Zack Mitchell, Robby Fabbri present solid cases for OHL playoff MVP should Guelph Storm finish the job

When the Guelph Storm have needed a lift, it's often come from either Robby Fabbri, Zack Mitchell or Kerby Rychel or some combination thereof.

Picking a playoff MVP in the Ontario Hockey League ought to be clear-cut. The choice from the winning team should stand out from the pack, as Bo Horvat did during the London Knights' run to the 2013 J. Ross Robertson Cup. (Ours is no to wonder why that is not reflected in which NHL first-round pick from the Knights is featured in a Memorial Cup promo in rotation on Sportsnet, but that is neither here nor there.) The Storm, who can clinch the OHL title on Friday when they host a bruised but not beat yet North Bay Battalion club, presents a bit more of a challenge. The crimson crew boasts the top five playoff scorers, a monopolization of the leaderboard that hasn't been seen since the 2009 Windsor Spitfires (four of the top five, with Brampton's Cody Hodgson finishing third) and the '08 Kitchener Rangers (five of the top six).

Should the Storm finish the job, though, the choice might come down to those three linemates. Mitchell is first with 31 playoff points over 19 games, followed by Rychel with 29. The 17-year-old Fabbri has 25 in 15 games and has been blanked only once in the post-season (and that was, not coincidentally, Guelph's worst home loss of the year).

North Bay's Barclay Goodrow and Jake Smith have had MVP post-seasons already, and will have even stronger cases if the Battalion comes back from 3-1 again.

Guelph hasn't faced genuine peril much in these playoffs, losing only one game so far in each round and posting a +42 goal differential (higher than the 2010 Spitfires' +36, by the way). What stands out is that when it has had to come back from a loss, more often than not it's been that line which has done the honours.

March 26, Game 4 at Plymouth — Mitchell had four points, including a late second-period goal that snapped a tie and eighth-seeded Plymouth's resolve. Guelph won 7-2 to go up 3-1 and closed out the Whalers two nights later.

April 8, Game 3 at London — Fabbri, in his third game back after missing two weeks due to a headshot, scored goals 133 seconds apart midway through the third off Rychel setups to point the Storm toward a 4-2 win and series lead. Rychel had the first assist on all of the Storm's goals against London goalie Jake Patterson.

April 10, Game 4 at London — Mitchell broke open a tight-ish game with a power-play goal in the opening minute of the third and a short-hander three minutes later. Guelph won 6-3 to put London in a 3-1 corner.

April 25, Game 5 vs. Erie — The Storm's wholeness became plain as day while it ramped up the tempo against the Otters, taking command with 7-1 and 7-2 wins after a last-shot-wins kind of opener. Erie forced the series back to Guelph, fostering hope of a comeback. In Game 5, though Rychel quickly killed that seed with a power-play goal 8:42 into the game. Mitchell scored 2:25 into the third to squelch any prospect of the Otters rallying.

May 6, Game 3 at North Bay — This was the big one. The OHL, unlike the Quebec League, does not keep tally of individual shots on goal, but Fabbri might have led thev club in chances created and was flat-out robbed at least twice by Jake Smith. He scored in the third period on a redirected shot. Mitchell, meantime, tipped in a shot with 29 seconds and change left in regulation to tie the game. That left North Bay wobbly and Brock McGinn provided a helpful push by roofing a rebound 19 seconds later.

By no means has the Storm been a one-line team. The other half of their 1-2 punch have also been come up big, with right wing Scott Kosmachuk counting 26 points and centre Jason Dickinson adding 24 even though their regular left wing, McGinn, was suspended for part of the playoffs.

On a gut level, should Guelph finish the job, the choice could boil down to Fabbri or Mitchell. The former has an irresistible storyline, having come back from injury to play with verve and zest and zazz. Mitchell, a Minnesota Wild signing, has supplied scoring and plenty of elbow grease. One cherry-picked stat that helps his argument is that he also leads the playoffs with three short-handed goals, and has factored into more than half of the the Storm's playoff-leading eight man-down markers.

Fabbri could become the third 17-year-old in six seasons to capture the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award, joining Horvat and current Edmonton Oilers forward Taylor Hall (in 2009 with Windsor).

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