The first round is in the books in the OHL playoffs and there were no surprises.<\/p>\n
All of the top seeds moved on. One through four in both conferences are off to the conference semi-finals. In fact, there were just three series that needed six games. Three were over in five, and two were sweeps.<\/p>\n
So now that it’s down to the best of the best and the final four of each conference, it’s time for some first-round thoughts. We’ll tag on our second round picks at the end.<\/p>\n
In our first round preview<\/a>, we had Michael DiPietro<\/strong><\/a> stealing a game on his own, but the Sting ultimately winning in five. It was never meant to shortchange DiPietro\u2019s greatness, but to give the Sting credit for what they had built. While we have constantly billed him in this space as the OHL\u2019s best goaltender, DiPietro may have been even better than we expected. He stole Game 1 with a magnificent 43-save performance. Game 2 was a 4-1 loss, but two of those were empty netters as the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> prospect tacked on another 48 saves. The Sting got to him in Game 3 with four goals on 37 shots, but he followed that up with a 46-save, 4-1 win. Windsor dropped the last two games of the series (4-2 and 5-2), but if anyone wants to question DiPietro in those two, they\u2019ve got a tough case. He left Game 5 with a knee injury (likely a hyperextended knee), came back in Game 6 and stopped 28 saves in a losing effort. Watch out. Unless he\u2019s moved first, he makes the Spitfires an interesting team to watch in the off-season.<\/p>\n Windsor #Spitfires<\/a> goalie Mikey DiPietro appears to have hyperextended his right knee. He was headed to hospital to have the knee checked and his status for Game 6 is unknown at this point.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, it\u2019s not too bad," DiPietro said.<\/p>\n — Jim Parker (@winstarparker) March 31, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n