Looking at what's left of the schedule in the OUA East, I just don't see how Carleton won't win their first season championship. Two games left, against RMC and Laurentian. Should be an easy task.
Hard to believe that the Warriors had such a bad season. On paper they should have been challenging Western for top spot but the wheels fell off early and the coaching staff was at a loss to come up with the right answers. They seemed to believe that it was just a slump and the team would break out of it at any time. Maybe you can wait out a slump in an 80 game schedule but not in the CIS where every win counts. Warriors need a new plan and some restructuring. If you can't make the playoffs with the caliber of players the team had this season then maybe coaching in this league isn't in your future.
Hard to believe that the Warriors had such a bad season. On paper they should have been challenging Western for top spot but the wheels fell off early and the coaching staff was at a loss to come up with the right answers. They seemed to believe that it was just a slump and the team would break out of it at any time. Maybe you can wait out a slump in an 80 game schedule but not in the CIS where every win counts. Warriors need a new plan and some restructuring. If you can't make the playoffs with the caliber of players the team had this season then maybe coaching in this league isn't in your future.
Going into this season I had pegged Waterloo and Windsor to duke it out for the division. Interesting thing is, Waterloo's regular season record this year is virtually identical to a year ago (last year they finished with 29 points, this year with 28 and their GF/GA differential is actually a bit better this year). They are basically out of the playoffs this year because UOIT moved to the East and Toronto and Rye-High came to the West. Last year, Waterloo came out of the six slot in the standings and went on a roll in the playoffs, largely because of Keaton Hartigan who of course they don't have this year. So maybe I over-estimated them coming into this season.
To some degree, I think where Waterloo sits also speaks to the state of the OUA West in general. For the second year in a row, the OUA West has fallen into a pack of decent to pretty good teams but no powerhouses. Although Western has been more or less rolling since mid-November and broke away from the pack, I feel the same way about them as I did a year ago -their record flatters them and they are not that much better than the playoff teams in the West as the standings might suggest. I've seen them play about 10 times this year and in most of the games it always feels like there is a tipping point where it could go either way - it just mostly has gone their way (to their credit), as it did a year ago. Daniel Erlich has been in on 45% (!) of their goals, so if anyone can neutralize him, they will struggle to score. Like last year, I think Western is very beatable in the playoffs and we could very likely see a surprise team come out fo the division again. Or not. : )
I completely disagree with you statements about western. Having watch most of their games this year, they are more then a one trick pony as you stated above. Guys like Steve Reese, Kyle De Coste, Styokewich can all hold their own offensively. Then you have guys like Karim and Cincadamore (no clue how to spell it) who can play sound defensive hockey. I would even through reese into this conversation as well.
Then you have the backend like guys like Paltridge, Mcallef, Mcdonald, Herskovitz etc.. Who can all play sound d and also move the puck forward, with out little problem.
Then you have Unice back there who is a great goalie.
Up and down the roster they are a solid team. It's not by coincidence that they only lost 2 games since the break.
Funny that neither your or NorthVan man mentioned Western's Zach Harnden. He's their stud, is he not?
Up and down the roster they are a solid team. It's not by coincidence that they only lost 2 games since the break.
But one of those losses was to Guelph who came back from a 4-0 first period deficit to win 7-6 in OT.
So there ya go!
Didn't mean to imply Western was a one-trick poney - only that they have one player who has been in on almost half off all their goals - and he's a playmaker - 40 of his 50 points are helpers, so if you can neutralize him, the offence is at risk. Their offence is largely driven by Erlich, Harnden, Clarke, and Reese, and Singer mixes his lines so they all play together at times. This is also team that has had trouble offensively at times - during their streak, how about 3-2 wins against Laurentian (who actually outshot Western) and Nipissing? How about a 1 goal loss against Laurier? None of these games should have been close. They beat Ryerson by one goal about a month ago in a game they had no business winning. They got outshot something like 36-16 by Carleton.
They have a mobile defense but have been prone to game changing defensive lapses. The meltdown against Guelph a couple of weeks ago that was mentioned above is not an isolated incident. They blew a 3-1 lead against Brock last Saturday and needed to tie it up late to force overtime. And good for them, they ended up winning. Going way back to November, they coughed up a third period lead to McGill and lost. I get it - over the course of a season most teams have stories within their wins and losses - my point is that they do not feel like a 21-6 team to me, just like their team last year (the one with 15 consecutive wins) didn't feel like they were as good as their record...and I said going into the playoffs last year that I'd be surprised if they made it through.
Hey, I'm a UWO alumni and fan - I hope I'm wrong. But I've followed them for years and in many of those I've expected them to walk through the OUA playoffs (which they often have, until they get to McGill or UQTR). I didn't feel that way last year and I don't feel that way this year.
They beat UQTR in the beginning of the year. I also think one of their major problems early in the year, was transitioning back into their old system, which they did not have the year before, it takes time do so. And the mcgill game they got into penalty trouble.
The playoffs are a new season though, so we will see how it goes.