Barons begin post-season play

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AHL/Oklahoma City Barons/April 14, 2011
 
Barons Begin Post-Season Play
Article and Photos by: Gail Hamill
 
OKLAHOMA CITY , Okla. — For the Inaugural Season Barons, making the AHL Post-Season in the historic 75th year of the League is quite an accomplishment.   Oklahoma City had a strong finish to the regular season: 4 wins, including 3 shut-outs in 5 games.
 
The “crunch time” sprint to the finish line in April, earned the Barons the last play-off spot in the Western Conference.   The “cross-over” qualification was a result of the Barons earning 91points by bumping Abbotsford out of the North Division of the Western Conference.   The Barons face a very formidable opponent in the Hamilton Bulldogs, the affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens.   The Bulldogs hold the top spot in the West Division, both goaltenders are ranked in the top 20 for goals against average (GGA) in the AHL, and have one of the League’s highest goal scorer.
 
Since the Barons and Bulldogs are not in the same division, these teams met only twice in the regular season, with each team winning on the road.   The October 24, 2010 game in Ontario was an overtime win for the Barons.   The December 17, 2010 game in Oklahoma was a shut-out win for the Bulldogs.   With the history of an overtime win, and a shut-out, one would believe the review of specialty teams would be lop-sided and revealing; however, these teams have similarities.
 
The Barons and Bulldogs are ranked consecutively for the Power Play holing the 14th and 15th spots, with Hamilton having the better percentage.   The penalty kill also has these two teams together with the 12th spot for the Bulldogs and the 13th spot for the Barons.   This post-season match up between Oklahoma City and Hamilton has the top two goal scorers in the league competing against each other.   Nigel Dawes finished with 41 goals, while Colin McDonald earned the Willie Marshall Award trophy with 42 goals for the regular season.   His last goal completed his hat trick and was scored on the power-play, with less than three minutes remaining in the final game of the regular season in Houston.  
 
Reinforcements: With Edmonton’s season ending the prospects that were previously called up, were returned to Oklahoma City.   This “infusion” of players included: Linus Omark, Teemu Hartikianen, Jeff Petry, Chris VandeVelde, and Ryan O’Marra.  
 
Who to Watch: The Swedish Sensation Omark has impressive skills, including the best shooting percentage of the Barons at 19.4%.   He is currently 6th in scoring for the Barons.   His barrage of five goals in a game occurred on the road against the Toronto Marlies.   This record book event earned Omark AHL Player of the week honors for the week of November 7, 2010.   He has skated in 51 games with the Oilers this season.   If the post-season includes a penalty shot, get your camera ready.   Perhaps he will do another “spin-o-rama” in the neutral zone before zipping to the net.  
 
Rookie forward Hartikainen scored the first goal in Barons history on Opening Night.   He has 17 goals and 25 assists in 66 games with the Barons and has skated in 11 games with the Oilers, earning four points. Hartikianen is fourth (just behind the MGM line) in scoring for the Barons.   This Finish youngster is and will be a pleasure to watch in years to come.   Unfortunately for the Oklahoma City fans, he will probably spend all of next season in Edmonton.  
 
The “MGM” line of centerman Brad Moran, two-time Willie Marshall Award winner Alex Giroux, and this season’s goal scoring champion McDonald is the Baron’s highest scoring line.   These three have joined for an impressive, combined 200 points in 80 games this season.   McDonald’s latest hat trick was April 8th in San Antonio.   Giroux’s record book notable is being a perennial (third consecutive) member of the first-team AHL Post-Season All-Star Team. Giroux also reached the 600-point plateau on December 18, 2010.        
 
Goal tending: Both of Oklahoma City’s net-minders are very capable.   They have shared the duties this season.   Jeff Deslauriers has the momentum with shuts outs in three of his last four games, which were all wins.   Yet Martin Gerber has valuable NHL Championship experience, winning the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. The Bulldogs have the distinction of both goaltenders Curtis Sanford and Drew MacIntyre ranked in the top 20 net-minders in the AHL for goals against average.  
 
Since the Barons will be facing the top division team in the Bulldogs who also have a top scorer in Dawes, the veteran goaltender of Gerber would be the better choice for the Barons in goal.  
 
For the Barons to win: Capitalizing on the power-play will be necessary for Oklahoma City to win.   They were 0% in the two regular season games against Hamilton, as they did not score on any of the 18 opportunities.  
 
What to expect: with four officials per game (Two Referees and Two linesmen) an extra pair of eyes will be watching for infractions.   Fewer penalties will be called, resulting in fewer power play opportunities.  
 
Regular Season Records: Hamilton finished the regular season in first place in the North Division with 97 points and a record of 44-27-2.   Oklahoma City finished fifth in the West Division with 91 points and a record of 40-29-2 in the Western Conference.
 
The Best-of-Seven series will occur in an unexpected 2-3-2 format.   The first two games will be in Hamilton, Ontario.   The next two games will be in Oklahoma City.   If the series needs a game 5, it will be in Oklahoma City.   If this bracket needs all seven games, the last two will be decided in Hamilton.  
 
Prediction: the series will last six games, with the higher seed wining.
 
Contact the author at gail.hamill@prohockeynews.com

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