Soo, Flint personify parity
The second-place and seventh-seeded teams in the Western Conference help define the parity that exists within the Ontario Hockey League.
While a glance at the standings shows the Soo Greyhounds as the second seed with 81 points from a record of 39-15-3 and the Flint Firebirds in seventh spot with 61 points from a record of 28-23-5, the head-to-head matchups between the two teams tell a different story.
The Greyhounds and Firebirds have completed their six-game, regular-season series with three wins apiece.
And if that is not enough of an example of being evenly-matched, both teams won all three games in the opposition rink. That’s right, in the six regular-season games between the Greyhounds and the Firebirds, the home team did not win a single match.
Interestingly, if the standings should remain as they are, the Soo and Flint would meet in the first round of the playoffs with the Greyhounds getting home-ice “advantage.”
On paper, the Greyhounds are a better-balanced team than the Firebirds with more secondary scoring.
Goals-for and goals-against favour the Greyhounds with the Soo at 238-183 and Flint at 185-193.
But should Flint retain its hold on a Western Conference playoff spot, the Firebirds loom as a formidable foe more than capable of a first-round upset.
In forwards Ryan Moore, Kole Sherwood and Nick Caamano, Flint has three of the more-dangerous scorers in the Western Conference. And from the blueline, seasoned defenders Mathieu Henderson, Jalen Smereck and Alex Peters have put up a combined 110 points thus far this season.
Not that the Greyhounds are slouches with a lineup that features six forwards with 20 goals or more and another, Blake Speers, who has tallied 13 times in just 19 outings.
Point is, despite a 20-point differential in the standings, there is not that much to choose from between the Greyhounds and Firebirds. And the head-to-head matchups between the two teams bears that out.
PHOTO: 2016-2017 regular-season action between the Soo Greyhounds and Flint Firebirds. (Photo by Ali Pearson.)
Sherwood (what a hockey name) absolutely scares me with his release! Pro shot all the way as we saw last game here in the SOO!
Apparently has a temper too lol