The high-flying Soo Greyhounds and the grinding Guelph Storm. A contrast in styles will hit the ice Thursday in Sault Ste. Marie for Game 1 of their opening playoff series.
The Hounds finished five points ahead of Guelph in the standings this season.
The Hounds won four of the six meetings between the two teams in the regular season, outscoring the locals by a combined 29-20, although that did include a nine-goal outburst from the northerners back in November.
The Soo scored 44 more goals than Guelph, the Storm allowed 18 fewer than the Soo.
Storm coach George Burnett wasn't revealing who his starting goaltender would be in the series, be it Jacob Oster or Owen Bennett. Both had some excellent games down the stretch, but both have been inconsistent throughout the season.
"They're a top team. We've thought that all year long," Storm coach George Burnett said of his first round opponent.
"We have the utmost respect for their game. They have a blueline that loves to control the game and have the puck a lot, involved in the rush, and their transition game is as good as their is in the league," Burnett added.
"Then they've got some top forwards who have done nothing but score all year long."
Game 2 goes Saturday in the Soo before returning to Guelph for the next two games Tuesday and Thursday.
A breakdown:
GOALTENDING
An inconsistent area for both teams over the course of the regular season and a scenario where we likely see all four goaltenders used in the series.
None of the four goalies had a save percentage over .900.
Guelph's starter is still a question mark as of Wednesday afternoon, although Jacob Oster had the better regular season numbers over Owen Bennett, with Oster being the only one of the four goalies in the series who managed a sub-3.00 goals against average.
Tucker Tynan saw the most action in the Soo net, but his 3.55 goals-against average and .887 save percentage weren't great.
Any goalie in the league can pull off a good game. Who can pull off a great series?
Advantage: It's a saw-off
DEFENCE
A healthy Guelph Storm has a very good defence. Unfortunately they're going up against a team that has arguably the OHL's best defence.
The Soo's top four of Rob Calisti, Jack Thompson, Ryan O'Rourke and Kirill Kudryavtsev combined for 199 points. Three of them might be on a list of the league's top 10 defencemen.
Guelph's top four of Daniil Chayka, Luka Profaca, Cam Allen and Michael Buchinger had 145 points.
Health could be the deciding factor as neither team can afford to lose any of their top four.
The Soo's a brilliant transition team led by their blueliners, so the defensive efforts of the forward group will be of paramount importance for Guelph.
EDGE: Soo
FORWARDS
Guelph started to get some scoring balance in the latter part of the season, as Danny Zhilkin warmed up, Valentin Zhugin and Cooper Walker got hot and Braeden Bowman kept scoring big goals. Sasha Pastujov's inconsistent second half is a concern, particularly on the power play. He still led the team with 76 points.
The Soo was the OHL's third-highest scoring team this season, led by 40-plus goal scorers Tye Kartye and Rory Kerins. Kartye had 23 on the power play to lead the league.
Guelph will be missing rookie Ryan McGuire (upper body injury) for at least the first two games, while the Hounds are without winger Kalvyn Watson until Game 3 due to suspension.
Edge: Soo
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Hounds had the OHL's top rated power play this season at 28.4 per cent, over 30 per cent at home. Guelph was ninth overall at 22.8 per cent.
Guelph's penalty kill was fourth best, the Hounds 11th.
Edge: Soo
PREDICTION Too much firepower and a deadly power play. Hounds in six.
The rest of the first round:
Western Conference
Windsor over Sarnia in five.
London over Kitchener in six.
Owen Sound over Flint in seven.
Eastern Conference
Hamilton over Peterborough in four.
North Bay over Ottawa in five.
Kingston over Oshawa in five.
Mississauga over Barrie in seven.
