Roasted, Toasted and Flat Out Whipped

This is not going to take long because when your team loses 10-1 then things are bad; when you lose 10-1 in the league finals then things are horrible.

Losing 10-1 is exactly what happened to Evgeny Grachev and his Brampton Battalion in Game 1 of their OHL finals against the Windsor Spitfires. We could find dozens of cutesy ways to say how bad the Battalion look or how well the Spitfires played but the bigger question is how does Brampton turn things around come Friday evening?

4 goals in the first period, 2 in the second and then 4 more in a third period that Brampton coach Stan Butler said his team quit in. Butler called his team's effort "terrible" and we totally agree.

Grachev gave us an idea that a 6'5 guy could in fact disappear on the ice but he was not alone as his teammates for the most part joined him in wherever they were hiding. Grachev was a -2 for the night which is light compared to some of his teammates.

Right now with good reason many are already handing the OHL title to the Spitfires after this performance where they held an 18-1 shots advantage over the Battalion. Really what exactly can you say about a team that gets goals from 7 different players or points from 14?

For Brampton the hope is that this was just one game and that it is very doubtful that things could get much worse than what they endured in Game 1.

As for Grachev, the loss ends Grachev's 9 game scoring streak in which he put up 6-8-14 as well as ending the month of April 7-9-16. Despite the loss Grachev remains a force to be reckoned with as he is a given for yet another Prospect of the Month Award.

Here is hoping that Grachev and his teammates can find a way to start May off better than they finished April; if they do not then this series will be short and not at all sweet.

(Grachev courtesy of Brampton)