Yeah so, the Memorial Cup.

[Juniorhockeyguru]

I'm not surprised that Quebec is as good as they showed last night. Kamloops was also good and fast but not as structurally sound as Quebec. It should be a Quebec-Seattle final with Quebec being the winner. They're just a sound team with speed that takes advantage of their opportunities.

I agree with Bra Wavers that the Petes will need to rope-a-dope opposing teams by absorbing lots of own zone time and then by tight checking in the neutral zone , blocking shots and by winning battles along the boards like they have done all playoffs.

That was not Blazers hockey last night. They scored first in all but 8 games including playoffs this year.

Goaltending got exposed last night too

 

[dirty12]

Strength of league is not tested at the Memorial Cup. Strength of the team there is. The reality is the OHL is in a bit of a down year and there wasn’t one team that stood out going into the deadline which means teams were all battling for the same players instead of one team pulling ahead. The OHL representative is nowhere near as strong as it usually is this year. It is what it is. You can’t expect the OHL to have the most dominant team every year.

I called this back around December when Ottawa was in the lead after not adding one player and trading away like five of them for draft picks starting in the off-season up to November. Not one OHL team stood out. It’s not normal. It was even more evident when Gatineau handed Ottawa its lunch in January in their home and home. So one of the Q or W will win it this year. They are stronger teams. No shame in it.

I think it’s a bit rare for an OHL team to load up to the extent the two other CHL leagues do; maybe, Guelph 2014 & Hamilton 2018?
I think the upper half of the OHL playoff pool was much stronger than it was last year. Last season OHL teams sat on their double rookie class, and didn’t do a whole heck of a lot of adding, much less than this season. Hamilton added a little more than the ‘67s did this season with MacTavish, Xhekaj and some energy from a bad team.

 

[OMG67]

I think it’s a bit rare for an OHL team to load up to the extent the two other CHL leagues do; maybe, Guelph 2014 & Hamilton 2018?
I think the upper half of the OHL playoff pool was much stronger than it was last year. Last season OHL teams sat on their double rookie class, and didn’t do a whole heck of a lot of adding, much less than this season. Hamilton added a little more than the ‘67s did this season with MacTavish, Xhekaj and some energy from a bad team.

In fairness, Ottawa filled their final OA spot and acquired a top notch D-Man. Considering their age, we both know that wasn’t near enough to transform that team into a true playoff contender.

I’d say Sarnia went hardest followed by Peterborough. Arguably, Peterborough went harder if you reach back to the Ohtmann deal.

Pete’s underachieved all season which is evidenced by their final standing. Although you can’t look at their point total and make assumptions, I think you could about the other teams they faced.

We’ll see what happens through the tourney.

 

[dirty12]

In fairness, Ottawa filled their final OA spot and acquired a top notch D-Man. Considering their age, we both know that wasn’t near enough to transform that team into a true playoff contender.

I’d say Sarnia went hardest followed by Peterborough. Arguably, Peterborough went harder if you reach back to the Ohtmann deal.

Pete’s underachieved all season which is evidenced by their final standing. Although you can’t look at their point total and make assumptions, I think you could about the other teams they faced.

We’ll see what happens through the tourney.

Last season Hamilton added, Windsor and NB made a couple of moves that were less significant than eight teams this season. Last season teams lost 19 yr olds to the AHL, and almost all sat on the the double cohort of rookies to evaluate.
I don’t see how this was a down year for wannabe OHL contenders,

 

[OMG67]

Last season Hamilton added, Windsor and NB made a couple of moves that were less significant than eight teams this season. Last season teams lost 19 yr olds to the AHL, and almost all sat on the the double cohort of rookies to evaluate.
I don’t see how this was a down year for wannabe OHL contenders,

The teams started poor we and lacked elite talent.

Coiple that with the lost season and inability to hit a trade deadline selloff acquiring future assets as well as develop the lost years cohort. When you have a league like the OHL vs the Q and the W, you naturally narrow the gap between leagues. When you have the CHL losing a year, the strongest league will be affected most. They have the most to lose.

