logan Mailloux of London and Ethan Del Mastro of Sarnia.
Both have size and high-end skill. Both log all kinds of minutes and make enormous contributions at either end of the ice.
Both will be big keys to their team’s chances.
The biggest matchup is always in goal and this series can live up to the hype better than most others.
London goalie Brett Brochu has four shutouts in nine games. He might be playing the best hockey of his star-studded OHL career.
Ben Gaudreau can say the exact same thing.
The third-round pick of the San Jose Sharks came up large in the Sarnia sweep of the Saginaw Spirit.
Experience can always come in handy at this time of year.
If you count by years, the Sting are the older of the two clubs.
If you count players who have been this far before, the advantage falls to the Knights. Humphrey, George Diaco and Ryan Winterton all won the OHL Championship with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2022.
The series should provide all kinds of ups and downs and rights and lefts. This is the first time Sarnia has been to a conference final. Fans are excited. Players are ready.
After a 24-year wait, would anything less than seven games do these two teams justice?
North Bay Battalion vs. Peterborough Petes mini-preview
The Battalion won a Game 7 over the Barrie Colts to advance to the Eastern Conference final against the Petes.
Peterborough shucked the regular season champion Ottawa 67’s in six games.
The Peterborough Memorial Centre always has the ability to be the great equalizer. It is a unique ice surface with square corners and the game of hockey always feels a little different within its confines.
The Battalion were in the conference final last year, where they lost to Avery Hayes and Gavin White, who now play for the Petes.
Goaltending is excellent on both sides.
North Bay has the advantage in overall depth and experience. Peterborough has the advantage in the number of game-breakers on their roster.
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