READING, PA – The CHL playoffs are getting down to the nitty-gritty in all three of the major junior leagues: the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL. Every league has advance to their respective conferences finals. The OHL will beging Wednesday night, while the WHL begins theirs on Friday night. No word yet on when the QMJHL will begin their conference finals. 
In the WHL, The Calgary Hitmen and the Brandon Wheat Kings will meet in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship beginning this Friday night in Calgary. The Hitmen swept the Lethbridge Hurricanes, while Brandon swept the Medicine Hat Tigers. Calgary outscored Lethbridge 19-4 in their series, while Brandon outscored MH 26-12. In the Western Conference, the Kelowna Rockets defeated the Tri-City Americans in six games, while in the other conference semi-finals, the Vancouver Giants went seven games with the Spokane Chiefs to decide their series. The Giants won game seven in overtime on Garry Nunn’s goal at 1:56 of overtime. The following are the playoffs schedules for both conference finals. #1 – Brandon @ Calgary; Friday, April 17 (7:00pm MT) #2 – Brandon @ Calgary; Sunday, April 19 (2:00pm MT) #3 – Calgary @ Brandon; Tuesday, April 21 (7:00pm CT) #4 – Calgary @ Brandon; Wednesday, April 22 (7:00pm CT) #5 – Brandon @ Calgary; Friday, April 24 (7:00pm MT)** #6 – Calgary @ Brandon; Sunday, April 26 (6:00pm CT)** #7 – Brandon @ Calgary #1 – Kelowna @ Vancouver; Saturday, April 18 (7:00pm PT) #2 – Kelowna @ Vancouver; Sunday, April 19 (5:00pm PT) #3 – Vancouver @ Kelowna; Tuesday, April 21 (7:00pm PT) #4 – Vancouver @ Kelowna; Thursday, April 23 (7:00pm PT) #5 – Kelowna @ Vancouver; Saturday, April 25 (7:00pm PT)** #6 – Vancouver @ Kelowna; Monday, April 27 (7:00pm PT)** #7 – Kelowna @ Vancouver; Tuesday, April 28 (7:00pm PT)** ** – if necessary 
In the QMJHL, the Quebec Remparts won in seven games over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. The Remparts won each of the last two games of the series 3-0. Quebec will now take on the Shawinigan Cataractes, while the Drummondville Voltigeurs face-off against the Rimouski Oceanic. Drummondville swept Lewiston and Montreal to reach the conference finals. Rimouski is 8-1 in the playoffs. Below is a preview of the Rimouski/Drummondville series courtesy of the QMJHL . Drummondville won the season series 2-1. RIMOUSKI The best performers for the Oc é anic during their regular season match-ups versus the Voltigeurs (goals-assists-points): S é bastien Pich é : 1-4-5 Philippe Cornet: 4-0-4 Jordan Caron: 1-2-3 The Oc é anic swept the Chicoutimi Saguen é ens in the first round and disposed of the Moncton Wildcats in five games in the second round. Rimouski has been very efficient in shorthanded situations with a league-high 90.2% success rate. They have recorded one shorthanded goal so far. The Oc é anic is stacked with talent up front. Keven Veilleux leads all scorers with 15 points. He has been getting plenty of help from Philippe Cornet, who has thirteen points. Logan MacMillan and Jordan Caron will need to be watched carefully. They have both scored two game-winners. Patrice Cormier has not let up since coming back from the World Junior Championship. He has physically punished opponents, collecting 30 hits while scoring four goals. Marc-Andr é Bourdon, S é bastien Pich é and Maxime Ouimet lead a stellar defensive squad capable of playing a lot of minutes. Goaltender Maxim Gougeon has been brilliant, earning all eight wins while posting a 1.78 goals-against-average and .930 save percentage. Maxim has also registered a shutout. DRUMMONDVILLE The best performers for the Voltigeurs during their regular season match-ups versus the Oc é anic (goals-assists-points): Mike Hoffman: 4-1-5 Yannick Riendeau: 3-2-5 Patrik Prokop: 2-2-4 The Voltigeurs swept the Lewiston MAINEiacs and the Montreal Juniors. Drummondville boasts the best power-play in the QMJHL, having capitalized on 42.7% of their opportunities (32/75). In only eight games, the Voltigeurs have scored an astounding 60 goals, an average of 7.5 per game. Drummondville’s offence is led by four forwards who have collected at least twenty points: Yannick Riendeau (28), Dany Mass é (25), Chris DiDomenico (25) and Mike Hoffman (20). Dmitry Kulikov, who earned plenty of hardware at the Golden Puck Awards Gala ( É mile-Bouchard Trophy, Coupe RDS, Michael-Bossy Trophy), leads a young but determined defensive unit. Goaltenders Marco Cousineau and Antoine Tardif have split the duties in net. Collectively, they have posted a 2.09 goals-against-average and .903 save percentage. 
