Ontario GTA rivals meet in junior hockey playoff opener Friday [Video]

Fan support at Oshawa Generals games topped the OHL’s Eastern Conference by a wide margin this year, as the team prepares for the Friday’s playoff opener against Brampton.

The team averaged 5,610 fans per game at the Tribute Communities Centre (including Sunday’s regular season finale, a 5-2 win over arch-rival Peterborough), far ahead of second-place Ottawa at 3,885.

Across the entire Ontario Hockey League, Oshawa was third in attendance behind  London (playing at 10,200-capacity Canada Life Centre) at 9,060 and Kitchener at 6,619.

The Tribute holds 6,152 for hockey (there were 6,183 for Sunday’s game) and Oshawa has drawn better than 5,000 per game since the year they last won the Memorial Cup in 2014-15.

The Generals meet cross-GTA rivals Brampton in the first round of the playoffs, with Jacob Oster – who earned his 100th OHL victory Sunday (tied …