Oshawa avoids the reverse sweep by the North Bay Battalion and takes them down in Game 7 of the OHL Eastern Conference Finals

Everyone's favourite two words in pro sports. Game Seven. That is where we found the OHL Eastern Conference Finals on a warm sunny Spring night in Oshawa. 

The Oshawa Generals had the series locked up after they took Game 3 5-2 and had a stranglehold on the series up 3-0. Only five teams have come back and won from a 3-0 series deficit in the OHL. The odds were not in the Battalion's favour. But as Lloyd Christmas once said, "So you're telling me there's a chance?" That there was for North Bay, as they went on to win the next three games of the series, two in overtime, and a dominating 8-1 Game 6 victory.  

Injuries have been piling up for the Generals. Connor Punnett last played in Game 3 but suffered what appeared to be a scary leg injury. He took warmups and surprisingly dressed for the game, but mainly stayed on the bench to provide his vocal presence and leadership. However, on his first shift, Punnett did what Punnett does, rushing out to the point to block a shot.

The surprise omission from the Gens lineup was their star winger and second-leading scorer for the playoffs Beckett Sennecke. It was reported that he had suffered an upper-body injury in Game 6 and could not go for this pivotal Game 7. North Bay was still missing their leading goal-scorer from the regular season Anthony Romani.

A big storyline going into this game was Oshawa getting off to a better start. The Generals have only scored first in five of their 16 playoff games. "Our starts haven't been great in this series, and it's not our young kids, our top six guys need to be better," said Generals Head Coach Derek Laxdal.

"Plain and simple, we have to have a better start," Oshawa's captain Stuart Rolofs echoed following Game 6. 

Well, Oshawa’s start wasn't particularly great as they allowed a 2-on-1 within the first 30 seconds of the game and three high-danger chances that Jacob Oster had to bail them out on. Oshawa smartened up after that and didn't allow another shot on their net until the 6:42 mark in the first.

David Bedkowski has moved up to the Generals' second pair on defense in the absence of Connor Punnett. He's not known as an offensive defenseman by any means, but his shot from the point had eyes to tickle the twine and open the scoring erupting the sold-out home crowd. Bedkowski finished with a career-best plus-four.

Oshawa's Rasmus Kumpulainen, who had only two goals in the post-season coming into this one, and Connor Lockhart added a couple more goals in the second period to extend the Generals lead to 3-0 heading into the third period.

North Bay down 3-0 in the series clawed their way back to make it 3-3. Could they do that here in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals? 

Alas, the reverse sweep was not to be as Oshawa held off the Battalion's artillery, holding them to only one goal by Jacob LeBlanc, and adding three more of their own to defeat North Bay 6-1 and advance to the OHL Championship Series. 

The North Bay Battalion have now lost three consecutive Eastern Conference Finals.

Dylan Roobroeck was dynamite against the Ottawa 67's in the second round but had been very quiet in this series. Coming into the game he had only one goal and one assist in the series' six games. Generals Head Coach called out his top players following Game 6 and Roobroeck heard him loud and clear putting together an impactful performance with two goals, three points, and a plus-four. 

The Oshawa Generals will face off against the London Knights for the J. Ross Robertson Cup starting on May 9. The winner will book their ticket to Saginaw for the Memorial Cup tournament. 

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