A heavy-weight playoff battle is in store in the OHL's Western Conference Final.
The Windsor Spitfires will face the Kitchener Rangers after a regular season that saw Kitchener post the best regular season record in the West, with Windsor in second, just four points back.
The Spitfires advanced to the third round of the postseason after sweeping Guelph and Flint out of the playoffs, while the Rangers eliminated Saginaw in four games and knocked off the Soo Greyhounds in five games.
Spitfires' goalie Joey Costanzo is 8-and-0 between the pipes during this playoff run, posting a 2.00 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage while posting one shutout.
He says the Rangers are a lot like the Spitfires.
"They're a fast, defense-oriented team. I think they move the puck really well," he says. "We just have to stick to our game plan, do our best to try and dictate the pace of play, shut down their top forwards, and see what we can do."
In the 2025 playoffs, Windsor was up three games to none in their second-round series against Kitchener but ended up being eliminated after the Rangers won the next four, including Game 7 in overtime to complete the comeback.
Costanzo says they're not thinking too much about last year's playoff loss to the Rangers.
"At the end of the day, no matter who we're playing, no matter what jersey the other team is wearing, we're just going to try to play our game," he says.
Costanzo says the Rangers will be a good test.
"Whenever we play our game to the best of our ability, we're hard to beat," he says.
Game 1 of the Western Conference Final is Friday night in Kitchener at 7 p.m.
AM800 has the broadcast starting with the pre-game show with Steve Bell at 6:45 p.m.
Game 2 of the series will be Sunday at 6 p.m. in Kitchener before the action moves back to Windsor for Games 3 and 4 on April 27 and April 29.