The remaining work to decide the matchups for the deciding rounds for the OHL and WHL’s respective hardwares has been completed as of last night. Let us first discuss the last bit of work that needed to be done in the O.

OHL:

With the London Knights already having clinched the Wayne Gretzky Trophy as Western Conference Champions, all eyes were on Game 7 in the East between the Oshawa Generals and the North Bay Battalion. The latter squad had pushed back as hard as possible after having fallen into a 3-0 hole and were aspiring to complete an impressive, rare reverse sweep. However, it ultimately was not to be, as Oshawa, the East’s best team during the regular season, ultimately falling 6-1. The Battalion entered the third period in a familiar position, down 3-0. This time, though, there would be no comeback effort, as Oshawa C Dylan Roobroeck (New York Rangers) would tally his ninth goal of the postseason to make it 4-0. A last ditch effort with the empty net yielded only two ENGs allowed for North Bay and the only thing they had to show for their attempts to stay alive would be a consolation goal by D Jacob LeBlanc a few minutes after Roobroeck’s first goal of the game (Roobroeck would additionally tally the first empty netter, marking a three point night for him as he also tallied the assist on D David Bedkowski’s opening goal and earned the first star). In emphatic fashion after having a bit of a choking scare, the Oshawa Generals would ultimately claim the trophy named for their greatest ever player, Bobby Orr.

Their opponent-to-be, the London Knights (winners of the west’s Wayne Gretzky Trophy), are a fearsome team with 10 players already selected by NHL squads on their roster (though two, Los Angeles Kings prospect Kaleb Lawrence and St. Louis Blues prospect Landon Sim, will miss the beginning of this series due to suspensions). It is clear that they have been operating in pursuit of a redemption story after falling in last year’s J. Ross Robertson Cup Final to the Peterborough Petes in six games. They captured the Hamilton Spectator Trophy as the regular season’s champions and possess C/W Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs), the OHL MVP this season, in their ranks in addition to many other facilitators of their high-powered offense. Oshawa are no slouches themselves, but they are up against “the Mini-NHL.” It will be no easy task. For the record, these teams split their two-game regular season series, but that can always be rendered superfluous come playoff time, particularly in an interconference matchup/correspondingly, under the brightest lights.

WHL:

In contrast with the closeout to the OHL’s semifinal proceedings, the Dub had a significant amount of high-stakes action to finish matters off. Game 6 between the Portland Winterhawks and Prince George Cougars had plenty of shots on goal, but neither team would budge throughout most of regulation. C Nate Danielson (Detroit Red Wings), getting on the board with just a minute left in the second period would be the opening of scoring proceedings. Instead of offense, the game would largely be defined by defensive efforts such as Portland D Carter Sotheran (Philadelphia Flyers) blocking three shots in quick sequence (he subsequently would play just one more shift before leaving the game with injury, which would later appear serious) and Portland G Jan Spunar playing like a man possessed as he has throughout many junctures in the postseason (he would finish the night with 48 saves when all was said and done, with many of them being quite impressive). 5:45 into the final stanza of regulation, Prince George RW Borya Valis would level things up with ninth strike of the postseason on assists from RW Zac Funk (Washington Capitals) and C Riley Heidt (Minnesota Wild). This would send it into OT, but it would take two of them to end this affair. Ultimately, Portland LW Josh Davies (Florida Panthers) would put a bow on the series by beating Prince George G Joshua Ravensbergen (who had a phenomenal playoff run of his own) in 2OT to win the Western Conference title for Portland. This was an impressive run by Prince George and quite honestly a historic season for the franchise. They should be proud of what they accomplished, but it feels right that the superior roster ended up winning.

Meanwhile, the Winterhawks will come toe-to-toe with a roster that rivals their own. In the Saskatchewan derby between the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy (regular season champions) winning Saskatoon Blades, there was as much competition as you can get. The series went the full seven and a WHL record-setting six went to overtime, including the decider. Saskatoon looked like the superior squad throughout much of the game in possession and had the SOG advantage to represent that (39-25). However, Moose Jaw G Jackson Unger stonewalled them in yet another solid performance by him in between the pipes. Initially, it appeared as though a setup by Brayden Yager (Pittsburgh Penguins) to CHL points leader Jagger Firkus (Seattle Kraken) might end up being the difference maker. However, Saskatoon LW Vaughn Watterodt had an answer with just a few minutes remaining in regulation time. Ultimately, though, this would prove for naught, as Moose Jaw LW Lynden Lakovic would be the hero on a fast-paced goal just 36 seconds into the extra frame to propel the Warriors into the Ed Chynoweth Cup Finals.

The Warriors and Blades were very closely matched on paper, and correspondingly, they played one of the most competitive postseason series in CHL history. While it might require a stretch of the imagination to foresee an exact replication of that in Moose Jaw’s finals against Portland, I imagine that it will go wire-to-wire. However, it is worth examining Sotheran’s injury status. His leading of the WHL postseason in +/- is no accident. If he is out for multiple games of this upcoming series, it will likely have a big impact on the outcome. This is another case where the rosters match up well, so some of the minutiae may have the most significant implications when all is said and done.