Lack of depth isn't an excuse
Not an excuse. But it’s a reality. As the teams are now or both sides completely healthy, there really isn’t a contest in this year’s final. The east is just way behind the west this year.
Often, we see mismatches like this in the final. Maybe not to this magnitude, but quite often the de facto championship series is in either the Western or Eastern conference final. This year it was in the west.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s high time we did a crossover reseeding at the final four, especially in a year the OHL hosts the Memorial cup. Had there been a reseeding this year, the conference finals would have been London vs North Bay and Saginaw vs Oshawa.
And I don’t want to hear about the possibility of extra travel and related costs in a third round crossover. By the third round, any team is deep in the black and can afford an extra few nights in a hotel.
No disrespect to Oshawa, but they are young. They are a year ahead of being a top contender and likely would have had a tough time beating any of the top four teams in the west this year.