The 2015 OJHL playoffs took 83 games, and were as full of storylines as any post-season I can remember. When the No. 1 seed in both conference goes down in the second round - albeit both for very different reasons - you know there was an air of crazy surrounding proceedings. Here is a retrospective of that crazy Round 2.
Southwest
No. 1 Georgetown Raiders vs. No. 4 Toronto Jr. Canadiens
Who can really say what happened to the mighty Georgetown Raiders? As I mentioned in my last post, Georgetown head coach Greg Walters told me he was a little nervous heading into the first round against Buffalo, and after a seven-round tilt, it serves to assume it took a lot out of the Raiders. The Georgetown D-corps, that many considered the best in the league, was missing its two top guns for most of the series, with Liam Clare out to both suspension and injury, and Jake Clements sidelined with a bad upper-body injury. So say what you want about any club, but when you take out the top two D, it's going to be a tough day. There is also that old adage about goaltending: it is 50% of a hockey team, until you don't have it, because then it's 80%. Young 16-year-old net minder Jack Lafontaine had a great season for the Raiders, but maybe he ran out of gas after playing more hockey than he ever had in his young career.
But all that, and the over-reliance on league superstar Steve Hladin to produce offence aside, take nothing away from the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. By my money, Jr. Canadiens' captain Anthony Repaci was the best single player in the entire league in the playoffs (with 23 points in 14 games), and along with his line of Nick Jarzabek and Justin Maolino, and a top-4 D that nobody had any fun playing against, coach Mario Cicchilo's men simply had more will to win. Nobody picked a sweep by the Jr. Canadiens under any circumstances, but while three of the four games were of the one-goal variety, the underdogs from Toronto were full value to reach the conference final.
No. 2 Toronto Patriots vs. No 3 Oakville Blades
There really was a lot to like from a Patriots' perspective heading into this series. Not only were the Blades coached by former Toronto coach and GM Mike Tarantino, but the Pats had won three of the four contests between the two in regular season quite comfortably. The matchup was also a good one on the ice for Toronto, as the Blades' attempted to play a more open, skating game, something the Pats were clearly the best at in the Southwest (and maybe the OJHL). The series itself went five games as the Pats quicker forwards were nothing short of dominant, while at the same time the Blades struggled to generate offence, scoring only seven goals in the five contests. Toronto's Mat Robson also continued to emerge as an absolutely elite goaltender in the OJHL, though Daniel Mannella did well in the other end as well. Nevertheless, the Pats juggernaut continued to pick up steam.
Northeast
No. 1 Aurora Tigers vs. No. 4 Kingston Voyageurs
Some of the many vocal Aurora fans voiced their concern after the plucky and youthful Newmarket Hurricanes gave the mighty Tigers fits in the first round, but still, few picked Kingston over Aurora. The Tigers were the No. 1 seed in the entire league, were ranked high in the national rankings, and quite frankly, were loaded with talent. Kingston swept a Stouffville team in the first round that probably had overachieved in the regular season, and not many knew what they were about.
Of course, the story has been well told already. The Tigers were on their game early in the series, and after a 5-1 pounding in Game 3 to put Aurora up 3-0, it looked as though it would be curtains for the Vees. Yet a Game 2 incident, in which Tigers' defender Kyle Locke knocked Kingston forward Corey Caruso out with a vicious head hit, clearly sparked the Vees, especially after Locke was not punished for Game 3, and therein had a three-point night. Four wins in a row followed for Kingston, including a bizarre Game 7 in which veteran Jr. B goaltender Blake Richard was called in to start for Aurora (making his first ever Jr. A appearance) in relief of an ill Andy Munroe, and it was off the conference final for a Vees team that started to feel the call of destiny.
No. 2 Trenton Golden Hawks vs. No. 3 Cobourg Cougars
This was supposed to be a series for the ages: a war of attrition between the two most veteran and physically aggressive clubs in the league; until it was derailed by one off-ice incident. Of course what happened in Cobourg is well known, and I do not want to even mention it here as nothing has been officially released by the police investigation at the time of this writing. Yet suffice it to say, this series was clearly coloured by things not related to hockey.
For their part, the Cougars did a nice job of competing for most of the series, especially given the circumstances, and even pushed the contest to six games after going doing 3-0 with little difficulty to the Golden Hawks. The one negative theme that did emerge as far as Trenton was concerned, however, was the beginning of an over-reliance on superstars Brady Wiffen and Zach de Concilys to create offence. They would, as time would tell, meet their match in the conference final against a brilliant Kingston duo, one that proved to have a little bit more support, and perhaps a little broader shoulders in those particular games. For Cobourg's part, they needed captain Connor Armour to absolutely dominate, like he did in the first round against Whitby, but he could not.
