East/West Discrepancy

twinsdad

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I updated my previous post with the full data set and the final GD tally between the conferences. The East just managed to avoid getting outscored by 300 goals, finishing the season with a -299 GD against the West.
The other takeaway I noticed, now the season is over, goes hand and hand with the Comparing Team Schedules thread. The top 3 teams in the West (Owen Sound, Sault Ste Marie, & Erie) were the three teams with extra games against the East. Conversely, the bottom 4 teams in the East (Sudbury, Niagara, North Bay, & Barrie) had the extra games against the West.

The playoff seeding may not mean much in the East. But in the West, those extra games could have been the factor that put London as the number 4 seed. Therefore, would be the visiting team in Game 7 in the second round, barring two first round upsets. Maybe not issue in the overall scheme of things, but an observation.


I will also throw out this theory as to a factor in the non-cyclical discrepancy between the East and West. All three U.S. teams are in the West. Not to say U.S. players want to for U.S. team exclusively. But if a U.S. player wants to have more games in the U.S. during the season (allowing family to watch without passports), a West team would have more games in the United States than the 3 visits an Eastern team would have. It is a weak theory but perhaps someone else can expand on it.
 

twinsdad

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The other takeaway I noticed, now the season is over, goes hand and hand with the Comparing Team Schedules thread. The top 3 teams in the West (Owen Sound, Sault Ste Marie, & Erie) were the three teams with extra games against the East. Conversely, the bottom 4 teams in the East (Sudbury, Niagara, North Bay, & Barrie) had the extra games against the West.

The playoff seeding may not mean much in the East. But in the West, those extra games could have been the factor that put London as the number 4 seed. Therefore, would be the visiting team in Game 7 in the second round, barring two first round upsets. Maybe not issue in the overall scheme of things, but an observation.

First, I made an error, Sudbury was not the in the bottom four. I wrote the comment with a game left and Sudbury passed Ottawa at the end of the season.

However, the scenario in second paragraph did occur, for what it's worth.
 

Duke Guy

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Just wanted to update the OHL playoff champions by conference over the past 16 seasons:

Won by Western Conference teams.....14 times

Won by Eastern Conference teams........2 times

I'm sure most people knew it was something like this but maybe not sure of the degree of discrepancy.
 

Greatger

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Just wanted to update the OHL playoff champions by conference over the past 16 seasons:

Won by Western Conference teams.....14 times

Won by Eastern Conference teams........2 times

I'm sure most people knew it was something like this but maybe not sure of the degree of discrepancy.

Thus the decline in STH' with Eastern teams. Why put out good money when your team will "potentially" never see a championship. I know some of you are going to say because people enjoy watching junior hockey and support it .
 

rangersblues

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Thus the decline in STH' with Eastern teams. Why put out good money when your team will "potentially" never see a championship. I know some of you are going to say because people enjoy watching junior hockey and support it .

I think it could simply be the overall quality of hockey is substandard. Makes for a very boring game sometimes.

Are season tickets down in the east?
 

MisterDB

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STH numbers are usually fairly stable with some slight movement + or - over the different years but nothing extreme. Where the issue lies is the walkup sales. The non committed fan who will go on for a night out. This is s significant number in most cases in the OHL with few exceptions like the Kitcheners,London and OS.
 

EvenSteven

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Only one eastern conference player or coach among the 21 selected on this season's OHL all star teams (Niagara's Ryan Mantha).

As far as I can tell, that drastic a west:east ratio, 20:1, has never happened under the current two conference alignment.

I might add that none of the players from the west were even dealt from the east this season.

This adds to the debate.

Of course, Foegele and Cirelli played huge rolls in Erie's run to the championship. At least that's something.
 

ScoresFromCentre

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Jan 29, 2016
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Only one eastern conference player or coach among the 21 selected on this season's OHL all star teams (Niagara's Ryan Mantha).

As far as I can tell, that drastic a west:east ratio, 20:1, has never happened under the current two conference alignment.

