Visors and Risers

Credit Erie Otters  In recent history the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League have not been good. From 2005 to the end of the 2013 season they either did not qualify for the playoffs or were quickly bounced in the first round. All of this started to change when they drafted future NHL superstar Connor McDavid first overall in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection Draft. This pickup of one of the greatest young players of this decade along with other players beginning to step up allowed for the Otters to jump into serious playoff contention, as they made it to the Conference Finals each of the last three years. Credit Erie Highlight Reel Unfortunately each of the last three years the Otters have failed to win the OHL championship and qualify for a shot at the coveted Memorial cup, but this year just might be their chance. After management took a look at all of the aging star power on their team that will soon be gone, most of whom will be gone at the end of the season, the...

Credit NCAA.com Frozen Four Harvard (1) Vs. Minnesota Duluth (2)  The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs defeated the Harvard Crimson 2-1 in the first of two semifinals at the United Center in Chicago. Harvard led the play early with quick passing in the offensive zone. Tyler Moy scored Harvard only goal at 15 minutes of the first period, entering the zone and firing it over the shoulder of Minnesota's goaltender. This would be the last impressive change they would have as the Bulldog's would continue to bully the Crimson and would score the final two goals to win the game. Minnesota will await their final team to play in the championship on Saturday night. Denver(6) Vs. Notre Dame(1)  The Denver Pioneers used a six goal offensive explosion to be the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in the second semifinal game of the Frozen Four. This game was never close even for a second as Denver jumped on the Fighting Irish early and often. Senior forward Emil Rom...

2016 OHL Champion London Knights Credit London Free Press  I'd like to start off this post by apologizing for not fully covering all of the first round matchup in their entirety, I haven't had the time to finish them off so I will briefly go over all of them right now: The Erie Otters were the first team to advance to the second round by sweeping the Sarnia Sting in four straight games. Peterborough was the next to advance to the second round with their four game sweep of the Niagara Ice Dogs. Sault St. Marie was the next team moving on to the second round of the playoffs with a four games to one victory over the Flint Firebirds. Owen Sound defeated the Kitchener Rangers in their first series four games to one. The Mississauga Steelheads doubled up the Ottawa 67's four games to two in order to move on to the next round of the playoffs. Oshawa won their first round matchup against Sudbury four games to two. Kingston  came away with a four to thre...

Credit Kingston Times The Kingston Frontenacs came away with a 4-3 series victory with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory in game seven. Game scores can be seen below, home team will be first and the series record will follow each game score. Game #1: Kingston (0) Vs. Hamilton (2) 1-0 Hamilton  The Hamilton Bulldogs spoiled Kingston's home playoff opener, blanking the Frontenacs 2-0 in front of 2,866 disappointed fans. Bulldog's Center Will Bitten scored both goals and goaltender Dawson Carty posted a shutout stopping all 19 Kingston shots for the victory. Kingston goaltender Jeremy Helvig stopped 27 of 29 shots in the loss. Game #2: Kingston (4) VS. Hamilton (5) 2-0 Hamilton  Once again the Hamilton Bulldogs spoiled Kingston's home ice advantage, beating them 5-4 in front of 2,375 fans at the Rogers K-Rock Center. Kingston finally solved the stingy Hamilton defense when they scored at 7:00 minutes of the first period and later at 16:00 minutes as well. Hamilto...

Credit Centre Daily Times Round #1:   #1 Denver (5) Vs. Michigan Tech (2)  The number one seeded Denver Pioneers's four goal first period proved to be too much for Michigan Tech as Denver would go on to win the game 5-2. The Pioneers were led offensively by Colin Staub (2 goals) and Liam Finlay (2 assists) and Goaltender Tanner Jaillet made 16 saves on 18 shots for the victory. Michigan Tech's Gavin Gould had one goal for the Huskies. Penn State (10) Vs. Union (3)  An Impressive outing for the Nittany Lions as they used a five goal third period to blow past Union in their first ever NCAA tournament game. The Lions balanced attack was lead by forwards Nate Sucese and Chase Berger who each had 2 goals and one assist in the game. Goaltender Peyton Jones was impressive for the Lions, making 22 saves on 25 shots. Spencer Foo was the lone bright spot for Union with 2 goals. #4 Minnesota (2) Vs. Notre Dame (3)  The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame used a la...

