OHL final pits Erie Otters' McDavid magic vs. Oshawa Generals' all-for-one effort

The Erie Otters-Oshawa Generals affray is not a tough ticket because it happens to be the first OHL final in a half-decade between two 100-point teams.

It's due to the Otters boasting a certain catalyst who's on his way to compiling countless TSN Highlight of the Night clips. Connor McDavid means eyeballs, which has caused a surge on the secondary ticket market and more interest in the series than the typical league final, which the mass public generally treats as a prologue to the Memorial Cup.

"You got the best player in junior hockey, in the world, coming into your market, as well as there's not a lot of hockey left to watch," says Generals coach D.J. Smith. "Junior B and Tier II are done and it's really good hockey. You're going to have 10 future NHLers, full-timers possibly, coming out of this final series. And people want to see good hockey. People pay so much to see NHL games. And here you have a chance to see it up close in a small venue."

McDavid's ability to transmogrify an offence — witness him scoring or setting up 19-of-28 Otters goals in the six-game takeout of the regular-season champion Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds — has made Erie a team that one picks against at their peril. Perhaps more pertinently, coach Kris Knoblauch has a track record with guiding a team through the playoffs without benefit of home-ice advantage. In 2011, under his command, the Kootenay Ice won the Western Hockey League's Ed Chynoweth Cup without having home ice in any of the final three rounds. The Eastern Conference also hasn't produced an OHL champion since '06, which makes it more tempting to wonder if the Generals' house in the defensive zone was built on sand.

"They are very fast and they have a lot of skill," Knoblauch says of the Generals. "The biggest challenge is how strong they are. They're loaded with 19 and 20-year-olds who like to battle. We had a team last round, yes, their play is different. This is going to be a much different challenge.

"They will definitely give our team a lot of challenges," Knoblauch adds. "We have some special players that can hopefully give us some opportunities but we also have to be very aware of how we play defensively."

McDavid, meantime, isn't betraying any trepidation about being under an ever-intense spotlight, just as he didn't on the world junior stage at midseason.

“It’s something that has never been a problem for me, I’ve been getting more and more used to dealing with that kind of stuff,” McDavid says. “It’s really easy just to be in Erie and be with the guys … and it’s really easy just to kind of block it out. Being in Erie has been a blessing.

"We got a lot of experience last year against Guelph [in the Western Conference final]," McDavid adds. "You usually don't get two chances at this ... For all of us really, it's our first chance at doing something special in Erie."

(1E) Oshawa Generals (51-11-6, 108 points) vs. (2W) Erie Otters (50-14-4, 104 points)   

Season series: Oshawa 2-0-0-0 (McDavid missed both games). Final Dynamic Dozen rankings (regular season): Otters first, Generals sixth. Post-trade deadline records: Otters 34-8-1, Generals 33-10-4. Prediction: Otters in 6.

Why the Otters should win: The best development for the Otters was losing their playoff opener against the Sarnia Sting six weeks ago. It galvanized a team that, from the outside looking in, profiled as having a fearsome offence with McDavid and league points champ Dylan Strome but a brow-furrowing back end and starting goalie in Devin Williams. The Otters tightened up their act, while McDavid continued to do McDavidian things with help from his supporting cast that also includes wings Nick Baptiste, Alex DeBrincat and Remi Elie and defenceman Travis Dermott.

"Sarnia gave us a lot of challenges, a lot of one-goal games," Knoblauch says. "Through London and our last series against the Greyhounds, we've had our challenges. We feel very fortunate to get through that series with the play of some our players who really elevated their games, including Connor, our goaltender [Williams] and our defence."

Erie is formidable when it sustains that defensive effort, and one should recall it only had hulking overage defenceman Kurtis MacDermid for last Saturday's closeout game against the Greyhounds. It was also lights-out on each specialty team against the Greyhounds. It's unrealistic to expect the power play to bat .500 again this round, but that unit could certainly instill a fear into the Generals that was absent during the Eastern final against North Bay. And when a team knows it cannot risk more than a handful of penalties, that can compound itself.

The Otters put up more than four goals per night against a 'Hounds back end anchored by Edmonton Oilers first-round pick Darnell Nurse. Oshawa doesn't have a similar singular force on the second-last line of defence, notwithstanding that Florida Panthers-signed captain Josh Brown is a tough customer. Team defence is its order of the day.

"If one of those five [players on the ice] aren't committed, it's going to be a lot more difficult," Smith said. "Certainly we're not going to shut [McDavid] down but we are going to try to limit his chances and hopefully his numbers go down. Discipline is big for us. He's the best power-play player in the country."

Point being, Erie might just have too much offence for the Generals to handle.

How the Generals could win: Oshawa's game is about as subtle as a Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show sketch and often has just as much mass appeal, too. The Generals have flair spread across their lineup with New York Islanders first-rounder Michael Dal Colle (25 points in 15 games) and potential future NHL power-play quarterback Mitchell Vande Sompel, but for the most part they are a throwback team with three balanced lines, a stout defence and a big goaltender, 6-foot-4 Ken Appleby, who exhausts the instant-gratification quotient of many point-getters.

That an equation that can unravel a talented up-tempo team, as it did during a tougher-than-it-looked five-game second-round win over the Niagara IceDogs and another Islanders first-rounder, Josh Ho-Sang. The Generals plan on applying pressure early and often, particularly with Calgary Flames second-rounder Hunter Smith and Montreal Canadiens first-rounder Michael McCarron providing a physical presence.

"We expect a long series and we have to make sure we're finishing our checks," D.J. Smith says. "That's something we won't change. If you change too much you lose your identity.

"We have to be prepared to play real tight defence but also try to score some goals. It's a tough mix and they have some real special players that other teams we've played do not."

The Generals are drawn down slightly defensively since Will Petschenig, a trusted penalty killer, broke his arm last Friday against North Bay. They have a certain mojo about them, which might help their shot at upending Erie.

The rub is, with all apologies to Bob Seger, that no one's got to McDavid yet. He's been thrown off for a few shifts, maybe, but seldom is off in back-to-back games. Oshawa does have a certain confidence, though.

"This team is one of the closest I have ever played with," says Brown, one of the 10 Generals defenceman or forwards who is either 19 or 20 years old. "Just our chemistry has been helping us move forward."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.