A dream final for the LNAH?

GRANBY, Québec – The Sherbrooke Saint-François will finally face the Saint-Georges CRS Express in the Ligue nord-américaine final. The best of seven series will begin Friday night in Sherbrooke.
In the semi-finals, Saint-Georges eliminated the Saguenay Marquis in six games while Sherbrooke needed only four games to send the Rivière-du-Loup CIMT on vacation.
Many say this is a dream final for the LNAH. There’s an intense rivalry between Sherbrooke and Saint-Georges, the two best organizations of the league. Also, both teams have by far the best fans in all the LNAH.
“This is going to be great”, said Sherbrooke defenceman Mathieu Dumas in La Tribune daily paper. “We don’t like Saint-Georges, they don’t like us, we want to win, they want to win. It will be great hockey, the fans will enjoy. And it’s going to be very good for the image of the league.”
Sherbrooke will try to win its second Futura Cup while Saint-Georges hopes to win its first. The Saint-François won it all in 2006 after defeating the Garaga (that was the name of the Saint-Georges team at that time) in four straight games in the semi-finals.
The last time Saint-Georges went to the final was in 2004. The Garaga then lost to the late Verdun Dragons in seven games, a tough loss that people in the Beauce region still talk about.
“Our first goal was the get to the final”, said Saint-Georges’ coach Carl Fleury in Québec’s Le Soleil daily paper. “The next one is to win it. I have faith in my players.”
Sherbrooke is the regular season champion. Saint-Georges finished fourth, but only five points behind. And the CRS Express won eight of his nine games against the Saint-François this season.
“All year long, we played bad in our territory against Saint-Georges”, said Sherbrooke’s coach Éric Dandenault. “I’m telling you, this won’t happen in the final. We know we have the assets to win the cup and we are going to do what it takes to win it.”
With 191 goals, Saint-Georges was the best team offensively in the LNAH this season. Jesse Bélanger, Jean-François Laplante, Kevin Cloutier, Éric Bertrand, and Dany Roussin will give headaches to Sherbrooke’s defence who, on the other hand, can count on the best goalie duet with Maxime Daigneault and Louis Ménard.
“I know these guys and I know we are going to give everything we got”, said Saint-Georges’s forward Cody Doucette. “We know it’s going to be tough, but we want to win so bad.”
ProHockeyNews.com prediction: Sherbrooke in six games.  
Contact Michel.Tasse@prohockeynews.com