2024 Road to Memorial Cup: OHL Round 3 preview
The top four teams in the OHL are the final four left standing.
No. 1 seeds Oshawa and London will face North Bay and Saginaw respectively in the third round of the OHL Playoffs.
Eastern Conference
(1) Oshawa vs. (2) North Bay
The Generals marched into the third round after a four-game sweep of Ottawa.
Oshawa scored at least four goals in each game as Dylan Roobroeck (NYR) led the way with nine points (four goals) with 2024 NHL Draft prospect Beckett Sennecke a point behind. Connor Lockhart – who won an OHL title with Peterborough a year ago – had the overtime winner in Game 3. Newly minted OHL goaltender of the year Jacob Oster was stellar with a 1.87 GAA and .941 save percentage in the series.
Roobroeck’s 16 postseason points are tied for the OHL lead and rank tied fifth in the CHL. Oster is one of just two OHL netminders with a sub 2.00 GAA (1.91).
Oshawa knocked off Barrie in six games in the first round.
The Generals, who won 40 games in the regular season for the first time since 2019, are 13-time OHL champions with their most recent success coming in 2015.
For the third straight season, North Bay find themselves in the Eastern Conference Championship Series.
The Battalion eliminated Sudbury in four games where they scored 21 goals in the series. Justin Ertel (DAL) had nine points while Sandis Vilmanis (FLA) had four goals and eight points. Dalyn Wakely was the overtime hero in Game 3 as the Battalion erased a 5-2 deficit in the third period.
Down 5-2 in the third … no problem for the @OHLBattalion! 😱
They storm back to take Game 3 over Sudbury in OT thanks to Dalyn Wakely's GWG! #RoadtoMemorialCup
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) April 17, 2024
Mike McIvor registered a 1.91 GAA and .946 save percentage that was highlighted with a 36-save shutout in Game 4.
Wakely’s 11 goals are tied for the CHL postseason lead while he and Ertel each have 15 points, tied for fifth most in the OHL. In eight games, McIvor owns a .924 save percentage and 2.28 GAA.
In the first round, North Bay took out Kingston in five games. The Battalion’s 43 goals this postseason leads all OHL clubs while their 29 per cent success rate on the power play tops the four remaining teams.
The Battalion reached the Eastern Conference Championship Series the past two years but fell to Hamilton in 2022 and Peterborough in 2023. Without an OHL championship, North Bay came close in 2014 where they fell in the finals to Guelph.
Series schedule:
Game 1 — April 26 — NB @ OSH — 7:35pm ET / 4:35pm PT
Game 2 — April 28 — NB @ OSH — 6:05pm ET / 3:05pm PT
Game 3 — April 29 — OSH @ NB — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 4 — May 1 — OSH @ NB — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 5* — May 3 — NB @ OSH — 7:35pm ET / 4:35pm PT
Game 6* — May 5 — OSH @ NB — 2pm ET / 11am PT
Game 7* — May 6 — NB @ OSH — 7:05pm ET / 4:05pm PT
*if necessary
Western Conference
(1) London vs. (2) Saginaw
London returns to the Western Conference Championship Series for the second straight season after a four-game sweep of Kitchener.
The Knights scored 20 goals in the series where Jacob Julien (WPG) had seven goals himself after hat-tricks in Game’s 3 and 4. Julien’s nine points were followed by a seven-point (three goals) series from Kasper Haltunnen (SJ) while in goal, Michael Simpson registered a 2.75 GAA.
#GoJetsGo prospect Jacob Julien tallied his second hatty in as many games for the @LondonKnights in their Game 4 win Thursday that sent them to the Western Conference Championship Series! #RoadtoMemorialCup
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) April 19, 2024
After he was held pointless in London’s 6-4 win in Game 3, Easton Cowan (TOR) saw his point streak end at 42 games. However, when he next plays a regular season game in the OHL, his point streak will resume at 36 games.
Julien leads the Knights in postseason scoring with 12 points in eight games while the 20 goals London have conceded are the fewest among the four remaining OHL clubs.
Dale Hunter’s squad, who won 50 games in the regular season, are a perfect 8-0-0 in the postseason after they swept Flint in the first round.
London, who fell to Peterborough in the OHL Finals a year ago, are four-time champions with their most recent championship coming in 2016, the same year they last hoisted the Memorial Cup.
Saginaw went with the distance with the Soo in a thrilling second round series that ended in Game 7.
Sault Ste. Marie native Caleb Mangone scored three game-winners in the series (Game’s 3, 5, 7) with his winner in Game 5 coming in overtime.
Mangone had a team high five goals and seven points in the series but the Spirit only managed to score 19 goals and were shutout in Game’s 4 and 6.
.@SpiritHockey takes a 3-2 series lead!
Calem Mangone had the OT winner as the 2024 #MemorialCup hosts moved to within a game of Round 3! #RoadtoMemorialCup
— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) April 20, 2024
Andrew Oke registered a 39-save shutout in Game 1 but after he was injured in Game 2, Nolan LaLonde (CBJ) backstopped the Spirit to the third round with a 2.85 GAA.
Owen Beck (MTL) is the lone Spirit player to reach double digit points in the postseason while star defenceman Zayne Parekh missed a pair of games against the Soo due to injury.
The 2024 Memorial Cup presented by Dow hosts swept Owen Sound 4-0 in the first round.
This season has already been the best in franchise history as Saginaw set new records with 50 wins and 102 points. However, a first OHL title still eludes the club.
Series schedule:
Game 1 — April 26 — SAG @ LDN — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 2 — April 28 — SAG @ LDN — 2pm ET / 11am PT
Game 3 — April 29 — LDN @ SAG — 7:05pm ET / 4:05pm PT
Game 4 — May 1 — LDN @ SAG — 7:05pm ET / 4:05pm PT
Game 5* — May 3 — SAG @ LDN — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Game 6* — May 5 — LDN @ SAG — 2pm ET / 11am PT
Game 7* — May 6 — SAG @ LDN — 7pm ET / 4pm PT
*if necessary
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