It is evident in looking at Team Canada representation. It is evident in the parity we saw this year. It will be evident when the Memorial Cup is over. At some point you need to stop denying it is a down year for the OHL. Everything I have seen points to it. This has played out all season and now into the Memorial Cup tourney. You choose to ignore it for some reason.

 

[dirty12]

The teams started poor we and lacked elite talent.

Coiple that with the lost season and inability to hit a trade deadline selloff acquiring future assets as well as develop the lost years cohort. When you have a league like the OHL vs the Q and the W, you naturally narrow the gap between leagues. When you have the CHL losing a year, the strongest league will be affected most. They have the most to lose.

It is evident in looking at Team Canada representation. It is evident in the parity we saw this year. It will be evident when the Memorial Cup is over. At some point you need to stop denying it is a down year for the OHL. Everything I have seen points to it. This has played out all season and now into the Memorial Cup tourney. You choose to ignore it for some reason.

I can’t really stop denying it until I see a reason why it would have been a down year for OHL contenders. It was two years ago that the OHL returned from a lost season and two lost playoffs, 19 yr olds allowed to play AHL, and 19 OHL teams effectively kept all of their 16 & 17 yr olds rather than bolster their teams for a playoff run. Partly due to injury, NB played 13 rookies in the eastern conference final.

The most recent down years for the OHL that I recall were with the 2000-01 born.

If I recall correctly, this past season saw last than half of the top talent graduate than the year before. I don’t think team Canada not taking an elite talent such as Clarke is evidence to support your claim. Every year there are questionable selections and omissions.

 

[bobber]

Not advocating the trading of 1st rnd picks in the OHL but does this not give the QMJHL and WHL teams and advantage when building a team for a run? They seem to be able to add more skilled bodies by giving away future first picks where as OHL teams are limited to their regulations on trades. I thought I heard them mention that Seattle has 10 NHL drafted players?

 

[EvenSteven]

Not advocating the trading of 1st rnd picks in the OHL but does this not give the QMJHL and WHL teams and advantage when building a team for a run? They seem to be able to add more skilled bodies by giving away future first picks where as OHL teams are limited to their regulations on trades. I thought I heard them mention that Seattle has 10 NHL drafted players?

I don’t think so. Not being able to trade first round picks in the OHL isn’t restricting the movement of elite players from team to team via trade.

 

[bobber]

I don’t think so. Not being able to trade first round picks in the OHL isn’t restricting the movement of elite players from team to team via trade.

Just reading some of the massive trades in the west made me wonder. I like the way they control the trade deadline here.

 

[ptbopete]

I love this tournament even though it's a quick round-robin format. I love the unknown variables for the teams coming into it. Seattle and Quebec's response to playing unknown teams is telling. They found convincing ways to win, well score-wise anyway.

 

[Juniorhockeyguru]

Not advocating the trading of 1st rnd picks in the OHL but does this not give the QMJHL and WHL teams and advantage when building a team for a run? They seem to be able to add more skilled bodies by giving away future first picks where as OHL teams are limited to their regulations on trades. I thought I heard them mention that Seattle has 10 NHL drafted players?

Yep, and Kamloops has 9. And the WHL only started loading up back in 2017.

 

[OSA]

Down year confirmed lol

 

[OMG67]

Down year confirmed lol

One game doesn’t tell the whole story. The problem is there were a lot of leading indicators something like this would happen. It was more a matter of whether eyes were open while looking through rose coloured glasses.

I still agree with those that suggest the OHL is a better league. I don’t think there is any doubt that is true. It is a bigger and more populated hotbed. How can it not? Sometimes the cycle doesn’t swing that way and there will be off years now and then with no clear cut top team in the OHL. This was that year.

Not trying to disrespect Peterborough but since 2005 when the London Knights sort of started that trend of loading up at high costs, has there ever been a 75 point team even sniff at an OHL Championship? If that isn’t the biggest leading indicator, I don’t know what is.

 

[dirty12]

One game doesn’t tell the whole story. The problem is there were a lot of leading indicators something like this would happen. It was more a matter of whether eyes were open while looking through rose coloured glasses.

