"Hit the road Jack" didn't play nor was someone dumped in a garbage bin like the time Eric Bischoff was fired in WWE but Ethan Cardwell put the padlocks on First Ontario Centre and sent the Hamilton Bulldogs off to Brantford with a game winning goal with :10 left. Barrie wins the series 4-2 and now the true speculation can begin.
This might be a case in which the simplest answer might be the most logical one. The Bulldogs spend three years in Brantford, build that market and then return to a heroes welcome and a 10,000 seat refurbished arena. However, it does not fell like a temporary move does it? The team has changed its name, and branding to a certain extent and their "Goodbye for now" twitter video had a "Goodbye forever" vibe. Watch it and see for yourself.
Adding to this is that Michael Andelauer remains one of the potential frontrunners to land the Ottawa Senators. He checks a lot of the right boxes in that he has the financial capital, as well as investment in another NHL team with his shares in Montreal. Will he want to keep the Bulldogs? Well the late Eugene Melnyk, ironically the current owner of the Sens, did have an OHL team and an NHL team for a while before selling the OHL team. There are interesting days ahead for sure. Brantford does not see this as a temporary solution. .They badly want back into the OHL permanently. While Hamilton will have a 10,000 seat arena open for business for somebody in three years.
My guess/wild speculation has the OHL Bulldogs remaining in Brantford while Hamilton gets either an ECHL or AHL franchise, while Ottawa puts their AHL team in Kanata at the Canadian Tire Centre when their new arena is built in the downtown core. That opens up a return to the OHL to Belleville. How about that for dominos falling? Don't ask me how we get to this point, which means it is more on the wild speculation side. If I get one of the guesses I have right, it will constitute a personal victory.
QUICK POINTS
- Man oh man did Windsor flame out of the OHL playoffs. 18 draft picks was the price for Shane Wright, Brett Harrison and Jacob Holmes. Plus there were two roster players and a couple of picks for Rodwin Dionicio and Aidan Castle. All that got the Spitfires was a whole bunch of minuses (Wright, Harrison and Holmes were all -6) and not a whole of points (2 goals between Wright, Harrison and Holmes). Wright never looked overly motivated and with him starting the year with Seattle, playing with Coachella of the AHL and also the World Jr Team, the OHL was a letdown for the 4th pick overall. Plus he played hurt much of the time. Windsor has a lot of potential OA's and some draft capital to regain, so they'll be busy. I just hope Niagara resists the urge to pick up the phone when Windsor comes a calling!
- Two strong OHL teams floundered in the first round and almost found themselves either eliminated or stretched to seven games. Barrie was down 3-0 to Hamilton in Game 6 and staring at an 0-3 road record before recovering and winning 5-4, while Sarnia watched their 3-0 lead get whittled down to 3-2 before getting rescued by Nolan Burke's series winning game 6 OT goal. Both teams need to be way more consistent if they want to advance any deeper. Sarnia has Saginaw and Barrie tangles with North Bay. The Spirit, who are next years Memorial Cup hosts are a year ahead of schedule after they beat Flint in 7 but who doesn't want to see how Zayne Parekh and Michael Misa play in the 2nd round? Hopefully Parekh is healthy has took some physical punishment in Round One.
-Two enigmatic teams in Peterborough and Kitchener quieted their critics for the time being with Kitchener sweeping Windsor while Peterborough brought out the broom against Sudbury. Both teams loaded up big time at the deadline and throughout the year and both times were wildly inconsistent during the regular season with Kitchener having to part ways with Head Coach Chris Dennis late in the season. Both teams could just as quickly find themselves bounced out of the playoffs in the 2nd round given their past track record, but the smart betting sees Kitchener stretching London to the limit while the Petes fall to the 67's in a hard fought series that could go 5 or 6 games.
-Connor Bedard's season and WHL career ends with a game 7 loss to Saskatoon on the road. 14,500 fans packed the rink to watch the #1 pick try to will his team to victory. Bedard had 19 points in 6 playoff games! Imagine if Reginal had surrounded him with complementary talent? The Memorial Cup needs superstars to help elevate its platform and there's no bigger one than Bedard. My guess is that he joins Canada's World Championship quest if he wishes, though he's also got nothing to prove and might just cool his heels until the draft.
- The Leafs have run out of cap space and likely will start an EBUG type goalie. Lots of teams have ended their season and Twitter speculated that there were five candidates being looked at as the "mystery goalie" in a game in Tampa that means absolutely nothing to either team. It feels very WWE. "Bah Gawd, that's Matt Onushka's music!!! Someone might see their dream of an NHL start realized tonight, which does make for a nice game story for a game that has zero buzz. This needs to be fixed in the next CBA as you cannot have teams desperately auditioning goalies late in the season because they are tight to the cap.
- Is it just me or do the Edmonton Oilers feel like the real deal this year? No mercurial Mike Smith and nerve wracking Mikka Koskinen. Steward Skinner and Jack Campbell are the goalies. Mattias Ekholm has anchored the D after his late season acquisition and the forwards need no introduction. The Oilers were blown out of the water by Colorado in the Western Conference Final last year. This year? The feeling is that McDavid and company are going to be one heck of a tough out.
- The Blues Jays open at home tonight. The weather is warm and windy so that means the dome will be closed and 45000 people will be really, really sweaty. The new outfield seating looks great but are the prices affordable? Either way the team has been all over the map in the first ten. They'll be intriguing for sure.
- The Raptors will have a play in game against Chicago. Jurassic Park won't feel the same with just a play in game. The less than exciting Raptors are in .500 purgatory and likely will find themselves 1st round fodder should they advance in this play in game.
Until next time!
Steve Clark
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