#1 Erie Otters vs #7 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
Season Series: Erie (2-0-0-) – Sault Ste. Marie (0-1-1-0)
When the Erie Otters and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds kick off their second round playoff series Friday night in Erie, it will mark the third time in three years that the two clubs have met one another in the playoffs. However this season there will be a dramatically different outlook on the series. In 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 both the Otters and Greyhounds entered the playoffs as legitimate OHL Championship contenders, with lasts seasons
version of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds arguably the best team on paper across the CHL. Still Erie knocked off the Greyhounds in the playoffs last season, upsetting them in six games. In 2013-2014 the Greyhounds found a similar fate as Erie swept the second round playoff match up in four straight games. While Sault Ste. Marie hasn’t had much playoff success against the Otters in recent years, the 2015-2016 Soo Greyhounds come into their second round playoff series riding a high, upsetting a very solid Sarnia Sting squad in seven games. Sault Ste. Marie is a huge underdog in this series and maybe that’s just the way they’ll like it. All the pressure is on Erie this year, while simply making they playoffs this season would likely be considered overachieving for the Greyhounds. With that being said there is no love lost between the two teams and the Greyhounds players who return from last seasons devastating six game series loss will certainly have revenge on the mind.
While the Greyhounds may come into this series as immense underdogs, you can’t help but think this team matches up quiet well against the Otters. Both teams like to play a fast pace, skilled game and both have the horses to do so. When you break the teams down into three categories, Goaltending, Defense and Forwards, you realize the Greyhounds are right there with the Otters, just simply a year or two behind development wise.
In Sault Ste. Marie the club boasts some deceptively good depth up front with the likes of 
Blake Speers, Zach Senyshyn and Gabe Guertler headlining the bunch. However when you factor in the likes of 2016 NHL draft eligible’s Jack Kopacka, Tim Gettinger and Boris Katchouk along with veterans Bobby MacIntyre, Hayden Verbeek, Bryce Yetman and rookies Liam Hawel and Morgan Frost, you quickly realize just how deep the Greyhounds are offensively. Sure the club is young up front, but it didn’t stop them from putting up 243 goals during the regular season and another 23 through seven playoff games. The offensive unit has an excellent mixture of speed, skill, size and grit which will go along way in this series. With that being said the offensive end of the rink is not a concern for me with the Greyhounds, its the defensive end. Can the young Greyhounds forward pay the attention to detail on the defensive side of the puck that is needed ?
Looking at the Otters offense, it can be coaches and goaltenders worst nightmare. A club that boasts the likes of high octane top 10 scorers Dylan Strome and Alex DeBrincat, the 
talent duo are joined by the ample offensive talents of Taylor Raddysh, Kyle Maksimovich, Nick Betz, Jake Marchment and rookie Vanya Lodnia. As a unit the Otters finished third in the OHL in goals for with 269 (2nd in the West), yet still managed to second to only the London Knights in goals against, allowing 183. Just as the Greyhounds combine a mixture of speed, size, skill and grit, the Otters also have the experience factor that won’t go unnoticed. Many of these Otters return from last years OHL final loss at the hands of the Oshawa Generals and now know just what it takes to win an OHL championship. The commitment at the defensive end of the rink has been there all season and it will need to continue against the Greyhounds if the Otters hope to avoid any sort of upset.
Defensively speaking it’s easy to give the Otters the advantage. Erie does possesses Travis 
Dermott and Erik Cernak, both of whom are highly touted NHL prospects, along with the likes of veteran Darren Raddysh and 2016 NHL draft hopefuls Jordan Sambrook, Taylor Egan and Mitchell Bryne. An while they very well may have the edge, I wouldn’t go as far as saying its a significant edge. The Greyhounds defense core may be young, but it is also vastly underrated as veteran Tyler Hore along with Medric Mercier, Gustav Bouramman and Colton White have really excelled this season with the added workload. When you mix in youngsters Anthony DeMeo, Conor Timmins and Mac Hollowell its hard to ignore their depth. However again come playoffs things change and having gone through the grind of a lengthy playoff run last season will certainly play in favor of the Otters as Travis Dermott and Darren Raddysh played significant rolls in Erie capturing the Western Conference championship last season.
In goal it’s hard for me to give an edge to either team. I’ve seen Devin Williams play lights out throughout the 2015-2016 season. I’ve seen him outperform Oskar Dansk in 2013-
2014, but I’ve also see him be the determining factor in his team losing games. With that being said Williams has been outstanding this season and should simply be judged on this season alone. An in doing just that, Williams has the ability to be a determining factor yet again, this time in a positive light. Meanwhile in Sault Ste. Marie Brendan Halverson comes in with a similar stigma about him. He’s undoubtedly the more decorated goaltender having been selected by the New York Rangers in the NHL draft, along with playing internationally for Team USA. However Halverson has also had his struggles throughout his OHL career, numbers aside. If Sault Ste. Marie is going to upset that Otters, its going to be Brendan Halverson who wins them this series. Halverson can’t bring a sub par effort or this series will be over in four straight, despite all that’s been said, its that easy.
While you can certainly tell I like the match up for the Greyhounds here, logically I can’t predict an upset. On paper the Otters are far superior, on the ice it could be a different story. But based on the clubs play through the 2015-2016 regular season and playoffs I’m going to lean with the Otters in this series. It will be much closer than people may anticipate, but ultimately I see this one going to the Otters in Six games.
Written By: Mike Mackley (@Macker61)
Follow us on Twitter: @Prosect1Hockey
Prospects Hockey 