RACE FOR 8TH

With just one month left on the Ontario Hockey League calendar, the races for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference are starting to become as clear as mud. Literally. There’s a four-team race for home-ice advantage in the first round, with 4th through 7th only separated by five points. A little bit lower in the standings is where our race gets started.

The Generals find themselves in a tight race with the Kingston Frontenacs for the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Over the course of the next nine games, we’ll keep things as simple as possible for you via schedule breakdowns, up-to-date results and the magic number needed to secure the X next to the Generals logo.

What looked like it was slipping through their own hands, the Generals finally did what they needed to do, and clinched the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Winners of just one game in their last nine heading into Kingston on Wednesday, a regulation win would send the Generals into the postseason, while any points given to Kingston would keep them alive for one more night. After a lot of pressure in Kingston’s zone less than a minute into the game, it was the next thirty seconds that awoke a desperate Frontenacs club. Scoring off a nice 2-on-1 chance was all the Frontenacs needed to breathe new life into their playoff push. Four goals from Ethan Meidema, and a shutdown performance in net from Ivan Zhigalov was enough for Kingston to take down the Generals 6-2, extending their season to Friday night.

The Generals entered Friday, still in control of their own destiny – win, and wait to see if the Frontenacs could defeat the Colts to stay alive. Oshawa completed step one with a 3-2 victory over the Steelheads, thanks to two more goals from Cameron Butler, and one from Ryan Gagnier. Jacob Oster also had a bounce back performance at the perfect time, allowing only two goals.

With two points in hand, GensNation turned their attention to Kingston, where the Frontenacs took an early 2-0 lead over the Barrie Colts into the second period. Despite resting much of their star firepower, and starting goaltender, the Colts rifled off five unanswered goals, taking away Kingston’s chance at a playoff berth.

The Generals officially clinched their 12th straight playoff appearance on Friday night, avoiding a less-thandesirable winner-take-all game at the TCC on Sunday to finish the season. Oshawa will now advance to take on the Ottawa 67’s in the opening round of the 2023 OHL playoffs.