I might add that none of the players from the west were even dealt from the east this season.

This adds to the debate.

Of course, Foegele and Cirelli played huge rolls in Erie's run to the championship. At least that's something.

Wow, nice catch, ES. On one hand, we probably shouldn't be surprised--all but three of the picks were from the West's "Big Five", which we've known since January were the class of the league. On the other hand, the Eastern Conference had as many all-star entries as the Saginaw Spirit.
 

OMG67

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I've got an article up at The Hockey Writers talking about the East/West Discrepancy. It summarizes a lot of what we've discussed here, but I've thrown in a few bonus stats for good measure. (Plus I talk about the 1998-99 Mississauga IceDogs, and who couldn't love that?)

My plan is to spend a few more articles talking about potential causes, effects, and solutions, so if anyone has any insight on those topics, feel free to shoot me a message and I'll look into it.

I think too much is made about this. We are in a period where it seems like that. Of course, the West is anchored by the Knights right now. A lot of it is based on that. We jsut went through a couple cycles where Erie, SSM, Owen Sound, and Windsor all had a positive run around the same time.

Nothing needs to be done to correct it. I don't feel there is anything wrong. Before this latest run (10 years), we saw Ottawa, Belleville, Peterborough, and Barrie all have a really good decade where they were all around the top of the league at the same time and no one was talking about a discrepancy back then.
 

Fischhaber

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I think too much is made about this. We are in a period where it seems like that. Of course, the West is anchored by the Knights right now. A lot of it is based on that. We jsut went through a couple cycles where Erie, SSM, Owen Sound, and Windsor all had a positive run around the same time.

Nothing needs to be done to correct it. I don't feel there is anything wrong. Before this latest run (10 years), we saw Ottawa, Belleville, Peterborough, and Barrie all have a really good decade where they were all around the top of the league at the same time and no one was talking about a discrepancy back then.

There have been several statistics in this thread showing that a massive discrepancy exists without London and I believe that it also goes much longer than 10 years.
 

Duke Guy

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I'm not sure about the "good decade" comment. I have been following East Division teams for over 20 years and I'll give you an example by using the Petes.

From the 1996-97 season to the 2015-16 season (20 years):

Did not make playoffs....5 times;

Lost in 1st round..........11 times;

Lost in 2nd round...........2 times;

Lost in Conf. Final........... 1 time;

Won OHL Championship....1 time.

So, in summary, just 2 times in 20 years did they manage to win more than one playoff round. This is why this past season was a lot of fun for Petes fans.
 

ScoresFromCentre

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I think too much is made about this. We are in a period where it seems like that. Of course, the West is anchored by the Knights right now. A lot of it is based on that. We jsut went through a couple cycles where Erie, SSM, Owen Sound, and Windsor all had a positive run around the same time.

Nothing needs to be done to correct it. I don't feel there is anything wrong. Before this latest run (10 years), we saw Ottawa, Belleville, Peterborough, and Barrie all have a really good decade where they were all around the top of the league at the same time and no one was talking about a discrepancy back then.

I don't entirely disagree, and that's going to be part of the focus of my next article: is there a determinable cause for this discrepancy, and if so, what is it? You're right that the previous ten years weren't so bad for the East (and I tried to touch on that in the article). But aside from Peterborough in '06, the championships they won really pre-date the modern OHL. Can the East win its fair share of championships in the modern OHL? It certainly hasn't yet.

You're right that a number of West teams have been on pretty impressive runs, but the question is whether the fact that all of those teams are in the west is meaningful. It's a bit of a circular argument to say "the west has been good because a bunch of teams in the west are good". There's also the pretty sobering notion that the unbalanced scheduling is insulating Eastern teams from looking even worse than they do. The Petes would not have added this year if they were in the West.

I hope you'll continue to follow the series, at any rate, as I think this is a great topic and you've always got great insight.
 