The ‘67s had just used 5-2nds, 6-3rds, 4-4ths to bolster their roster and lost 2 games to Gatineau …must be a down year for the OHL, right? That was the narrative and you’re sticking to it.
The surprising trades to OHL watchers that a few teams from the two other CHL leagues made, made it likely the OHL representative would not win the Memorial Cup, again; but that is not indicative of a down year for the OHL.
The fact that the Petes were crushed by the host team, that’s a telling sign that the OHL rep is not particularly strong and/or had a really bad game.

I still agree with those that suggest the OHL is a better league. I don’t think there is any doubt that is true. It is a bigger and more populated hotbed. How can it not? Sometimes the cycle doesn’t swing that way and there will be off years now and then with no clear cut top team in the OHL. This was that year.

Not trying to disrespect Peterborough but since 2005 when the London Knights sort of started that trend of loading up at high costs, has there ever been a 75 point team even sniff at an OHL Championship? If that isn’t the biggest leading indicator, I don’t know what is.

Eight OHL teams made significant additions ahead of the trade deadline, of course there was no clear cut favourite. Kitchener and Windsor made four major trades each for one to be eliminated in round one. The Petes and Sting went further than the others by trading their two most recent 1st picks and nearly exhausting future picks to win a championship. The Petes won. That is not a sign of a down year for the league.

Two or three teams each year from the Q & W leagues are more willing to add and sacrifice the near future than OHL teams and will have won each memorial cup since 2017.

 

[OMG67]

The ‘67s had just used 5-2nds, 6-3rds, 4-4ths to bolster their roster and lost 2 games to Gatineau …must be a down year for the OHL, right? That was the narrative and you’re sticking to it.
The surprising trades to OHL watchers that a few teams from the two other CHL leagues made, made it likely the OHL representative would not win the Memorial Cup, again; but that is not indicative of a down year for the OHL.
The fact that the Petes were crushed by the host team, that’s a telling sign that the OHL rep is not particularly strong and/or had a really bad game.

Eight OHL teams made significant additions ahead of the trade deadline, of course there was no clear cut favourite. Kitchener and Windsor made four major trades each for one to be eliminated in round one. The Petes and Sting went further than the others by trading their two most recent 1st picks and nearly exhausting future picks to win a championship. The Petes won. That is not a sign of a down year for the league.

Two or three teams each year from the Q & W leagues are more willing to add and sacrifice the near future than OHL teams and will have won each memorial cup since 2017.

Eight teams making significant trades points to PARITY! It does not point to 2-3 teams that are dominant. Discussions around who would win the OHL Championship (post deadline) were varied greatly. It went far past 2-3 teams. So, unless the talent in the OHL is so vast to the point there were as many as eight teams capable of playing at a level required to win a Memorial Cup, it points to no team truly standing out. That alone is indicative the OHL didn’t have a competitive team to represent them at the Memorial Cup. Leading indicator #1.

Second, we saw an interleague series where the top team in the OHL from a points perspective get absolutely dominated by cross town rival Gatineau. I had already felt the 67’s weren’t worthy of their lofty record at that point but had hoped the two additions wwere enough. They weren’t and it was clear after that two game set where Ottawa looked like a vastly inferior team. Then Ottawa somehow “bounces back” and goes on a 16-1-1 run to finish the season. That is leading indicator #2.

Ottawa made zero additions until the deadline when they added two key players. The team traded five players prior to that. No one had Ottawa being where they finished, even me who thought they were part of the discussion but without some serious moves, they wouldn’t be at the top of the conference. They easily cruised to the top of the conference. Most games Ottawa played with a minimum of 10 players 17 and under. They weren’t constructed to be an elite team and it showed in their second round exit. Too much youth. Leading indicator #3.

Team Canada had only six OHL players on the roster. One was a late addition after the injury to Dach (Beck) and another was a ridiculous addition in Gaudreau in net. Beck being an injury replacement and Gaudreau probably being the 4th or 5th best goalie in the OHL (I’m being generous) representing Canada pairs it down to probably four players truly playing for Canada. That is almost unheard of. Leading indicator #4.

