Oshawa Generals 2023-24 Season Thread (Part One)

[crowncarrier]

I imagine most London fans haven’t watched a ton of Oster throughout the season/playoffs thus far but you have to admit he’s been extremely mediocre in this series. London is a wagon but to beat them you need your star goalie to get you through a 3rd period like that one calmly.

I think the kid has ran into a very hot team right now. I watched him in game 7 against North Bay and he was fantastic.

 

[Knights Watcher]

Oster has been the difference this series and not in a good way. 7.00GAA in 3 games is not going to win you too many games. All in all a good season for the Gens who will be tough to beat next year, I just don't see them coming back in this series especially after this emotional loss tonight. Oshawa in the same position London was in last season, a talented young team that was 1 sesson away from greatness. Good luck the rest of the way.

 

[ktownfan]

Problems started when Danford and Punnett take penalties at the same time in the third. Two of your best penalty killers sitting there watching the start of the collapse. Punnett is prone to those dumb ones and takes a 4 minute. Then the slide starts

 

[GenerallySpeaking88]

I agree. Season ticket holder and I've been to every home playoff game. What the Gens did so well against North Bay in my opinions was play extremely physical but very disciplined. Reminded me alot of the 2015 team they let the Battalion shoot themselves in the foot. Last night I thought once up 6-2 and thought they had it put away they started taking cheap shots back and put themselves shorthanded which killed them. The game is never over against London and they learned that.
Positives. That first 2 and a half periods was one of the best times I've had at a home gens game in a long long time. That building was rocking and was so proud of the effort. Even with the collapse I was also extremely impressed with how many shots they were blocking and attempting to block. This team has alot of heart.
Punnett could barely skate out there , in less than a season he's really endeared himself to this fan base and will be a fondly remembered Gen.
Next year with the go for it year if they load up properly and have depth this team could be what London is.
Negatives were Oster looks like has zero confidence and trouble tracking pucks.
Danford is a stud but a few times this playoffs gets caught lazily skating it out and pick pocketed like not paying attention. And Roobrek throws some infuriating blind passes.
All in all hope they put up a fight Wednesday last night was 80% one hell of a fun game to attend.

 

[Sandman26]

The Generals absolutely blew that game last night. There is no excuse for allowing a 4 goal third period in the OHL Finals.
I do want to comment on the officiating as well. As we saw through most of the season, when the Generals are ahead, terrible calls are made (ie. Ritchie's hook, Bedkowski's roughing call) and then more blatant calls against the opposing team are not called. Some of those missed calls ended up in face offs in the Generals zone which led to goals and unfortunately the terrible defensive play is to blame, but with a penalty call, there is no faceoff in the zone.
Roobroeck is a massive defensive liability. I don't understand how is constantly on the PK. He's slow, not physical, out of position constantly and causes numerous goals. Continuing to put him out there on the PK. He used to dominant the faceoff circle but now he's barely 50%.
Amazing the difference in morale in the team though getting Punnett & Buckley back. Both clearly not 100%.
I also cannot believe the amount of constant yapping to the refs from the London players and coaches. Once they were losing 2-0, they were talking to the refs after almost every single play and then they started to lose composure. The refs let a lot of stuff go. Then call questionable calls. And then miss legit calls and then call questionable calls (across the board, plenty of missed calls on Oshawa too) and then in the third period, they call a terrible penalty to Ritchie and then stop calling nearly everything.
Credit London for sticking to it. Oshawa blew it. The refs get a nice assist in the win in my opinion.

 

[TuckerFan1]

I agree. Season ticket holder and I've been to every home playoff game. What the Gens did so well against North Bay in my opinions was play extremely physical but very disciplined. Reminded me alot of the 2015 team they let the Battalion shoot themselves in the foot. Last night I thought once up 6-2 and thought they had it put away they started taking cheap shots back and put themselves shorthanded which killed them. The game is never over against London and they learned that.
Positives. That first 2 and a half periods was one of the best times I've had at a home gens game in a long long time. That building was rocking and was so proud of the effort. Even with the collapse I was also extremely impressed with how many shots they were blocking and attempting to block. This team has alot of heart.
Punnett could barely skate out there , in less than a season he's really endeared himself to this fan base and will be a fondly remembered Gen.
Next year with the go for it year if they load up properly and have depth this team could be what London is.
Negatives were Oster looks like has zero confidence and trouble tracking pucks.
Danford is a stud but a few times this playoffs gets caught lazily skating it out and pick pocketed like not paying attention. And Roobrek throws some infuriating blind passes.
All in all hope they put up a fight Wednesday last night was 80% one hell of a fun game to attend.

All great points. I don’t really agree with Laxdal calling out the officials either. I get it, but the stick work from the Gennies last night should’ve had them playing short handed all night. Not going to get those timely calls in the 3rd when you get away with everything else during the rest of the game.

The team was gassed in the 3rd. Needed Oster to make those big saves and get us whistles and unfortunately that wasn’t happening.

Kumpulainen has been great for this team and I’m thrilled we likely have him back next year. Haven’t really noticed him in this series though. I wish he had that 2nd gear like his fellow countryman Halttunen. That dude is a beast.

