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By David Clark
I don’t think the majority of us were prepared to see the congestion that is the Western Conference. Regarding Windsor (80 pts.), the Spitfires have landed right in the centre of it all, fighting for home-ice advantage during the 2011 OHL playoffs.
The Spitfires were skating with the Saginaw Spirit (85 pts.) tonight where they had to make sure they didn’t lose the game or that would end their pursuit of the West Division title. A lacklustre showing tonight opened the doors for the Spirit to score five unanswered goals. Windsor was handed a 5-0 beating by one of the best teams in the league.
The Spits actually outshot the Spirit 41 to 35 but Saginaw capitalized on the quality chances they got even though Jack Campbell stood on his head. For Saginaw, 1st star, Mavric Parks seized the shutout having played down any Windsor advances on the night. Because of this result, the Spitfires lost their way to the division title and are now looking at a fourth or fifth place finish to the season. The Spirit are now officially the top dogs in the West Division of the Western Conference, second to the Owen Sound Attack (93 pts.) from the Midwest Division. This is where it starts to get interesting.
Windsor is presently tied with the Erie Otters in the conference with 80 points. Erie has been coming on strong since the beginning of February this year with 14 wins and 3 losses to brag about. The Otters defeated the Sarnia Sting today in a close 7-6 game that went down to the wire. Erie is now tied with the Spits after tonight’s activities.
The Otters are working at stealing the fourth place finish from Windsor. Windsor will likely face them in the 1st round, a tough team to beat these days. Nobody wants to deal with one of the hottest teams in the league in the 1st round!
Erie has 1 more game left to play against the high-flying Saginaw Spirit while Windsor has two to go, one against the Soo and the last game of the season vs. Saginaw again. Windsor needs only 3 points, two wins or a win + one from O/T.
It is possible that the Spitfires will finish the regular season in 4th with Erie in 5th but that could change. If two teams tie at the end of the season the team with the most wins will automatically advance because they have more wins than the other team. Windsor may very well get home-ice but their jumping into the ring with a fierce opponent. At least Plymouth isn’t in the picture anymore!
