CREDIT: CLAUS ANDERSON OF GETTY IMAGES AND THE LONDON KNIGHTS
With four lines that can score, strong defence and one of the best goaltenders in the league, the Knights are in a good spot to take home another Memorial Cup.

The road to the Memorial Cup won’t be an easy one for the London Knights. In fact, it will be pushed to the limit in the first round of the OHL playoffs.

After losing to Sault Ste. Marie in the 68th and final game of the season on March 19, the Knights finished with 99 points. That’s good enough for fourth place in the West­ern Conference.

London finished just three points back of the Owen Sound Attack for third. Two more wins would have earned them a date with the Kitch­ener Rangers in round one.

Instead, it’s the Windsor Spitfires that will be travelling to Budweiser Gardens for games one and two on March 24 and 26. The Knights and Spitfires split the season series, with each team winning three games.

The Spitfires need no introduc­tion.

At the beginning of the season, they were one of the favourites to win the league. Injuries and un­derwhelming play saw them finish fifth, but by no means is this a team that deserves to be seeded that low.

With home-field advantage lock­ing them a berth in the 2017 Memo­rial Cup, the Windsor Spitfires are elite at all ends of the rink.

On the front end, the addition of gold medalist Jeremy Bracco (TOR ’15) at the deadline was a huge ad­dition (he was just signed to the Ma­ple Leafs), while Gabriel Villardi is a predicted top ten pick in the 2017 Draft. They have a core of play­ers who can both score and bring toughness to the team, headlined by Jeremiah Addison and Cristiano Digiacinto, this will be huge in the aggressive nature of the playoffs.

First-rounders Mikhail Sergachev (MTL ’16) and Logan Brown (WPG ’16) round out arguably the best de­fensive core in the league.

Meanwhile, goaltender Michael DiPietro finished second in the league in Goals Against Average (2.35), and third in Save Percentage (.917).

The Spitfires are hard to score on, and with deadline additions Bracco and Julius Nattinen (ANA ’15) up front, they should have no trouble scoring goals.

The second half of the season saw the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Owen Sound Attack surge, earning them much easier opponents in the first round.

The Soo will meet the Flint Fire­birds, while the Attack get the Rang­ers.

As good as Windsor is, the Knights are no slouch. Even in a ridiculously difficult Western Con­ference, they’ve had a great season.

They have four lines that can all score, excellent defence and one of the best goaltenders in the league with Tyler Parsons.

Also, they’ve won four of their last five games heading into the post-season.

This could be the matchup of the first round, with both the Knights and the Spitfires hoping for a deep playoff run. The difference is, the Spitfires will be playing in the Me­morial Cup regardless of how this series turns out.

As for the Knights, if they can’t find that extra gear, it’ll be a long offseason.

It’s clear that this wasn’t the matchup the Knights were looking for. But this is a squad that won the Memorial Cup last year, and they know how to win better than any other team.

Inch by inch, the Knights are a better team than the Spits. If they stick to the way they’ve been play­ing all year, they should be able to move on.

But it’ll be the next two weeks that proves who wants it more.

One thing is for sure though; Budweiser Gardens will be rocking come March 24, as the Knights take the first step to what they hope is an­other successful playoff run.