 

[bearfan]

The Generals absolutely blew that game last night. There is no excuse for allowing a 4 goal third period in the OHL Finals.
I do want to comment on the officiating as well. As we saw through most of the season, when the Generals are ahead, terrible calls are made (ie. Ritchie's hook, Bedkowski's roughing call) and then more blatant calls against the opposing team are not called. Some of those missed calls ended up in face offs in the Generals zone which led to goals and unfortunately the terrible defensive play is to blame, but with a penalty call, there is no faceoff in the zone.
Roobroeck is a massive defensive liability. I don't understand how is constantly on the PK. He's slow, not physical, out of position constantly and causes numerous goals. Continuing to put him out there on the PK. He used to dominant the faceoff circle but now he's barely 50%.
Amazing the difference in morale in the team though getting Punnett & Buckley back. Both clearly not 100%.
I also cannot believe the amount of constant yapping to the refs from the London players and coaches. Once they were losing 2-0, they were talking to the refs after almost every single play and then they started to lose composure. The refs let a lot of stuff go. Then call questionable calls. And then miss legit calls and then call questionable calls (across the board, plenty of missed calls on Oshawa too) and then in the third period, they call a terrible penalty to Ritchie and then stop calling nearly everything.
Credit London for sticking to it. Oshawa blew it. The refs get a nice assist in the win in my opinion.

You complain about officiating but not about how poorly Oshawa has been on the PP with some of those being 2 men advantages. Last nights game saw Oshawa get away with some slashes to the wrist above the gloves at the beginning of the game.

 

[tjziel]

Hey Gens fans! I come in peace!

I’m coming to see Game 4 in your barn. I’m excited to check out your arena. Does the parking lot accommodate most fans or if not, where is a good place to park near the arena?

Thanks guys!

 

[Nerf27]

Kudos to Connor Punnet. The guy is a beast. Can barely move out there and grimaces in pain every time he comes to the bench. Too bad he’s an OA but he’s a warrior. I’ve said it before that this team overachieved from Xmas on and is playing with house money now. They provided some great hockey to us STH and beyond. The team is simply gassed. We have seen what they can do when playing as a team last night but mental mistakes happened all third period because they are gassed. My only fault with Lax is not playing some guys like Graham or Toms in with the third line or like a mock 4th. Both those kids are pretty responsible but they sit on the bench all game and he gasses the other guys. Hence the mental mistakes in the third. But I give Lax the benefit of the doubt as he does not have the depth to work with. That will change next year. Roger Hunt is great at filling those gaps in a “go for it year”
Kudos to London. They are just a solid team up and down the lineup. They play on the line and they do it well. Remember they were in the same position as the Gens are this year. Over achieved young got some great experience and they show it. Not hanging my head at all. I applaud the Gens from top to bottom on what they accomplished this year. Just imagining Senneke and Ritchie next year. Will be unreal to watch those two. Danford Marelli. The defensive game of Griffin as a rook. Buckleys emergence as a 30 goal scorer. Ozzie as an OA next season, Kump in a second year on NA ice. Going to be fun. I’d rather not see the trophy Wednesday but fully expect to. Lol.

Hey Gens fans! I come in peace!

I’m coming to see Game 4 in your barn. I’m excited to check out your arena. Does the parking lot accommodate most fans or if not, where is a good place to park near the arena?

Thanks guys!

My opinion is street parking and walk over. The parking garage north of the rink is an option but lines up to get out. I hate it. If you get there early enough street is my choice.
Enjoy the game your team will win.

 

[AttackSound]

As a neutral fan watching the series.

The Generals have had a great run this season to go from a team that started a season that looked like they weren't going to challenge to being in a championship series is an amazing achievement for the Generals.

The Generals look like they're starting to show like they're running out steam in this series, and it shows in the results. Hopefully they can surprise the junior hockey fans and shock the OHL like Owen Sound did in 2011 versus Mississauaga.

Best of luck in game 4 hopefully they can pull it off.

 

[ottawarenegader613]

If you thought that Generals blew a four goal lead in third against London last night, you should have take a look at team Canada today at the WHC when they blew a 6-1 lead in the third period against Austria allowing them to score five unanswered goals to tie the game 6-6 sending the game into OT. Fortunately, Generals alum John Tavares scores 15 seconds into OT for a 7-6 team canada win over Austria. That WHC game was a nearly a carbon copy from last night's game.

 

[crowncarrier]

As a neutral fan watching the series.

The Generals have had a great run this season to go from a team that started a season that looked like they weren't going to challenge to being in a championship series is an amazing achievement for the Generals.

The Generals look like they're starting to show like they're running out steam in this series, and it shows in the results. Hopefully they can surprise the junior hockey fans and shock the OHL like Owen Sound did in 2011 versus Mississauaga.

Best of luck in game 4 hopefully they can pull it off.

Don't forget about 2019 when London was leading Guelph 3 games to 0 and were outscoring them 17 to 6 only to have Guelph come back and win 4 straight.

Series is not over until you win that 4th and final game.