In the first round of the OHL playoffs in the 4th and 5th seeds in the Eastern Conference, the Mississauga Steelheads will take home ice advantage against the Sudbury Wolves.
In a tight Eastern Conference playoff race, each matchup was left undecided until the final game of the OHL regular season. That game was a Sudbury Wolves loss to the Oshawa Generals — which takes home ice advantage from the Wolves and placed them in the 5th spot.
The Sudbury Wolves will take on the Mississauga Steelheads, where the series will begin Thursday night at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
The season series between the Wolves and the Steelheads was split at three-a-piece over the course of six games. These two clubs see a lot of each other during the regular season, and now they will face off in a tight first round matchup.
Series Winner Prediction: Sudbury Wolves (7 Games)
Both of these teams have been first in the Eastern Conference standings at some point this season. Through the first half of the year, Mississauga was sitting at the top quite a bit. The Steelheads' hot start did tail off, but it was a start that many didn't see coming.
At the end of the day, the Steelheads are here because they were able to stay afloat despite losing their first-half momentum.
For Mississauga, their goaltending and defence is what is going to give them the edge. In net, they have two outstanding options in Ryerson Leenders and Jack Ivankovic — where Leenders will likely begin as the starter.
On the blue line, Mississauga has Chas Sharpe, Parker Von Richter, and Jakub Fibigr who have all been strong defensive presences this season.
For Mississauga, their biggest challenge will be limiting Sudbury's three-headed monster up front — David Goyette, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Quentin Musty.
These three have had unbelievable seasons individually, as they held the 1st, 4th, and 13th spots in league scoring. Dvorsky (STL) and Musty (SJS) are both first round picks who are proving themselves in their draft year plus one season. Goyette (SEA) is just dominating the OHL once again, and he has been able to do it all.
Sudbury's biggest concern in this series will be in net. They have Jakub Vondras and Marcus Vandenberg, who have been good enough to keep them in games this season. But will they be able to match Mississauga's goaltending?
Otherwise, Sudbury has some very deep centre depth that will be difficult for the Steelheads to match. The Wolves have David Goyette, Dalibor Dvorsky, Zacharie Giroux, Alex Pharand, and Nathan Villeneuve who are all natural centres — potentially one of the best centre depths in the OHL.
At the end of the day, I have the Sudbury Wolves winning this series in a lengthy seven-game series.
Their forward depth will just be too much for the Steelheads to handle, as their depth is rather weak up front.
Jakub Vondras will be good enough to keep the Wolves in games, and Sudbury will be able to crack Leenders.