OHL Championship Finals Series Preview
Oshawa, Ont. – The Oshawa Generals have landed in the OHL Championship Finals and will go head-to-head with the London Knights. The first in the Eastern Conference versus the first in the West, and they will battle it out in the best of seven games for the J. Ross Robertson Cup.
This will be the Generals’ sixteenth trip to the Championship Series, with their last time being in 2015 when they also went on to win the Memorial Cup. The Knights are playing in their ninth Championship Series and second consecutive.
“It’s every player’s dream to play in a Championship and for it to be my final year and to get that chance it’s awesome,” says Generals captain, Stuart Rolofs. We’ve had a great playoff run so far and we still have a job to get done here. London is a great team and we are going to have to be on our best play to beat them and I think we have a good shot.”
The Generals just wrapped up their Round Three series a few days ago on May 6th when they took down the North Bay Battalion in Game Seven. A nail-biting series to say the least after Oshawa dominated the first three games and it was looking like they would sweep their second series in a row. Yet, North Bay saved themselves from elimination in front of their home crowd for Game Four and with about one minute on the clock before the final buzzer, they managed to tie the game, get one past Jacob Oster, and push to overtime where they ignited a 5-4 win. The Troops did not give up to the pressure as in Game Five at the TCC, as the Battalion pushed through a double overtime that gave them another 5-4 win. Then again, back at the Gardens, the Generals took the heat after the Battalion lit up a show and sent Oshawa home with an 8-1 loss and a tied series. The final chance for both teams to put the series to rest and save their season, the Generals showed up in their third jerseys in front of GensNation hoping the small switch would change gears and surely enough the boys advanced to the OHL Championship Finals after a 6-1 final score and the Bobby Orr Trophy in hand. Sure enough, blue flames are hotter than red.
The London Knights come into the OHL Championship Finals after they wrapped up their series with Memorial Cup hosts, the Saginaw Spirit. Two back-to-back home game wins for the Knights resulted in 3-1 finals, the Spirit answered on their ice for Game Three but then fell short in Game Four. Game Five Saginaw kept themselves alive after Minnesota Wild prospect Hunter Haight recorded his first career playoff hat-trick to lead the Spirit to a 4-2 road victory. The Knights got big performances from Easton Cowan and Michael Simpson to hold on for a Game Six win to become Western Conference Champions for the second straight season.
The Generals and Knights have only met twice this season, with each team securing a road win. February 11th the teams clashed for the first time in the 2023/24 season and the Generals fell in a devastating 4-3 overtime when Easton Cowan wrapped up the game with a breakaway with 20 seconds remaining in the extended frame. February 28th the Oshawa Generals made a mid-week road trip to London territory where they left the Budweiser Gardens with a huge 6-4 win and it was the second game that kickstarted their 12-game win streak to wrap up the regular season.
“Anytime you play the London Knights it’s going to be a challenge and a heavy load so we don’t expect anything different going into the finals,” says Generals’ head coach, Derek Laxdal. We’ve seen them twice this year, we know they’re a very talented team. They’re strong top to bottom so it’s going to be a heavy challenge for us going forward.”
As the first seed overall with 104 points against the Generals’ 89 points, the Knights have a home-ice advantage for Games One and Two. Tickets for this Game’s Three, Four, and Six are on sale now and can be purchased here.
For additional playoff information, click here.
Full schedule is as follows:
Oshawa Generals vs. London Knights
Game 1 – Thursday, May 9th at London, 7:00 pm
Game 2 – Saturday, May 11th at London, 7:00 pm
Game 3 – Monday, May 13th at Oshawa, 7:00 pm
Game 4 – Wednesday, May 15th at Oshawa, 7:00 pm
Game 5 – Friday, May 17th at London, 7:00 pm*
Game 6 – Sunday, May 19th at Oshawa, TBD*
Game 7 – Monday, May 20th at London, TBD*