Round 2 Preview and Predictions

The second round of the 2012 OHL playoffs kicks off tonight with all 4 playoff series in action for Game #1.

The first round of the playoffs only saw 1 series have what was considered a "minor upset". All four top seeds would advance out of the Eastern Conference (1) Niagara, (2) Ottawa, (3) Barrie and (4) Brampton. The Western Conference saw the "upset" as the 5th seed Saginaw Spirit took out the 4th seed Sarnia Sting. Which means (1) London, (2) Plymouth, (3) Kitchener and (5) Saginaw would advance in the West.

The first round of the 2012 playoffs saw two series that went then minimum four games (London vs Windsor and Brampton vs Sudbury), one series that went five games (Kitchener vs Owen Sound), while every other series went six games.

 Eastern Conference Match-Ups


(1) Niagara Ice Dogs vs (4) Brampton Battalion 


The Niagara Ice Dogs had a much tougher time in the first round of the playoffs with the Oshawa Generals then most people originally thought. That being said Niagara ices a line up full of talented players that are very offensively dangerous. Brampton is a team that is built specifically to be dangerous in the playoffs, they are very defensively minded but have players that can put the puck in the net and score big goals.

Niagara Ice Dogs:
- Outscored the Oshawa Generals 30-18 and out shot them  277-171
- Took 6 games to eliminate the 8th seed Oshawa Generals from round 1
- Have 14 different players that scored a goal in the first round
- Mark Visentin had a .900 save percentage and a 2.84 GAA average in round 1

Brampton Battalion:
- Outscored the Sudbury Wolves 18-6 and out shot them 142-96
- Eliminated the 5th place Wolves in 4 games
- 10 different players scored a goal in the first round
- Matej Machovsky had a 0.933 save percentage and a 1.31 GAA and recorded 1 shutout

In all likely hood the Niagara Ice Dogs are going to step up their play in round 2 against the Brampton Battalion. This series is very much the one that could end up being the largest upset in the 2012 playoffs.  Brampton's defencive play could very well be the difference maker in this series. Brampton very well could take out the top seed power house Niagara Ice Dogs. I personally believe that either way this series goes they will all be close games.

Niagara in 6. I am going against my gut here but my brain tells me that Niagara's offence will be too much for Brampton's defence.

(2) Ottawa 67's vs (3) Barrie Colts


The Ottawa 67's and Barrie Colts both took 5 games to close out their series in the first round. Ottawa had a hard time with the young Bulls in round 1 as all games were incredibly close games except for game 5 which Ottawa won 5-2 (which is still only a 3 goal difference and not that huge). Ottawa had 2 overtime games in the first round and most people wouldn't have thought that they would have struggled so much with a 7th place team. Barrie went back and forth with a much stronger Mississauga team in a series that saw 3 one goal games, 2 four goal games, and 1 two goal game. Barrie also had 1 overtime game.

Ottawa 67's:
- Outscored Belleville 20-15 in round 1 of the playoffs and out shot them 226-218
- Ottawa only had 8 different players that scored goals in the first round
- Petr Mrazek had a 0.934 save percentage and 2.34 GAA against the Bulls
- Mark Zanetti will be eligible to return for the 1st game of round 1 after serving a 5 game suspension

Barrie Colts
- Outscored Mississauga 14-11 and were even with the Majors in shots with 195 a piece
- Barrie had 9 different players that scored a goal in round 1
- Mathias Niederberger had .938 save percentage with 1.93 GAA and had 1 shutout

I think this series is going to be a battle of the goaltenders and if the first round of both teams the series is going to be a relatively close one.

Ottawa takes this series in 6.  While I think that Neiderberger is a great goalie I think right now Mrazek is the better goalie and he is the main reason that Ottawa wins along with Tyler Toffoli.

Western Conference Match-Ups


(1) London Knights vs (5) Saginaw Spirit


London made easy work of the Windsor Spitfires in Round 1 eliminating them in 4 games while the Saginaw Spirit took out the Sarnia Sting in 6 games. London really only had 2 close games while Saginaw had 3 games go into overtime and only one really dominant win over Sarnia.

London Knights:
- Outscored Windsor 17-7 and out shot them  147-116
- London had 10 different players score in 4 games
- Michael Houser had 0.947 save percentage to go along with 1.52 GAA and posted 1 shutout

Saginaw Spirit:
- Outscored Sarnia 25-17 and -180
- Saginaw had 11 different players score in 6 games
- Jake Paterson had 0.906 save percentage to go along with 2.67 GAA

Saginaw is going to have to be very good defensively and help out Jake Paterson but also boast a much better offencive line up then the Windsor Spitfires did. Saginaw has been one of the better teams in the 2nd half of the season and may be able to pull off an upset on the London Knights.

London Knights in 6 games


(2) Plymouth Whalers vs (3) Kitchener Rangers


The Plymouth Whalers woke up after dropping the first 2 games of the first round to the Guelph Storm and have really looked like a dominant force since then while the Kitchener Rangers didn't really have a problem eliminating the Owen Sound Attack in 5 games.

Plymouth Whalers:
- Outscored Guelph 28-16 and out shot them 229-201
- Plymouth had 11 different players that scored goals against the Storm
- Scott Wedgewood had a 0.929 save percentage and 2.31 GAA against the Storm

Kitchener Rangers:
- Outscored Owen Sound 22-13 and but were out shot by the Attack 169-215
- Kitchener had 9 different players that scored at least a goal in the first round
- John Gibson had 0.943 save percentage and 2.44 GAA against the Attack

I believe that the Plymouth Whalers are going to be a much tougher test for the Rangers then the Owen Sound Attack were. Plymouth is a big team with big goal scorers. I don't think that Kitchener has the team that can take the Rangers out of the playoffs.

Plymouth Whalers in 5.  Previous to this post I put on twitter that Plymouth would take this in 7. Since then I have thought about it and now my thought is that Plymouth is on fire and will have a much easier time with the Rangers that had a not so tough match up in round 1. I think if this round goes longer then 5 it is going to be because of John Gibson.