OFC Game of the Week: Week 8: Hamilton @ London

 

First place on the line at TD Waterhouse Stadium

 

By Ryan Metivier

 

With wins by each of the Hamilton Hurricanes and London Beefeaters this past weekend, a showdown of two 6-1 teams will go down in London this weekend. The winner will claim first overall in the OFC Junior standings after the regular season and a guarantee of home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

 

Hamilton is coming off a 33-7 win over Burlington, and a London a big comeback 20-17 win over the Fratmen, to make each the only 6-1 teams after seven weeks. Both have secured home field for the first game of the playoffs, a feat accomplished by London for the first time since 1990, but the coveted position of first overall is still on the line.

 

As can be expected with 6-1 records, both teams are coming into Friday’s game riding a wave of confidence and long winning streaks. The Canes dropped their first game of the season to the Braves, but rebounded with six straight wins. London roared out of the gates with four wins, before a small blip in a 31-15 loss to Ottawa, which was quickly corrected with two more wins the past two weeks.

 

One thing that should be for sure, is that there should be lots of offence in the match up, with Hamilton ranking first in points for, and London in third, only three points back of Ottawa. The teams each hold impressive point differentials of +128 and +103 respectively as well. On defense, you can simply swap their rankings on offense, as London leads the league in points allowed, while Hamilton ranks third, only two points behind Windsor.

 

Speaking of Windsor, the Fratmen did themselves no favours by giving up a large halftime lead against London in their last outing, as the loss, coupled by wins by each of Ottawa and St. Leonard, sets up a three-way tie at 4-3 going into the final week of the regular season. With Brampton, Burlington and Twin City now eliminated from playoff contention, the Fratmen, Sooners and Cougars will fight for the remaining two road playoff spots on Saturday.

 

The Sooners would look to potentially have a slight advantage to claim one of those spots, finishing the year, at home, and playing a Braves team that has lost their past five games. However Burlington should be loose and could play the role of spoiler.

 

Windsor and St. Leonard will face each other in the other game with playoff implications at Stade Hebert and will already know the result of Ottawa’s game, being the last game of the night to kick off at 7:00 p.m.

 

Potential results in the standings for 3rd and 4th place:

 

• Ottawa win & St. Leonard win = Sooners (3) and Cougars (4) by virtue of Ottawa being ahead by 1 point in two head-to-head games
• Ottawa win & Windsor win = Fratmen (3) and Sooners (4) by virtue of Windsor’s head-to-head win
• Burlington win & St. Leonard win = Cougars (3) and Fratmen (4) by virtue of both Windsor and Ottawa being 4-4, but Windsor holding the head-to-head advantage
• Burlington win & Windsor win = Fratmen (3) and Sooners (4) by virtue of Ottawa being ahead by 1 point in two head-to-head games against St. Leonard

 

 

 

 

OFC STANDINGS
TEAM	PLAYED	WINS	LOSSES	PF	PA	Pt. +/-	PTS
HAMILTON HURRICANES	6	6	1	259	131	128	12
LONDON BEEFEATERS	6	6	1	208	105	103	12
WINDSOR AKO FRATMEN	6	4	3	155	129	26	8
OTTAWA SOONERS	6	4	3	211	153	58	8
ST. LEONARD COUGARS	6	4	3	151	164	-13	8
BRAMPTON BEARS	6	2	5	126	236	-110	4
BURLINGTON BRAVES	6	2	5	179	198	-19	4
TWIN CITIES PREDATORS	6	0	7	60	233	-173	0