As if the anticipation of the Windsor-London series wasn't big enough already, neither team did much to hide their satisfaction in Tuesday's pre-series conference call.

The hype behind this series dates back to the summer where, after the Windsor Spitfires became a team to be reckoned with last season, the London Knights set into motion building a team to contend with Windsor. Although it took 68 regular season games and two playoff rounds for this series to become possible, it's a match made in heaven and one both teams anticipated all along.

"I've been looking forward to this all year," London captain Scott Aarssen said. "This is what we played for, this series against Windsor, and it should be exciting hockey."

Like every other team in the Ontario Hockey League this season, London needed to measure their team up to the Spitfires. Windsor dominated the season series early, outscoring the Knights 16-7 through the first three wins.

It wasn't until the Knights loaded up by adding the league's all-time goalscoring leader, John Tavares, that the games became closer. Windsor still won two of the remaining three, only dropping the final game on March 8, a meaningless game in the standings as Windsor had already clinched first overall.

"We've made a lot of big trades and picked up some skilled players and I think we realized we needed a few more guys to compete with Windsor," Aarssen said.

The Spitfires should be well-prepared for an intense, physical battle after the Plymouth Whalers broke them in during a heated second-round series. The spill-over will be noticeable as the Spitfires will be without their enforcer, Richard Greenop, as he serves the remaining four games of his suspension.

"It's going to be a very physical series," Spitfires captain Harry Young acknowledged.

The Windsor bench will also be shortened as assistant coach D.J. Smith will be unavailable the first two games due to his suspension incurred in Game 5 of the second round.

"Smitty's a great guy to have on the bench because he's getting the players going and motivating them," Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner said. "He's a great communicator so that's going to be a little bit of a loss for us."

Both teams anticipate a potentially high-scoring series. In addition to Tavares, London boasts a talented group of forwards which include Nazem Kadri and Philip McRae. Windsor counters with sophomore sensations Taylor Hall and defenceman Ryan Ellis.

"I think it's a great series for the Ontario Hockey League," Boughner said. "We both have some big-name players and a lot of skill."

The game-plan for each team will be attempting to neutralize each other's top scoring threats. London was at a disadvantage before the addition of Tavares while the mid-season acquisition of goaltender Trevor Cann provided more favourable results for the Knights.

"If they get too many scoring chances, they'll bury us," Aarssen said. "We hadn't limited their scoring chances in the first couple games and I think we started to learn that. We'll be thinking of ways to limit scoring chances in this series."

This series could feature the next two first overall National Hockey League picks. Tavares was ranked first among North American skaters in the NHL's Central Scouting's final rankings which were released Tuesday. The fourth-year forward came a step closer to realizing where his future would lie as the NHL also held its draft lottery Tuesday with the New York Islanders awarded the first overall pick.

Meanwhile, the 2010 class is headed by the speedy and offensively gifted Hall. He, along with Ellis, are the two main building blocks the Spitfires acquired in the 2007 OHL Priority Selection.

Ellis, a teammate of Tavares' on the gold-medal winning Canadian world junior team, figures to be a potential top 15 pick in this year's draft as he was ranked 16th by Central Scouting.

"I think the big-name players are the ones everybody comes to watch," said Boughner.

The Knights, who were regular season champions for an unprecedented four straight seasons from 2004 through 2007, will be in an unfamiliar circumstance by starting the series on the road.

"We've never not had home-ice advantage since I've been here," Aarssen said. "We kind of feel like underdogs."

"I think our team's up to the challenge and very excited to play them," Young said.

The series begins Wednesday with Game 1 at the Windsor Family Credit Union Centre. Game 2 will be played at the John Labatt Centre in London as the series features alternating home dates.