Peterborough underachieved all season. They aren’t a 74 point team. I think everybody agrees with that (except for maybe Generals fans). Where the disagreement lies with Peterborough is the timing of them playing at their capabilities for a long stretch. They did manage to pull it together and kudos to them for doing it. But, even with that, a league with an elite team or two would not result in a team like Peterborough getting to the Finals. We can argue (probably successfully) that North Bay healthy beats Peterborough. Fine. But regardless, there was only one OHL team with 100+ points and that team wasn’t a 100+ point team in a “normal OHL“ season. That, we can probably agree. Having a team charge out of the pack with 74 regular season points is another eye opener. Leading indicator #5.

Coming into the OHL season, there is usually some form of consensus regarding teams to watch. There’s usually one particular team, maybe two that people all generally point to. This season, the predictions for the West were all over the place. No one truly felt the West was strong. That leaves the East. To a man, people generally pointed to four teams in the East. A lot of balance predictions But all four of those teams were generally witin the top 3. Regardless of that, there didn’t seem to be a team that stood out. Each team had multiple holes. None of the top teams coming into the season had much in the way of draft picks to use (outside of Ottawa). Not that their cupboards were bare, just not a stockpile. Coming into a season where there really isn’t a consensus top 2 and none of the top teams loaded for bear is odd. We usually see at least one team loaded up with picks and poised to use them. Not this year. Leading indicator #6.

Just because there are leading indicators to see doesn’t mean it will all come true. But it does open the door to the possibility that it is true. Post deadline, my wife asked if we could get tickets for the Memorial Cup. She was thinking Ottawa had a great chance. I wasn’t so sure. Regardless, the point I made at that time was that I felt the OHL wasn’t really very strong this year. I looked at all the movement and big names that moved at the deadlines in those other two leagues. I saw how strong the teams were prior to the moves and those moves making them even stronger. I really didn’t feel it mattered which team would end up going to the Memorial Cup from the OHL. It wasn’t going to be pretty.

Now here we are. I’m pointing to six leading indicators that have contributed to me predicting this. Take it how you wish. I typically don’t make bold predictions from nothing. I usually have a strong sense of what I am talking about, especially when I argue the point.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

The parity angle is an interesting one this year as far as the OHL is concerned and probably the biggest part of the answer here. Eight teams/GMs thought they had a legitimate chance at an OHL championship and made moves at the trade deadline accordingly. At least two of those teams (Ottawa and London, I'd say) are noted for having conservative approaches to asset utilization. I'm an Ottawa fan and follow them the closest, but what if Ottawa's league-leading record at the trade deadline doesn't force Boyd's hand into make two big, splashy moves (Mintyukov & Morrison) at the deadline? How much better would, for example, North Bay be if they landed Mintyukov instead of Ottawa? Or if Barrie decided they didn't have a shot even with Clarke and shipped him off to another contender?

More teams thinking they have a shot at a championship leads to more dispersion of assets and less concentration of talent on the eventual championship team. It also creates a sellers market and causes teams to overpay relative to their chances at a championship (see: Ottawa). Finally, more partiy creates a absolute grind through the playoffs resulting in injury/exhaustion for the eventual winner. Quebec, Kamloops and Seattle played fewer playoff games than did Peterborough. This isn't to take anything away from Peterborough, who did what they needed to do at the deadline and got a fantastic result for their efforts. But if what if the market this season was a little different and they were able to afford getting a Mintyukov, Clarke or Wright in addition to Othmann, Hayes, Beck and White? A Memorial Cup would certainly be in play in that circumstance.

Given the OHL's available talent pool, I believe this is more of a cyclical thing that will sort itself out.