OMG67

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I don't entirely disagree, and that's going to be part of the focus of my next article: is there a determinable cause for this discrepancy, and if so, what is it? You're right that the previous ten years weren't so bad for the East (and I tried to touch on that in the article). But aside from Peterborough in '06, the championships they won really pre-date the modern OHL. Can the East win its fair share of championships in the modern OHL? It certainly hasn't yet.

You're right that a number of West teams have been on pretty impressive runs, but the question is whether the fact that all of those teams are in the west is meaningful. It's a bit of a circular argument to say "the west has been good because a bunch of teams in the west are good". There's also the pretty sobering notion that the unbalanced scheduling is insulating Eastern teams from looking even worse than they do. The Petes would not have added this year if they were in the West.

I hope you'll continue to follow the series, at any rate, as I think this is a great topic and you've always got great insight.

The Ottawa 67s were the class of the league from '96 through '05. During that period they battled the Petes, Bulls, and Colts. In '03 we started to see the West poke their heads up with Kitchener and then London. Only recently we've seen Owen Sound and SSM have sustained success. The question now is whether teams like Windsor, Erie, SSM, and Owen Sound can sustain that level or not. In my opinion only London can sustain it.

WIndsor getting fined was a turning point for the dirty deals that 'may' have been happening. I think that teams with more money will have a more difficult time buying their way to the top as a result oof that fine.

We will see how things go very soon.
 

Otto

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The Ottawa 67s were the class of the league from '96 through '05. During that period they battled the Petes, Bulls, and Colts. In '03 we started to see the West poke their heads up with Kitchener and then London.

I think it was sooner than that for the West. Plymouth and Erie were doing great right around 99/00 if I remember correctly
 

Dog Fan

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I see evidence of a discrepancy only in Championships. The hockey is very good and entertaining in the East. I have been a season ticket holder in Niagara since the first puck drop and we have made the playoffs every year. Several years, including last year, we were not projected to make the playoffs but we pulled through with some critical wins, including last years 9-7 win over Erie in the final weeks. These kids are young and talented. They enjoy giving everything that they have to provide us with entertainment and to give themselves a path to a future in hockey or a great education.

I understand our need to determine which conference is the best but I feel like yelling from the highest mountain, WHO CARES!
 

Fischhaber

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I see evidence of a discrepancy only in Championships. The hockey is very good and entertaining in the East. I have been a season ticket holder in Niagara since the first puck drop and we have made the playoffs every year. Several years, including last year, we were not projected to make the playoffs but we pulled through with some critical wins, including last years 9-7 win over Erie in the final weeks. These kids are young and talented. They enjoy giving everything that they have to provide us with entertainment and to give themselves a path to a future in hockey or a great education.

I understand our need to determine which conference is the best but I feel like yelling from the highest mountain, WHO CARES!

I would imagine that it get tiring watching west teams come in and demolish your squad on a consistent basis. The head to head record in the regular season is astonishingly unbalanced. Ryan Mantha was the only player in the entire conference to make the all-star teams. I'm certain that more of the NHL calibre talent has been coming from the West. Don't you want to see the best hockey possible?
 

Nerf27

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I would imagine that it get tiring watching west teams come in and demolish your squad on a consistent basis. The head to head record in the regular season is astonishingly unbalanced. Ryan Mantha was the only player in the entire conference to make the all-star teams. I'm certain that more of the NHL calibre talent has been coming from the West. Don't you want to see the best hockey possible?
And your team has won how many championships in recent years? How many finals have they been to? Just curious
 

ScoresFromCentre

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I see evidence of a discrepancy only in Championships. The hockey is very good and entertaining in the East. I have been a season ticket holder in Niagara since the first puck drop and we have made the playoffs every year. Several years, including last year, we were not projected to make the playoffs but we pulled through with some critical wins, including last years 9-7 win over Erie in the final weeks. These kids are young and talented. They enjoy giving everything that they have to provide us with entertainment and to give themselves a path to a future in hockey or a great education.

