GUELPH, ONT.—When Maple Leafs prospect Matt Finn went through the lowest part of his Ontario Hockey League career — an injury-riddled 2012-13 campaign — there was someone close to him he could turn to for advice.

His cousin, Carlo Colaiacovo.

“He took me out for lunch and we’re just talking,” said Finn, who’d missed games that season due to a bout of mono and a torn ligament in his knee.

“I had a tough year. He was the perfect guy to talk to.”

Why? Colaiacovo, now a pending free agent with the St. Louis, was a former Leafs first-round pick who’d suffered one freak injury after another in his early days.

“He (Colaiacovo) told me to keep working, put it in the past and roll with the punches,” said Finn. “You can’t get too high or low. Do what you can with your opportunities.”

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The opportunity is now for Finn, captain of the Guelph Storm, as he prepares to take on the North Bay Battalion in the OHL final. Games 1 and 2 are Thursday and Friday at Guelph’s Sleeman Centre.

Finn, a Toronto native and a Leafs second-round pick from the 2012 draft, and his playing partner, Steven Trojanovic of Burlington, have emerged as a top shutdown pair in the OHL playoffs as the Storm beat Plymouth, London and the high-octane Erie Otters to earn a chance to play for the Robertson Cup.

Those Otters included the Canadian Hockey League’s top line: scoring champ Connor Brown (also a Leafs prospect), 17-year-old wunderkind Connor McDavid and Canucks-bound forward Dane Fox.

If those three were out on the ice, Finn and Trojanovic were out too.

“He’s a world-class player,” Brown said of Finn. “He had a great series. He’s got a good stick. He’s got a great first pass. It’s on a stick and it’s going the other way.”

Now the Stan Butler-coached Battalion are in town. They’re a bit of a Cinderella team, but they are more defensive-minded than any of the teams Guelph has beaten yet.

“They’re a good team,” Finn said of North Bay. “They’ve done a great job playing Oshawa, defending their talented players. We know they play a trap game, a defensive-style game, and we’re just going to have use our speed against them.”

The Maple Leafs will be watching the 20-year-old Finn’s performance closely. He had 61 points in 66 games this season, and another 10 points in 15 playoff games, proving himself to be an all-around solid blueliner.

“He plays in all situations,” said Steve Staios, a member of the Leafs’ player development department. “He’s good on the power play, where he can get shots through. He’s simple with puck movement, but efficient.

“For Matt, he needs to work on his skating and his agility. That will come. He has the size and strength. He’s good in the defensive zone, good on containment.”

The good news for Finn is that he can work with Leafs skating coach Barb Underhill anytime he needs to. She is the Storm’s skating coach as well.

The Leafs are particularly pleased that Storm coach Scott Walker saw Finn as captain material. NHL teams crave that particular characteristic, that intangible.

“When he came in as a 16-year-old he was a guy that exuded leadership,” said Walker. “Not so much about yelling and screaming or rah-rah. He came to the rink wanting to be a great hockey payer, wanting to be a great teammate.

“If he keeps his game simple, he’s so good,” added Walker. “The best part about his game: He can do the flashy things, but he doesn’t have to do them all the time. Let them come to him, and when it does, he can put it in the net, or he can make the great play.

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“We don’t say anyone is a surefire guy who will make it to the NHL, but if he plays the right way and keeps it simple, he’s going to give himself the right chance to be a great Toronto Maple Leaf.”

That, of course, is Finn’s long-term goal. He still pinches himself that the team he grew up idolizing is the one that drafted him.

“It’s been my dream since I was 3 years old, growing up in Toronto, to play for the Leafs,” said Finn, “But it’s going to have to wait for another day.”

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