As the Ontario Hockey League final opens on Thursday night, the road hasn’t been an easy one for the Guelph Storm.
After an opening-round sweep of the Kitchener Rangers, the Storm proceeded to become the fifth team in league history to come back from a 3-0 series deficit to beat the London Knights in Round 2.
The Storm then fell behind 3-1 in the Western Conference final against the Saginaw Spirit before winning three straight games to dispose of the Spirit in seven games as well.
“We’re putting ourselves in a hole and finding a way to plow ourselves out,” said Guelph general manager and coach George Burnett.
As the team prepares for the Ottawa 67’s in the league final, focusing on the task ahead is of major importance, but drawing on their experience through three rounds will be a help.
“Every experience we’ve had, we’ve learned from,” Burnett said. “We learned many things about ourselves in the Kitchener series, and then again in the London experience in getting back in the series and ultimately being successful and moving on helped us as we got behind against Saginaw.”
A strong second half and learning from some tough playoff opponents have the Storm confident heading into the final.
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“We’ve learned from the circumstances we’ve been in because of some really strong opponents,” Burnett said. “We had a good second half of the season. Our improvements in a number of areas, particularly our ability to be successful on the road, is something that tells us a little bit about our group and their ability to find different ways.
“You make adjustments as you go like we have and those adjustments and those little breaks, it’s a big save or a blocked shot, there are so many things that can go into making a series victory,” Burnett added.
Secondary scoring also became a key for the Storm against the Spirit as the team battled back in the series.
“Over the last three games, we started to see other people most importantly getting opportunities to score and creating chances,” Burnett said. “It takes a lot of pressure off the (Nick) Suzuki, (Isaac) Ratcliffe and (MacKenzie) Entwistle line to do a lot of the scoring.”
The historic run continues @Storm_City win Wayne Gretzky Trophy as Western Conference champions following an unprecedented seventh straight victory when facing elimination: https://t.co/PA1XLQI5Qc#OHLPlayoffs | #SAGvsGUE pic.twitter.com/DUAJRHrGRb
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) May 1, 2019
And although Ottawa swept all three series to advance to the final, their road here hasn’t been quite as easy as the results would indicate.
Ottawa needed a goal in the final minute of regulation and then an overtime winner from Tye Felhaber to win Game 4 against the Oshawa Generals in sweeping the Eastern Conference final.
“We had a really good opponent in Oshawa,” 67’s head coach Andre Tourigny said. “The (sweep) isn’t a reflection of what happened on the ice in that series.”
“They were a really tough opponent,” Tourigny added.
The series win against Oshawa came after a triple overtime in Game 4 was needed to clinch a sweep of the Sudbury Wolves in Round 2.
The break between rounds has allowed the 67’s time to recover, but that doesn’t mean the team took it easy while awaiting their next opponent.
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“Our guys are hard-working guys,” Tourigny said. “They practiced hard every day during the season, and we didn’t change our approach in the playoffs. The biggest thing is to stay physical during practice. You don’t want bad habits.”
Other than a recovery day, the 67’s have been on the ice regularly since the end of the conference final against the Generals and have maintained that level between each playoff round.
“We try to keep it really competitive during our practices,” Tourigny said.
For the Storm, the series brings the challenge of facing the OHL’s top regular season team and the hottest team in the playoffs.
“They’re well-prepared, they’re very detailed,” Burnett said. “They have outstanding goaltending, a physical defence that can move the puck and a group of forwards that play the game hard and gritty and at a great pace and have outstanding skill. In order to compete with that, we have to make sure that we’re in the present and that we’ve got more than one or two guys contributing offensively.”
The way the Storm battled back in a pair of tough series earned the respect of their upcoming opponent.
“They have really good defencemen and they have elite players (overall),” Tourigny said. “We know they’re a really good team. (Coming back) against good teams like London and Saginaw is because you’re a really good team and you’re resilient. We respect them a ton.”
Set to open on Thursday night in Ottawa, Game 2 will go Saturday afternoon, also in Ottawa, before it shifts to Guelph for Games 3 and 4 on May 6 and 8.
If necessary, the series will shift back to Ottawa for Game 5 on May 10.
Game 6 would go May 12 in Ottawa.
Should the series go the distance, Game 7 is set for Ottawa on May 13 with the series winner moving on to Halifax to represent the league at the Memorial Cup.
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