I understand our need to determine which conference is the best but I feel like yelling from the highest mountain, WHO CARES!

For me, it's about wanting the OHL to put the best product possible on the ice. I think that means having two competitive conferences and an OHL Final that at least somewhat regularly pairs the OHL's top teams. The goal isn't about embarrassing the Eastern Conference teams, or determining the "better" conference, but asking why this is happening and whether there's anything the league can do about it.
 

Savard18

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For me, it's about wanting the OHL to put the best product possible on the ice. I think that means having two competitive conferences and an OHL Final that at least somewhat regularly pairs the OHL's top teams. The goal isn't about embarrassing the Eastern Conference teams, or determining the "better" conference, but asking why this is happening and whether there's anything the league can do about it.

It's like people didn't even read the article or look at the numbers. They're not slightly slanted towards the West, that's been a pretty drastic tilt for nearly 2 decades. If the Soo was in the East, they'd have been representing the East in the Finals. If Niagara was in the West they'd have been far out of a playoff spot. Competition breeds quality and the West is a battlefield from top to bottom. Just look at Guelph's record vs the East. I do think there's a fairly decent chance a couple Eastern teams try to make a London type advancement (Oshawa seems most likely) and things begin to at least even out more in the near future but I don't see a plausible argument for the recent past based on numbers. Or records. Or Chsmpionshops. Or goal differential.
 

OMG67

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For me, it's about wanting the OHL to put the best product possible on the ice. I think that means having two competitive conferences and an OHL Final that at least somewhat regularly pairs the OHL's top teams. The goal isn't about embarrassing the Eastern Conference teams, or determining the "better" conference, but asking why this is happening and whether there's anything the league can do about it.

Why does anything need to be done about it?

The league is competitive. Each Conference is going to have bottom feeders. Each Conference is going to have two top teams that will compete through the deadline. One conference may have more than two but the bottom line is each conference will have two to comprise a solid Final Four.

After the deadline, it is possible depending on what teams buy and sell, that the balance may tip one way or the other. Mississauga and PEterborough both had solid teams. They both beat top rated teams in the West throughout the season. Mississauga lost something like 4 games from January 1st on. Neither team really participated heavily at the deadline. That created a wider divide between them and the other top teams in the West that did heavy weigh in at the deadline. The Final was very competitive. Four of the five games were by one goal.

2015-2016 -> Both Kingston and Barrie had very solid teams to represent the East.
2014-2015 -> Oshawa, Barrie,and North Bay were all solid. OShawa won the Memorial Cup
2013-2014 -> Oshawa, North Bay and Kingston were all solid. None of them participated int he buying at the deadline
2012-2103 -> Belleville, Barrie, and Oshawa all solid
2011-2012 -> Niagara, Barrie, Ottawa and Brampton all solid
2010-2011 -> The Top Eastern teams were above the top Western teams
2009-2010 -> Barrie was the class of the league with 9 losses. Ottawa and Missy both over .600

So, really, what we are generally seeing is a couple Western Teams put up phenomenal seasons. Those seasons tend to be much more impressive than the past. It used to be quite an achievement to have a team with 100+ points in a 68 game schedule. Now 100 points isn't so special.

The West is the overwhelming winner of Championships the last 15 years. They tend to have teams more willing to trade away gaggles of assets for one run. To be honest, this strategy started with London in around 2003. The Eastern teams tend to be a little more conservatively run. PRior to the new "cycle" of trade to buy and trade to sell, the East won 7 of 9 straight from '92 to '01.

So, what I can surmise fromt he real numbers is that the East does have solid competitive teams at the top of the conference but they have a greater tendency of not participating as heavily in the trade deadline auction as buyers. They are more conservative and that is creating about a 12 point gap in the standings between the top 2 or three in the West to the Top 2 or 3 in the East.

