Knights vs. Sting: A series preview

Knight Watch: It’s London and Sarnia in the Western Conference Final. They haven’t met in the playoffs in 24 years. Who has the edge? What will determine who advances to the OHL Final? Columnist Jake Jeffrey has a series preview …

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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The Sarnia Sting and London Knights will write the next chapter of their rivalry with a spot in the OHL Championship on the line.

There’s been plenty of heated matchups between the two franchises in the regular season, but they’ve only met in the playoffs once before, a first round series in 1999 where the Knights topped the Sting in six games.

This also marks the first time Sarnia has been in a conference final — and the first time London has been there since their Memorial Cup Championship run in 2016.

London’s team defense has been very impressive. They’ve only allowed more than 30 shots twice this postseason, and are averaging 26.8 shots against per contest. That has made for relatively light work for Brett Brochu, the reigning OHL goaltender of the year.

Brochu is coming off OHL Goalie of the Week honours, having recorded back-to-back shutouts to help London close out their second round series against the Kitchener Rangers (four games to one). It’s the second time he’s earned the distinction this playoffs. Sarnia’s Ben Gaudreau, meanwhile, was the OHL’s top goalie last week.

Denver Barkey was also recognized by the league as the OHL Player of the Week. He had three goals and two assists in the final two games against Kitchener.

Sarnia’s powerplay has struggled at times in the postseason, operating at just over 15 per cent compared to 26 per cent during the regular season, which was best in the OHL. They have more than made up for it on the defensive end, though, with a playoff best 91.7% efficiency rate on the penalty kill.

London faced a strong penalty kill in the second round against Kitchener, and were able to score seven times with the man advantage in that series.

Sarnia’s powerplay could be the difference in this series, as it boasts plenty of firepower. No team scored more than Sarnia’s 75 powerplay goals during the regular season (although that is down to six powerplay goals in 10 playoff games). Nolan Burke also led the league with 23 of his 50 goals coming on the man advantage.

Of Sarnia’s 21 goals against London this season, 10 came with the came on the powerplay.

Christian Kyrou faced London nine times this year — three with Erie and six with Sarnia — scoring three times and tallying 13 points. Ben Gaudreau was in net for both of Sarnia’s victories over London during the regular season.

Plenty of NHL prospects will be on display for both teams this series. Sarnia has eight players who have been drafted, and that doesn’t include Nolan Burke who signed as a free agent with the Nashville Predators. Five of those draft picks were selected in the fourth round or earlier: Benjamin Gaudreau (3rd round/San Jose); Ethan Del Mastro (4th Round/Chicago); Christian Kyrou (2nd round/Dallas); Luca Del Bel Belluz (2nd round/Columbus); and Sasha Pastujov (3rd round/Anaheim).

The Knights have six NHL draftees, highlighted by Logan Mailloux (1st round/Montreal), Ryan Winterton (3rd round/Seattle) and Isaiah George (4th round/New York Islanders).

Each team had six players score at least 20 goals, and both had a defenseman score 20 as well. Sarnia has a trio of high level scorers, as one player hit 50 (Nolan Burke) and two more hit the 40-goal mark (Sasha Pastujov and Luca Del Bel Belluz).

This series has all the ingredients to be an absolute classic. A Sarnia/London playoff series has been long overdue, but this series could make the wait well worth it.

I can see this series going several different ways. Sarnia is a bit older and deeper than London. Both teams have excellent goaltending, so it may very well come down to that. The Sting have never been to an OHL final, but they have the team to do it this year.

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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SEASON SERIES: London vs. Sarnia (London wins 4-2)

London 1 @ Sarnia 6 (Mar 3) 
Sarnia 3 @ London 4 (Feb. 24)
London 4 @ Sarnia 3 OT (Feb. 18)
Sarnia 3 @ London 2 (Feb. 17)
Sarnia 1 @ London 4 (Dec. 31)
London 7 @ Sarnia 5 (Dec. 30)

Top Performers in season series
Sarnia: Christian Kyrou (3-10--13), Nolan Burke (7-3--10), Luca Del Bel Belluz (6-3--9)
London: Sean McGurn (2-5--7), George Diaco (3-3--6), Denver Barkey (2-3--5)

Playoff Leaders
Sarnia: Nolan Burke (5-7--12), Luca Del Bel Belluz (6-5--11), Ty Voit (2-9--11), Sasha Pastujov (4-6--10)
London: Sean McGurn (6-10--16), Denver Barkey (6-7--13), Ryan Winterton (4-7--11), George Diaco (3-8--11)

And now …

OHL Playoffs (Conference Final) - London Knights (2) vs. Sarnia Sting (3) (best-of-seven series)
Game 1: Fri. Apr. 28 (7:00pm vs. Sarnia Sting)
Game 2: Sun. Apr. 30 (2:00pm vs. Sarnia Sting)
Game 3: Tues. May 2 (7:05pm @ Sarnia Sting)
Game 4: Wed. May 3 (7:05pm @ Sarnia Sting)
Game 5: Fri. May 5 (7:00pm vs. Sarnia Sting) (if necessary)
Game 6: Sun. May 7 (2:05pm @ Sarnia Sting) (if necessary)
Game 7: Mon. May 8 (7:00pm vs. Sarnia Sting) (if necessary)

A LOOK AT THE LOCALS

Eleven local players were selected in the OHL draft, including first round picks Ryan Roobroeck (2nd overall/Niagara) and Aiden Young (16th overall/Saginaw) from the London Junior Knights. Roobroeck has already signed with the IceDogs, and he’s expected to be a major piece in the team’s rebuild.

Landon Sims’ younger brother was selected by the Sarnia Sting in the third round of the latest OHL draft. Lane Sim was chosen 53rd overall by the team his father, Jon Sim, scored over 300 points with.

A handful of other locals were selected in the OHL’s Under-18 draft Wednesday evening. The London Knights drafted Quinn McNamara from the Elgin-Middlesex Canucks 16th overall. The Canucks finished third in Ontario this season. Also from Elgin-Middlesex, goalie Jack Martin, who is from Wallaceburg, went 30th overall to Owen Sound. A pair of London Junior Knights blueliners were also drafted — Simon Buck went to Kingston 24th overall, and Saginaw grabbed Julian Stubgen with their 34th pick.

Michael Simpson made 164 saves to help Peterborough upset first-place Ottawa in six games.

Owen Van Steensel scored the insurance marker for North Bay as they took game seven over Barrie Tuesday night.

AROUND THE OHL

Conference Finals …

North Bay vs. Peterborough — North Bay in 7 

The Battalion are coming off a hard-fought seven game series with Barrie, while the Petes are riding high after their upset over first-place Ottawa. North Bay’s Kyle McDonald leads the league with 12 playoff goals. He also scored the game winner in series-clinching wins over Mississauga and Barrie.

The Battalion netminder, Dom DiVincentiis, is the only playoff goalie with more than 400 saves. His .929 save percentage is second in the OHL behind only Brett Brochu (The Petes’ Michael Simpson is third at .920). Peterborough’s Connor Lockhart scored a hat-trick in the series-clinching game over Ottawa.