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Belleville Bulls, London Knights in position to take 2-0 series leads: OHL post-game questions

Neate Sager

The openers in each conference final went according to the template — grim Dickensian struggle in London, chances back and forth in Belleville as the home teams prevailed. On with the belated morning skate questions:

London 2 Plymouth 1 (Knights lead Western final 1-0; Game 2 at 2 p.m. Sunday) — Don't call it dull, just say it's meant to be more endured more than enjoyed; will there be that little room on the ice for the entire series? Odds are the play might open up a crack, since it's hard to imagine each team staying so focused on keeping opposing forwards from having anything on every shift for 60 minutes.

The goals, in order on Friday night.

— London's Ryan Rupert swatting in a rebound in the final seconds of the first period after Seth Griffith wisely waited until he had both Rupert and Brett Welychka in a rebounding position.

— Plymouth's Connor Carrick on a point shot that redirected past goalie Anthony Stolarz.

— London's Remi Elie putting London back in front on a pass that hit a sliding defender's stick and deflected over the line before Plymouth's Alex Nedeljkovic could smother it ("I was trying to pass it to Griffith," he said).

The lesson? Learn to like it. From Morris Dalla Costa:

Game 1 of the London Knights-Plymouth Whalers OHL Western Conference final is a blueprint of what the rest the games are going to be like.

It may not be as low scoring as the Knights’ 2-1 win on Friday, but how the teams get to that final score isn’t going to change much.

Fancy has left the building.

This series is going to be about grinding, slogging, gutting it out in front of the net, throwing yourself in front of shots and doing whatever little extra needs to be done to win.

... It was a game that turned on a few bounces. The score was kept low by some excellent goaltending from both Stolarz and Nedeljkovic and poor marksmanship.

This time, the bounces went to the Knights. (London Free Press)

Did the score perhaps flatter the Londons? Well, no. The Knights were full value for the win, but in a first-goal-wins type of series, Plymouth was unlucky to come out of the first 20 minutes down 1-0. They hit two posts, couldn't score on a 49-second 5-on-3 advantage and also had a goal disallowed after it was ruled to be gloved in.

From Ryan Pyette:

Plymouth head coach Mike Vellucci figured it ought to have been, at the very least, tied early.

“Two goals were reviewed,” he said, “(and) both went London’s way. Definitely, our guy (Matt Mistele) hit (the puck) with his glove, but he knocked it in with his stick. On the ice, it was no goal and then they say conclusive.

“I don’t know how they got conclusive out of that.”

Dale Hunter sure wasn’t complaining about the decisions to go upstairs and take another look. The Kitchener Rangers, who didn’t even get a potential goal looked at in this rink last series, are probably still shaking their heads.

“That’s why we have video review in the league,” Hunter said. “It’s one of those where there were two tonight and you go back and watch the video after and they get it right then.

“It’s tough for referees to see on the ice at the time. Everything happens so quick out there so it really keeps it a fair game out there.” (London Free Press)

Belleville 3 Barrie 2 (Bulls lead Eastern final 1-0; Game 2 at 7:05 p.m. Saturday) — How will the Bulls carry on with Tyler Graovac's status hanging in the balance? The Bulls squeaked out the win minus two top-9 forwards, Graovac (upper body injury) and 6-foot-2, 205-pound wing Carter Sandlak (two-game suspension).

Vancouver Canucks prospect Brendan Gaunce, retaking centre after playing on Graovac's line through the first two rounds, came through to set up the second Bulls goal. But Graovac's playmaking and penalty-killing work is a big part of Belleville's mojo.

“Everybody was asked and everybody had a piece of it," Bulls coach George Burnett told Belleville Intelligencer. "Nobody's going to replace Tyler and we miss Carter big time too. But people stepped up and did a job.”

Did the referees decide it? Way to stir up the hornets' nest. Belleville's Austen Brassard bagged the winner with 1:55 left just 22 seconds after Colts defenceman Jake Dotchin got a holding penalty while trying to tie up the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Gaunce. Dotchin appeared to have hands on Gaunce, but the Bulls' captain did not fall under after the puck had been dislodged from his stick, which might have contributed to the perception it was an acting job.

For the most part, Game 1 was clean, with Belleville going 1-for-4 on the power play to Barrie's 1-for-3. The Bulls cashing in off that call could loom large, though.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.