Another issue is the draft manipulation. I am not talking about teams doing illegal crap but moreso the players and families trying to position themselves within a comfortable territory from home. Much of the powerhouse Midget teams reside in Western Toronto area where the population base is highest. Therefore, those players that have the power at the top of the draft tend to be able to stay closer to home. This hampers the Eastern teams ability of getting their hands on those players as families are less willing to go to the four teams out East (now three with Belleville in Hamilton) and up North with Sudbury and North Bay. So there are five teams int he Eastern Conference that are handcuffed with Geography. It is harder for those teams to recruit as aggressively as the core GTA area teams can.

We have also started to see more solid American players sign with the American teams. So, Erie, Flint, and Saginaw are doing a better job at recruiting than say Plymouth did 15 years ago.

The Eastern Conference may not have a steady flow of 105+ point teams but they do have a steady flow of 90+ point teams. There is nothing wrong with 90+ points. London's consistent high performance raises the bar int he West. Western teams try to run with the Knights and make the appropriate trades to stay in sight. The Eastern teams may not feel the need to do so because there isn't a consistent team sitting at the 105+ point level. In a 7 game series, anything can happen if your team is healthy, solid with a strong goalie.

As long as the West has London performing at a high consistent level, you will have weaker teams selling to the other teams trying to catch London in the West. So, really it is the post deadline where the gap is created.
 

Fischhaber

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And your team has won how many championships in recent years? How many finals have they been to? Just curious

My team has been one of the best in each of the past several years, but that really isn't relevant. This doesn't have to be an exercise in team bashing. I'd love nothing better than to see the East teams step up to the same level.
 

ScoresFromCentre

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OMG67, you make lots of worthwhile points (and have touched on a lot of things I'm investigating for my article series). I typically don't do this, but there's so much here that I'm going to break it down point by point and add my input.

Why does anything need to be done about it?

The league is competitive. Each Conference is going to have bottom feeders. Each Conference is going to have two top teams that will compete through the deadline. One conference may have more than two but the bottom line is each conference will have two to comprise a solid Final Four.

These are pretty vast generalizations, to be honest. I'm not sure the West had any bottom-feeders this year. Guelph's record was brutal, but they went 10-9-1 against the Eastern Conference and played by far the league's hardest schedule. Saginaw went 12-5-3 against the East and was +15. I know you'll defend Ottawa at the very least, but it's possible the East had the league's five worst teams this year. Mississauga embarrassed Peterborough in the Conference Finals. Some of that is Missy's strength, but are you really comfortable pointing to a flawed Petes team that got embarrassed out of the playoffs as part of a solid final four?

I realize this year was exceptional, but you can't very well make these kind of blanket statements and not acknowledge these exceptions. I've presented a fair bit of evidence why the league isn't competitive at all!

After the deadline, it is possible depending on what teams buy and sell, that the balance may tip one way or the other. Mississauga and PEterborough both had solid teams. They both beat top rated teams in the West throughout the season. Mississauga lost something like 4 games from January 1st on. Neither team really participated heavily at the deadline. That created a wider divide between them and the other top teams in the West that did heavy weigh in at the deadline. The Final was very competitive. Four of the five games were by one goal.

Again, I'd push back on your Peterborough assertion (a bit ironic as we were arguing opposite sides of that particular debate a few weeks ago!). Peterborough went 4-4-2 against the West's Big Five; not bad, but still more losses than wins. Missy went 4-8, and then 1-4 again in the Final. Sure, the Final was competitive, but it was still a 4-1 series win in which Erie outscored Missy 17-12. The fact that we're pointing to this as a point in the East's favour isn't exactly reassuring.

Peterborough absolutely went hard at the deadline (Paquette, Black, Korostolev). Missy made more of their moves earlier in the year, but they had a mediocre record in January. But even if we ignore all this, how is standing pat at the deadline and taking one's chances as a 70-30 underdog in the OHL Final a good strategy? That hasn't worked since 2006.