 

[OMG67]

The parity angle is an interesting one this year as far as the OHL is concerned and probably the biggest part of the answer here. Eight teams/GMs thought they had a legitimate chance at an OHL championship and made moves at the trade deadline accordingly. At least two of those teams (Ottawa and London, I'd say) are noted for having conservative approaches to asset utilization. I'm an Ottawa fan and follow them the closest, but what if Ottawa's league-leading record at the trade deadline doesn't force Boyd's hand into make two big, splashy moves (Mintyukov & Morrison) at the deadline? How much better would, for example, North Bay be if they landed Mintyukov instead of Ottawa? Or if Barrie decided they didn't have a shot even with Clarke and shipped him off to another contender?

More teams thinking they have a shot at a championship leads to more dispersion of assets and less concentration of talent on the eventual championship team. It also creates a sellers market and causes teams to overpay relative to their chances at a championship (see: Ottawa). Finally, more partiy creates a absolute grind through the playoffs resulting in injury/exhaustion for the eventual winner. Quebec, Kamloops and Seattle played fewer playoff games than did Peterborough. This isn't to take anything away from Peterborough, who did what they needed to do at the deadline and got a fantastic result for their efforts. But if what if the market this season was a little different and they were able to afford getting a Mintyukov, Clarke or Wright in addition to Othmann, Hayes, Beck and White? A Memorial Cup would certainly be in play in that circumstance.

Given the OHL's available talent pool, I believe this is more of a cyclical thing that will sort itself out.

Exactly. Well said. I think it needs to be reiterated that this isn’t about the OHL so much being in a down year, more that they don’t have an elite team like they normally do. It is interesting you pointed to trade prices because of so many teams in on players. We did see some serious asset movement in some cases that outweigh slightly what the normal rate would be. There was some balance though. I think Wright went for less than he would normally have gone for, while DelBelBelluz, DelMaestro, Mintyukov and Morrison going for slightly more than normal.

 

[Juniorhockeyguru]

You gotta remember too, Kamloops finished 30 points more in the standings

 

[NordiquesForeva]

Exactly. Well said. I think it needs to be reiterated that this isn’t about the OHL so much being in a down year, more that they don’t have an elite team like they normally do. It is interesting you pointed to trade prices because of so many teams in on players. We did see some serious asset movement in some cases that outweigh slightly what the normal rate would be. There was some balance though. I think Wright went for less than he would normally have gone for, while DelBelBelluz, DelMaestro, Mintyukov and Morrison going for slightly more than normal.

I think that's fair. Although I'm not sure Kingston played their hand all that well with Wright, but that's a conversation for another day.

The counter-point to all of this, as you mentioned, is the composition of the World Juniors team and I think that's an interesting topic. I can't remember a Canadian team with so few OHL players (and would have been two fewer if Wright + Clarke hadn't been loaned out). Looking at the selection camp roster as well, the players that were eventually cut from the team were all QMJHL and WHL players...which makes the composition of the team look even somewhat worse from an OHL perspective in terms of the volume of players deemed by the coaching staff to be of high enough calibre to play for us internationally.

It seems like an aberration at first glance given past and future projected rosters, and coaches oftentimes fill out their depth positions with players from their own league that they know and are comfortable with (I'm talking guys like Dach, Bankier, Schaeffer) but something to monitor for sure.

You gotta remember too, Kamloops finished 30 points more in the standings

Ottawa and North Bay finished 33 and 25 points ahead of Peterborough in the regular season, and lost to them in 6 and 7 games, respectively. Peterborough significantly under-achieved in the regular season then played up to their capabilities and the strength of their roster in the playoffs.

 

[BE Friend]

Thread did NOT age well for the KAM v PETES game. Is there a level 3x higher than schneidering? That was embarrassing. I know they are still very young but PETES goal celebration for the goal to make it 10-2 was not needed. Head down , stick on knees and you skate off. Not a flyby moment.

 

[Petes1987]

The NHL Department of Player Safety has ruled that the Brennan Othmann hit on Kyle Masters as a “good non call” and no further discipline or suspension is required. The Kamloops Blazers coach is whining about the ruling. He has called it a “dangerous hit”, said “said there was emotion in it” and stated that he thought at that stage of the game it was a bit of an attack. To me it was a clean hit. It was scary the way he fell but it was not a dirty hit.

