OHL: Rangers v. Spitfires
It will be the no. 1 seed Kitchener Rangers and the no. 2 seed Windsor Spitfires facing off in a best of seven series to determine the Western Conference playoff champion of the Ontario Hockey League.
The Rangers have had the Spitfires number for more than a couple of years now. Included in the edge that Kitchener has had on Windsor came in the second round of last spring’s OHL playoffs when the Rangers overcome a 3-0 series lead to win the next four and send the Spitfires packing. (It should be noted though that the Spitfires played that seven game series minus a number of top flight players who were injured and had to rely on rookie call-ups just to ice a full roster.)
At any rate, the past is in the rear view mirror — or at least it should be — and the Spitfires and Rangers will meet again, this time for the right to advance to the OHL finals. Kitchener is the favoured team in the minds of most pundits who follow and/or cover the OHL. And I have to agree that the Rangers are indeed the odds on favourite to upend the Spitfires.
But I am not one — at least in this case — to play favourites.
The Spitfires head into the series with playoff record of 8-0 this spring v. the highly regarded Rangers, who have a mark of 8-1. Both Windsor and Kitchener disposed of worthy opponents in the second of the playoffs with the Spitfires blanking the no. 3 seed Flint Firebirds and the Rangers taking the measure of the no. 5 seed Soo Greyhounds in five games.
Back to me not playing favourites, at least in this instance of the no. 2 seed Spitfires versus the no. 1 seed Rangers. To be sure, I am quite aware of what Kitchener has in scoring stars Jack Pridham, Dylan Edwards and Sam O’Reilly and ace defensemen Cameron Reid and Jared Woolley. Hard not to like the Rangers, for sure.
But I really, really like the way the Spitfires have been playing. They absolutely shut down the high octane Firebirds of Flint in the second round sweep. Yes, Windsor is very well coached by bench boss Greg Walters and his top assistants Casey Torres and Kris Newbury.
I also love the Windsor lineup that was built for the playoffs by general manager Billy Bowler.
The Spitfires play a pro style game and have an assortment of forwards who are all high National Hockey League draft picks including Liam Greentree, Jack Nesbitt, Nathan Villeneuve and A.J. Spellacy. Their ‘D’ corps features the slick Carson Woodall and a shutdown crew led by Wyatt Kennedy, Jakub Fibigr and Conor Walton. And I happen to think that Windsor has the edge in net with the overage Joey Costanzo manning the crease.
Call it a hunch. Call it that I picked Windsor to be in the OHL finals well before the start of this season. And for that, I am calling for the Spitfires to edge the Rangers in a seven game thriller that ends right at the Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener.
feature photo of Joey Costanzo by Bob Davies
Before the season even started i said Brantford vs. the Spits in the OHL final!!