The Oshawa Generals and North Bay Battalion swept their round two opponents and will battle it out for the Bobby Orr Trophy
The London Knights weren't the only team that got the brooms out Thursday night. The Oshawa Generals took down the Ottawa 67's by a score of 4-1, sweeping the series 4-0 along with the North Bay Battalion who shut out the Sudbury Wolves 5-0 in their game four series-clinching win.
Both teams will have plenty of rest before they meet. The Eastern Conference Finals are set to begin on Apr. 26 in Oshawa. This marks the third time these two teams will face each other in the playoffs. The previous two times were also in the East Finals. The Battalion swept the Generals in 2014, but Oshawa got their revenge the following year, winning the series 4-2.
Here's a recap of their series-clinching victories from the other night:
Oshawa vs Ottawa - Game 4
Big 6-foot-5 Charlie Hilton entered the lineup for the 67's, suiting up for his first OHL Playoff game. He got involved early after Gens star forward Dylan Roobroeck got into it with two Ottawa players on the same shift. Hilton decided enough was enough and dropped the gloves with him.
Quickly after that scrap, Calum Ritchie one-timed the puck home for his fourth of the playoffs on the 5-on-3 powerplay to open the scoring. However, four and a half minutes later, Ottawa took advantage of their powerplay with a rip from the point by Thomas Sirman to tie things up 1-1.
A couple of 2025 NHL draft-eligible prospects connected in the second frame to put Oshawa up 2-1. David Bedkowski delivered a shot-pass that deflected off of Owen Griffin for his first of the post-season. Griffin later on in the period set up his linemate Luke Torrance with a smart rebound shot.
Dylan Roobroeck scored his team-leading seventh of the playoffs off a pretty feed by Beckett Sennecke on a 2-on-1. The Generals' three-goal second period was enough to power past the 67's and send them packing.
Jacob Oster has been one of the best goalies in these OHL Playoffs thus far and his strong play in the crease continued stopping 31-of-32. Through 10 games played, Oster has a 1.91 goals-against-average and a .933 save percentage.
North Bay vs Sudbury - Game 4
Quentin Musty did not dress for the Wolves after going into the boards awkwardly in the third period of game three. He did return for overtime but clearly was affected by the incident. Sudbury decided to dress seven defensemen, and rookie Nolan Jackson appeared in his first OHL playoff game.
It was far from the start you would've liked to see if you were cheering for the home team. Florida Panthers prospect Sandis Vilmanis struck twine 28 seconds in. Two minutes later he set up Dalyn Wakely for his league-leading tenth of the playoffs on the powerplay as North Bay got off to an early 2-0 lead.
Vilmanis later in the first used his speed off the rush to gain a step on the defender, protected the puck with his big body, and roofed it over the blocker of Jakub Vondras, ending his night after allowing three goals on six shots. Marcus Vandenberg came in to replace him.
Sudbury pushed with their season on the line, outshooting North Bay 36-21, but a couple of empty net goals by Wakely and Vilmanis capping off the hat trick sealed the Wolves' fate. Vilmanis finished with four points and his linemate Justin Ertel collected three assists.
Mike McIvor has been a savior in net for the Battalion. He registered his first career playoff shutout stopping 36 shots and finished the series with an exceptional .945 save percentage. McIvor is eligible for the 2024 NHL Draft but NHL Central Scouting didn't rank him in their final rankings.
North Bay has reached the Eastern Conference Championship Series three years in a row now. Brantford — formerly Hamilton at the time — swept them in 2021-22 and had a hard-fought battle against the eventual OHL Champions last year, the Peterborough Petes.