 

[dirty12]

Eight teams making significant trades points to PARITY! It does not point to 2-3 teams that are dominant. Discussions around who would win the OHL Championship (post deadline) were varied greatly. It went far past 2-3 teams. So, unless the talent in the OHL is so vast to the point there were as many as eight teams capable of playing at a level required to win a Memorial Cup, it points to no team truly standing out. That alone is indicative the OHL didn’t have a competitive team to represent them at the Memorial Cup. Leading indicator #1.

Ok. We are not talking about a down year for the OHL here, as in the league was stronger last season with a double rookie class and 19 yr olds in the AHL, but rather parity for the top half of the OHL playoff pool.
I can agree that there could not be one OHL team considered a Memorial Cup favourite because eight OHL teams bolstered their teams for OHL playoffs while some of the fewer teams from the other CHL leagues that added, added more. Though that has become the norm over the past half dozen years in the Q & dub.
I glossed over the 100 pt ‘67s and 74 pt Petes regular season stuff as I believed the Petes had the better playoff roster.
I also thought the eastern conference was stronger, though I thought Sarnia might have been better than NB and Barrie. Those three teams were what I considered the top tier FWIW. On Barrie and (indicator #6?). I think they were or should have been the consensus pre-season favourite partly due to being loaded with picks. I certainly over estimated their want to win.

Clarke was left off the Canadian Jr team. The team does not necessarily choose the best jr players in Canada, end of story.

Second, we saw an interleague series where the top team in the OHL from a points perspective get absolutely dominated by cross town rival Gatineau. I had already felt the 67’s weren’t worthy of their lofty record at that point but had hoped the two additions wwere enough. They weren’t and it was clear after that two game set where Ottawa looked like a vastly inferior team. Then Ottawa somehow “bounces back” and goes on a 16-1-1 run to finish the season. That is leading indicator #2.

Ottawa made zero additions until the deadline when they added two key players. The team traded five players prior to that. No one had Ottawa being where they finished, even me who thought they were part of the discussion but without some serious moves, they wouldn’t be at the top of the conference. They easily cruised to the top of the conference. Most games Ottawa played with a minimum of 10 players 17 and under. They weren’t constructed to be an elite team and it showed in their second round exit. Too much youth. Leading indicator #3.

Team Canada had only six OHL players on the roster. One was a late addition after the injury to Dach (Beck) and another was a ridiculous addition in Gaudreau in net. Beck being an injury replacement and Gaudreau probably being the 4th or 5th best goalie in the OHL (I’m being generous) representing Canada pairs it down to probably four players truly playing for Canada. That is almost unheard of. Leading indicator #4.

Peterborough underachieved all season. They aren’t a 74 point team. I think everybody agrees with that (except for maybe Generals fans). Where the disagreement lies with Peterborough is the timing of them playing at their capabilities for a long stretch. They did manage to pull it together and kudos to them for doing it. But, even with that, a league with an elite team or two would not result in a team like Peterborough getting to the Finals. We can argue (probably successfully) that North Bay healthy beats Peterborough. Fine. But regardless, there was only one OHL team with 100+ points and that team wasn’t a 100+ point team in a “normal OHL“ season. That, we can probably agree. Having a team charge out of the pack with 74 regular season points is another eye opener. Leading indicator #5.

Coming into the OHL season, there is usually some form of consensus regarding teams to watch. There’s usually one particular team, maybe two that people all generally point to. This season, the predictions for the West were all over the place. No one truly felt the West was strong. That leaves the East. To a man, people generally pointed to four teams in the East. A lot of balance predictions But all four of those teams were generally witin the top 3. Regardless of that, there didn’t seem to be a team that stood out. Each team had multiple holes. None of the top teams coming into the season had much in the way of draft picks to use (outside of Ottawa). Not that their cupboards were bare, just not a stockpile. Coming into a season where there really isn’t a consensus top 2 and none of the top teams loaded for bear is odd. We usually see at least one team loaded up with picks and poised to use them. Not this year. Leading indicator #6.

