CREDIT: OHL IMAGES
Max Domi flies through the neutral zone for the London Knights.

It's crunch time in the Ontario Hockey League. And for three rivals in the Midwest Division, anything can still happen.

The London Knights, the Guelph Storm and the Erie Otters are neck and neck and neck. One of these teams will win the OHL regular season.

The Guelph Storm is in the driver's seat at this moment, with a slender lead. The other two are battling for the all-important third seed.

The playoffs begin on March 21 for the London Knights. Familiar territory, you'd think, having romped to successive OHL championships.

But the emergence of the Storm and the Otters has halted London's supposed dominance en route to a three-peat. In truth, what the Knights have done in the past two months or so is nothing short of remarkable. They've dropped just seven out of 27 games in 2014 and won 18 of their last 20 games heading into their final weekend of regular season action.

That spell included a nine-game winning streak, as well as a sixgame win streak — nothing quite like the 24-game streak from last season, but impressive nonetheless. They've even hit the 300 goal mark this season. The last time they hit that number (they finished with 311) was in the 2006/07 season — Patrick Kane territory.

The “untouchable” 2004/05 squad? They managed 310 goals.

Again, it comes to the point where other teams have somehow kept up with the Knights. But as the old cliché goes, the regular season is one thing; playoffs are another.

And the Knights are plenty ready for the grind.

“We give each other pointers on what we see on the ice, and it's nice to have so many guys doing well,” said captain Chris Tierney. “We're about winning each game. Afterwards, we'll congratulate someone on an individual accomplishment. It goes hand in hand.”

“If you're doing well personally, you're helping the team win.”

As Guelph Mercury's Tony Saxon noted, the “only team that can beat Guelph, is Guelph.”

Home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs might not mean much in the first round, but it could be a factor should Guelph meet London or Erie in the second round.

It's something the Knights know all too well. Game seven of last season's OHL finals would have been a different ballgame had it been in Barrie, not London.

Statistically this season might not sit well with Knights fans, especially if they fail to win any hardware. But give it some rational thought and you see it speaks to how the other teams have kept up. The Knights started their 18 of 20 run in fourth place, and they still remain there.

Aside from all those statistics, the Knights have had their wits tested. They lost players to the NHL — some for short periods of time, others for the whole season. They lost players to the World Juniors around New Years.

They lost their starting goaltender to injury for about six weeks. Their backup goaltender was in net for their impressive run late on in the season. They began the preseason with a very inexperienced defensive corps.

“At the time (in the fall), everyone thought we weren't scoring enough, but when we're looking at the end here,we have [eight] 20-goal scorers, which is very impressive and higher than our expectations,” assistant coach Dylan Hunter was quoted in a March 10 article by the London Free Press entitled, “London Knights captain Chris Tierney says teammates helping each other.”

“It's not like we sat down in September and knew exactly what our team was. We don't know who's coming back, who's going to play well together, who has a breakout year and who doesn't.”

“Once you get 40 to 50 games in, you start feeling the identity of your team. You teach the system, then once you get it, you tweak it to what best suits your group.”

A few months ago many people — myself included — said the Knights would not catch up with the Erie Otters. Now they're hot on the Otters' tails. Whether or not London steals the third seed is yet undetermined. It'll likely only be resolved following the final games of the season.

The determination shown by these men in green and gold speak volumes. They knew they were going to the Memorial Cup. They could have taken it easy.

You have to be impressed by what the Knights have shown for the most part this season. It isn't quite on the same level as the squad of 2004/05.

But it's right up there.