Credit Soo Times  The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds defeated the Flint Firebirds in the first round of the OHL Playoffs four games to one and are on to the next round. The Greyhounds are the are #2 seed in the Western Conference and will play the second lowest remaining seed in said Conference. Game scores can be seen below, home team will be first and the series record will follow each game score. Game #1: Sault Ste. Marie (5) Vs. Flint (2) 1-0 Greyhounds The Greyhounds took a convincing 1-0 series lead by defeating the Flint Firebirds 5-2 in front of a home crowd of 3,342 fans. The Greyhounds were led by forward Hayden Verbeek , who scored two of the three first goal and the eventual game winner at 8:25 of the second period. Flint goaltender Connor Hicks stopped 32 of 36 shots in the loss while greyhounds netkeeper Matthew Villalta stopped 19 of 21 Flint shots to earn his first win of the playoffs. Game #2: Sault Ste. Marie (3) Vs. Flint (6) 1-1 Ties Series  The ...

Credit Owen Sound Sun Times  The Owen Sound Attack Advanced to the Second Round of the OHL Tournament after beating the Kitchener Rangers four games to one in the first round. Owen Sound will play the third lowest remaining seed in the Western Conference. Game scores can be seen below, home team will be first and the series record will follow each game score. Game #1: Owen Sound (9) Vs. Kitchener (1) 1-0 Owen Sound  The Owen Sound Attack opened up their 2017 playoff campaign in convincing fashion tonight, defeating the Rangers 9-1 in front of a home crowd of 3,035 fans. The Attack scored their first goal at 7:33 of the first period and didn't stop scoring until the last minute of the second period, by that time they were up 7-0. The most impressive part about this win was that all nine goals were scored by different skaters, the Attack were led in points by assistant captain Nick Suzuki who had a goal and two assists. Rangers veteran goaltender Luke Opilka had a rou...

Credit Peterborough Examiner  The Peterborough Petes were the first team in the Eastern Conference to advance to the second round of the OHL playoffs by sweeping the eighth seed Niagara Ice Dogs in four straight games. Game scores can be seen below, home team will be first and the series record will follow each game score. Game #1: Petes (5) Vs. Ice Dogs (2) 1-0 Petes  The Peterborough Petes opened up their 2017 playoff campaign with a 5-2 home victory over the Niagara Ice Dogs in front of 2,681 fans. Niagara opened up the scoring at 4:12 of the first period when Kirill Maksimov scored his first goal of the playoffs. The Petes would then go on the score the game's next five goals, led in scoring by right winger Adam Timleck with two goals. Peterborough goaltender Dylan Wells was incredibly in cage for the Petes, stopping 32 of the 34 shots he faced. Game #2: Petes (6) Vs. Ice Dogs (3) 2-0 Petes Niagara was unable to find a way to stop Peterborough's offense in t...

Credit Sarnia Sting  The Erie Otters used four straight offensive explosions, scoring no less than five goals and scoring nine goals on two separate occasions to sweep the Sarnia Sting in four straight games to punch their ticket to the next round. Home teams will be listed first and the Playoff Series record will follow. Game #1: Erie (6) Vs. Sarnia (3) 1-0 Erie  The Erie Otters defeated the Sting by a score of 6-3 in front of 3,075 fans to start the first round of the OHL playoffs. After Sarnia scored three minutes into the first period the Otters went on to score three straight goals and eventual score the game winner at 13 minutes of the second period. The Otters were led by Kyle Maksmovich who scored two goals and nearly had the natural hat-trick if it weren’t for one of his teammates tipping a shot. Sarnia goalie Justin Fazio stopped 45 of 51 shots in the loss. Game #2: Sarnia (3) Vs. Erie (9) 2-0 Erie  The Erie Otters once...

Credit Toronto Sun The 2016-2017 Ontario Hockey League's regular season has officially ended and the first-round matchups for the Western Division can be seen here below. The OHL playoff format is the same as the NHL where the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed in each round, the finals are the winner of the Eastern and Western Division, all series are best of 7 (win 4 games). Eastern Division series are as follows: #1 Peterborough Petes Vs. #8 Niagara Ice Dogs - Peterborough has earned the #1 seed in the East with a record of 42-21-5 - Niagara earned the last spot in the East with a record of 23-35-10 - The Petes won the regular season series against the Ice Dogs, winning 3 of the 4 games - Leading scorer for the Petes: Nikita Korotelev  17 goals, 18 assists - Leading scorer for the Ice Dogs: Johnny Corneil  31 goals, 31 assists   #2 Mississauga Steelheads Vs. #7 Ottawa 67's  - Mississauga has earned the #2 overa...