Just because there are leading indicators to see doesn’t mean it will all come true. But it does open the door to the possibility that it is true. Post deadline, my wife asked if we could get tickets for the Memorial Cup. She was thinking Ottawa had a great chance. I wasn’t so sure. Regardless, the point I made at that time was that I felt the OHL wasn’t really very strong this year. I looked at all the movement and big names that moved at the deadlines in those other two leagues. I saw how strong the teams were prior to the moves and those moves making them even stronger. I really didn’t feel it mattered which team would end up going to the Memorial Cup from the OHL. It wasn’t going to be pretty.

Now here we are. I’m pointing to six leading indicators that have contributed to me predicting this. Take it how you wish. I typically don’t make bold predictions from nothing. I usually have a strong sense of what I am talking about, especially when I argue the point.

 

[dirty12]

You gotta remember too, Kamloops finished 30 points more in the standings

Why? WHL is a different league than the OHL. There was no Quebec Remparts like team in the OHL that had a real possibility of going 16-0 in league playoffs.

 

[dirty12]

I think that's fair. Although I'm not sure Kingston played their hand all that well with Wright, but that's a conversation for another day.

The counter-point to all of this, as you mentioned, is the composition of the World Juniors team and I think that's an interesting topic. I can't remember a Canadian team with so few OHL players (and would have been two fewer if Wright + Clarke hadn't been loaned out). Looking at the selection camp roster as well, the players that were eventually cut from the team were all QMJHL and WHL players...which makes the composition of the team look even somewhat worse from an OHL perspective in terms of the volume of players deemed by the coaching staff to be of high enough calibre to play for us internationally.

It seems like an aberration at first glance given past and future projected rosters, and coaches oftentimes fill out their depth positions with players from their own league that they know and are comfortable with (I'm talking guys like Dach, Bankier, Schaeffer) but something to monitor for sure.



Ottawa and North Bay finished 33 and 25 points ahead of Peterborough in the regular season, and lost to them in 6 and 7 games, respectively. Peterborough significantly under-achieved in the regular season then played up to their capabilities and the strength of their roster in the playoffs.

My bad, I thought Clarke was left off the roster.

 

[OMG67]

Ok. We are not talking about a down year for the OHL here, as in the league was stronger last season with a double rookie class and 19 yr olds in the AHL, but rather parity for the top half of the OHL playoff pool.
I can agree that there could not be one OHL team considered a Memorial Cup favourite because eight OHL teams bolstered their teams for OHL playoffs while some of the fewer teams from the other CHL leagues that added, added more. Though that has become the norm over the past half dozen years in the Q & dub.
I glossed over the 100 pt ‘67s and 74 pt Petes regular season stuff as I believed the Petes had the better playoff roster.
I also thought the eastern conference was stronger, though I thought Sarnia might have been better than NB and Barrie. Those three teams were what I considered the top tier FWIW. On Barrie and (indicator #6?). I think they were or should have been the consensus pre-season favourite partly due to being loaded with picks. I certainly over estimated their want to win.

Clarke was left off the Canadian Jr team. The team does not necessarily choose the best jr players in Canada, end of story.

It is hard to make an argument that the OHL as an entire league was in a down season. It is really hard to quantify that. For the same reasons someone points to it being less competitive, the same reasons exist for another person to say it is competitive. I can point to a lack of elite players overall that make such a huge difference but I’m not sure that carries enough weight alone. There would need to be a lot of other factors along with that to make that sort of assertion.

The traditional top tier teams need to be top tier coming into the season. then they take it over the top at the deadline. It is rare a team like Guelph manufactures it at the deadline. I wasn’t sure there was a top tier elite team coming in which was why I argued so fiercely that Ottawa was right with the top teams in the East. When Ottawa pulled away, it was evident to me that there wasnt’ a top tier elite team. In no way Ottawa, struggling with youth and still winning, should have won the East/League.

I think North Bay was still the team to beat if all teams were healthy. They had depth, speed, size and probably the best Goalie. I’m not sure they’d have faired better than Peterborough in the Memorial Cup though.