2015-2016 -> Both Kingston and Barrie had very solid teams to represent the East.
2014-2015 -> Oshawa, Barrie,and North Bay were all solid. OShawa won the Memorial Cup
2013-2014 -> Oshawa, North Bay and Kingston were all solid. None of them participated int he buying at the deadline
2012-2103 -> Belleville, Barrie, and Oshawa all solid
2011-2012 -> Niagara, Barrie, Ottawa and Brampton all solid
2010-2011 -> The Top Eastern teams were above the top Western teams
2009-2010 -> Barrie was the class of the league with 9 losses. Ottawa and Missy both over .600

One thing I'm currently trying to do is create a metric for OHL contention. What, exactly, does it mean to be a contender in a given year? I'm probably going to poll the forum about it (and get about three replies), but one thing I've noted is that no team has won the league in the modern OHL with a goal differential of less than 70 (OS in 2011). I decided to test this benchmark out as a way to measure contention. (It's obviously a crude metric, but it's what I have so far, and it's probably more accurate than regular season points total.) I pulled all of the teams that met this criterion. In ten of the last thirteen seasons, the West has had more such "contenders" than the East. In two seasons they were tied. In only one season did the East have more "contenders" than the West, 2010-11, and the one West contender, Owen Sound, won the league anyway. In total, the West has had over twice as many contenders as the East. There were even four seasons in which the East had no contenders at all!

So, really, what we are generally seeing is a couple Western Teams put up phenomenal seasons. Those seasons tend to be much more impressive than the past. It used to be quite an achievement to have a team with 100+ points in a 68 game schedule. Now 100 points isn't so special.

This was not true this year, and while I haven't had time to run the numbers on many past seasons, I think the eyeball test at least suggests it's not really true. Seven western teams have won championships since 06-07. One Eastern team has. You can argue that teams like Guelph and Owen Sound have been mediocre in seasons when they haven't won championships; I'd counter that teams like the 2012-13 Storm and Attack would have been highly competitive in most Eastern Conference years--and would certainly have made that list you put together.

The West is the overwhelming winner of Championships the last 15 years. They tend to have teams more willing to trade away gaggles of assets for one run. To be honest, this strategy started with London in around 2003. The Eastern teams tend to be a little more conservatively run. PRior to the new "cycle" of trade to buy and trade to sell, the East won 7 of 9 straight from '92 to '01.

So, what I can surmise fromt he real numbers is that the East does have solid competitive teams at the top of the conference but they have a greater tendency of not participating as heavily in the trade deadline auction as buyers. They are more conservative and that is creating about a 12 point gap in the standings between the top 2 or three in the West to the Top 2 or 3 in the East.

I don't have time to test this theory now, but I do have the data to do it and probably will when I have time. (The Draft Pick Database does have the last two seasons of trades logged.) I talked about how Mark Hunter created the modern, cyclical, super-team OHL at the 2005 trade deadline in a previous article. But if you're right (and I like the theory and I think it's quite plausible), the question is why the Eastern teams are being run like this, if it's not bringing them championships. I was pretty clear in my article that the pre-2004-05 years of the 20-team OHL were pretty even, even spending a couple paragraphs talking about how the Mississauga IceDogs skewed the numbers, so I'm not sure why you're bringing up data from that era--let alone the early to mid 90's, which predates the two-conference format!

Another issue is the draft manipulation. I am not talking about teams doing illegal crap but moreso the players and families trying to position themselves within a comfortable territory from home. Much of the powerhouse Midget teams reside in Western Toronto area where the population base is highest. Therefore, those players that have the power at the top of the draft tend to be able to stay closer to home. This hampers the Eastern teams ability of getting their hands on those players as families are less willing to go to the four teams out East (now three with Belleville in Hamilton) and up North with Sudbury and North Bay. So there are five teams int he Eastern Conference that are handcuffed with Geography. It is harder for those teams to recruit as aggressively as the core GTA area teams can.

We have also started to see more solid American players sign with the American teams. So, Erie, Flint, and Saginaw are doing a better job at recruiting than say Plymouth did 15 years ago.

