Heading into the last two days of the regular season, only two playoff match-ups have been decided, and even one of those still has question marks as London and Owen Sound battle for home ice advantage over their final games. Niagara and Oshawa are guaranteed to meet in the Eastern Conference and the Ice Dogs will have home ice.
Ties in the standings that do not involve possible elimination are broken first by total number of wins, then by head-to-head records between the teams and then, if needed, by goal differential.
READ MORE:
London, Ont. ice dancing duo Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir to appear on Ellen
Here are the playoff scenarios for each team:
Western Conference
Sault Ste. Marie – Will finish first overall and will have home ice advantage in every series they play.
Kitchener – Will finish first in the Midwest Division and will own the second seed through the playoffs.
Sarnia – Will finish with the second-best record overall and own the third seed through the playoffs.
London – Will finish fourth or fifth and will play the Attack in the first round. Can finish fourth with two wins in final two games or one win and an Owen Sound loss to Sarnia on Saturday.
Owen Sound – Will finish fourth or fifth and will play London in the first round. Can finish fourth with a win over Sarnia and one London loss or a loss to the Sting and two losses by the Knights.
Guelph – Will finish sixth, seventh or eighth. After beating Kitchener on Friday, they can finish sixth with one win. Head to head tiebreaker vs Windsor is tied. Depending what happens with the Spirit and Spitfires, a tiebreaker between Guelph and Windsor could come down to goal differential. The Storm own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Spirit.
Windsor – Will finish sixth, seventh or eighth. The Spitfires trail the Storm by three points for sixth and have the same number of wins as the Storm. Windsor stays out of the eighth seed and a first-round series with the Greyhounds if they beat Saginaw on Sunday.
Saginaw – Will finish sixth, seventh or eighth. If Guelph loses in Erie, they can stay out of eighth by earning a point against London and then getting a win over the Spitfires on Sunday. If the Storm win, sixth is out of the question.
READ MORE:
Mike Stubbs: How about a little madness in the NHL and the NBA?
Eastern Conference
Hamilton – Will finish first and have home ice advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Barrie – Will finish second and complete a turnaround from worst record in the OHL last year to as high as fifth overall this year.
Kingston – Will finish third.
Niagara – Will finish fourth and play Oshawa in the first round. The teams met twice in the regular season. The Generals won on the road in overtime. The Ice Dogs won on the road in a shootout.
Oshawa – Will finish fifth and play Niagara in round one.
North Bay – Will finish sixth or seventh. If the Battalion win in Ottawa on Sunday, they clinch sixth place. The 67’s can no longer catch them.
Mississauga – Can finish seventh or eighth. After a loss to Niagara on Saturday afternoon, the Steelheads’ situation is a lot clearer. They are tied with the Ottawa 67’s in points. Each team has one game to play and Mississauga owns the tiebreaker based on wins. Ottawa is home to North Bay on Sunday while the Steelheads host Kingston.
Ottawa – Will finish seventh or eighth. Need to be one point better than the Steelheads over this weekend’s games. Ottawa has one remaining at home to North Bay. Mississauga is at Niagara Saturday and at home to Kingston Sunday. The Frontenacs have nothing to play for and lots of veterans who could get some rest. That could work against the 67’s.
Powered by WPeMatico