These are all areas of inquiry I'm pursuing and planning to write about in the article series, and it gets at my core project: why are the Eastern teams falling behind, and what can we do to fix it? To be honest, I'm not quite sure why you're arguing in some places that the discrepancy isn't that severe and elsewhere pointing to reasons why the Eastern Conference has trouble competing with the West. (And even elsewhere that the disparity, if it exists, doesn't matter.) Your arguments sound more like a holistic defense of the Eastern Conference than anything else--which is fine, but I've made pretty clear, and I think others have too, that this isn't a "whose conference is best" competition, which I personally have zero interest in.

The Eastern Conference may not have a steady flow of 105+ point teams but they do have a steady flow of 90+ point teams. There is nothing wrong with 90+ points. London's consistent high performance raises the bar int he West. Western teams try to run with the Knights and make the appropriate trades to stay in sight. The Eastern teams may not feel the need to do so because there isn't a consistent team sitting at the 105+ point level. In a 7 game series, anything can happen if your team is healthy, solid with a strong goalie.

As long as the West has London performing at a high consistent level, you will have weaker teams selling to the other teams trying to catch London in the West. So, really it is the post deadline where the gap is created.

No team has won the league with fewer than 97 points in the modern OHL. Moreover, how happy were Kingston fans about putting up 97 points in the regular season only to fall to an underachieving IceDogs team in the second round? Was Kingston's season a success? I'd probably argue that it was, but I know a ton of fans (probably the majority) would disagree with me.

London is a big focus of my upcoming article (Knights fans, take note!). But I think your previous argument is a better one for why the disparity exists in the modern OHL. London built the model for anyone to see, but the Western teams, mostly due to geography, are better able to implement it. I'm not convinced that the Eastern teams are willfully choosing to, again, take their chances as 70-30 'dogs in the Final. If they are, it's bad management, because it's not working.

There's also pretty compelling evidence that, in fact, anything can't (or doesn't) just happen in a seven-game series in the OHL. In the article I mentioned earlier, I talked about how upsets are steadily dwindling in the OHL playoffs. If I can pull this data, the Eastern teams can pull this data. Why aren't they changing a strategy that isn't working? I admit that I haven't run any advanced statistical analyses on the likelihood of some of these outcomes. (Side note: if anyone has talked to DiscoStu lately, I'd love to get in touch with him.) But even the more rudimentary analysis I'm doing suggests that this isn't a fifteen-year Finals fluke.

In closing, while I have tons of respect for your viewpoint, it just isn't convincing to me, for the reasons outlined above. I find this a fascinating topic, though, and I really do enjoy talking about it. I hope you found the article somewhat interesting, at the very least.
 
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MoWanchuk1

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Feb 18, 2017
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I think too much is made about this. We are in a period where it seems like that. Of course, the West is anchored by the Knights right now. A lot of it is based on that. We jsut went through a couple cycles where Erie, SSM, Owen Sound, and Windsor all had a positive run around the same time.

Nothing needs to be done to correct it. I don't feel there is anything wrong. Before this latest run (10 years), we saw Ottawa, Belleville, Peterborough, and Barrie all have a really good decade where they were all around the top of the league at the same time and no one was talking about a discrepancy back then.

i couldnt agree more too much made of this....and if you read the posts it isnt being driven by the east teams that are "getting beat up" by the West but it is driven by West teams that cant get past the top 3 in the West!!! :handclap:
 

EON

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1,677
Raleigh, NC
i couldnt agree more too much made of this....and if you read the posts it isnt being driven by the east teams that are "getting beat up" by the West but it is driven by West teams that cant get past the top 3 in the West!!! :handclap:

SFC has clearly detailed in this thread and his article with numerous statistics and examples of the West's dominance in the best 15 years or so. I don't think this can really be disputed at all.

A better question is why? Why are the two conferences so imbalanced? Smaller markets in the East with smaller budgets? More difficult geographical problems? I'm not sure what exactly the issue is.
 

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