In the OHL, we break down the Belleville Bulls and the Brampton Battalion, who will meet in the Eastern Conference finals. Belleville and Brampton are the one and two seeds respectively in the conference. Belleville recently defeated the Niagara Ice Dogs in five games, while Brampton defeated Mississauga in six games. The Belleville/Brampton series begins Wednesday night in Belleville. Here is a breakdown of the series courtesy of the OHL (www.ontariohockeyleague.com) The Battalion finished the regular season with 96 points, their best regular season finish since joining the OHL in 1998, and have advanced to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history. The Bulls are making their third straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals. They lost to the Sudbury Wolves in 2007 and beat the Oshawa Generals last year. They lost a dramatic seven game series against the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL Championship Series and were the OHL representative in the MasterCard Memorial Cup last May in Kitchener. Head to Head: The teams split the season series with two wins each. They both won on home ice and then both won on the road, including a 4-1 win for the Battalion in the series finale on February 28 in Belleville. The Bulls were 47-17-2-2 for 98 points during the regular season and won their second straight Eastern Conference regular season season title. The Battalion were 47-19-1-1 and finished two points behind the Bulls for second place in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls defeated the Sudbury Wolves in six games in the opening round and then eliminated the Niagara IceDogs in five games to make their third straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals. The Battalion started the playoffs with a sweep of the Peterborough Petes and then defeated the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors in six games to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history. Top Scorers: Bulls’ captain Eric Tangradi (8-12-20) was one of the league’s top scorers in the regular season and has continued to hold a hot hand in the playoffs. Veteran Luke Pither (5-12-17) has also been a standout for the Bulls and veteran Bryan Cameron (6-6-12) has 10 of his points in the past six games. The Battalion have been led all season of the terrific trio of Cody Hodgson (4-14-18), Evgeny Grachev (7-8-15) and Matt Duchene (7-7-14) who continue to dominate in the post-season. In the Nets: Mike Murphy (8-3, 2.09 GAA, .929 Sv.%) has been the OHL’s top goalie for the past two seasons and frustrates the opposition with highlight-reel saves. The Battalion brought in Thomas McCollum (8-2, 2.37 GAA, .909 Sv.%) to help get them over the second round hump and he’s been a stable presence in net. Special Teams: The Bulls struggled on the power play early in the playoffs but have rebounded for a 17.0 per cent rating and are seventh with an 80.8 per cent penalty killing rate. The Battalion are fifth in the playoffs with a 24.1 per cent power play efficiency and are third after killing off 85.7 per cent of their power play chances against. Playoff schedule Game 1 – Wed Apr 15 7:15 PM Brampton at Belleville Game 2 – Fri Apr 17 7:30 PM Belleville at Brampton Game 3 – Sun Apr 19 7:15 PM Brampton at Belleville Game 4 – Tue Apr 21 7:00 PM Belleville at Brampton Game 5 – Thu Apr 23 7:15 PM * Brampton at Belleville Game 6 – Fri Apr 24 7:30 PM * Belleville at Brampton Game 7 – Sun Apr 26 7:15 PM * Brampton at Belleville In the Western Conference, the top two seeds in the conference also made it to the conference finals. The London Knights will face-off against the Windsor Spitfires. Both teams had the league’s best records, and are each led by a contender for the first overall pick in the next two NHL Entry Drafts: John Tavares for London, and Taylor Hall for Windsor. The Knights recently defeated Saginaw in four games, while Windsor took six games to defeat the Plymouth Whalers. The Spitfires are in the league semi-finals for the first time since 2002 while the Knights are looking for their third berth in the OHL Championship Series in the past five years. This is the fourth time in the past decade that the two teams will meet up in the playoffs. The Knights won the previous three series, including a sweep in the second round in 2005. Head to Head: Windsor won the season series 5-1-0-0 with the Knights winning the final matchup of the regular season 4-3 in Windsor on March 8. The Spitfires finished first overall in the OHL this season with a 57-10-0-1 record for 115 points while the Knights were second overall with a 49-16-1-2 record for 101 points. The Spitfires swept the Owen Sound Attack in the opening round of the playoffs and then defeated the Plymouth Whalers in six games in the second round to advance to the Rogers Western Conference Championship Series. The Knights beat the Erie Otters in five games in the opening round of the playoffs and then swept the Saginaw Spirit in the second round. Top Scorers: Dale Mitchell (11-9-20) scored goals in seven straight playoff games and joins Taylor Hall (9-11-20) as the top playoff scorers this season. The Spitfires are the highest scoring club in the playoffs to date with Andrei Loktionov (4-15-19) and defenseman Ryan Ellis (6-11-17) also contributing on a regular basis. Veteran Phil Varone (8-8-16) is the Knights’ top scorer in the post-season with Nazem Kadri (8-7-15) and John Tavares (6-8-14) close behind. The defence tandem of Michael Del Zotto (2-12-14) and John Carlson (2-11-13) has also been piling up points in the playoffs. In the Nets: Overager Andrew Engelage (6-1, 2.96 GAA, .897) has seen the bulk of the netminding duties for the Spitfires while Josh Unice (2-1, 3.15 GAA, .895 Sv. %) has also been called on to help. The Knights picked up Trevor Cann (8-1, 2.23 GAA, .927 Sv.%) from the Peterborough Petes during the season to ensure that they had a capable stopper for an extended playoff run. Special Teams: The Spitfires are fourth in the playoffs with a 24.7 per cent effectiveness on the power play and are eighth in the playoffs with a 78.9 per cent penalty killing efficiency. Meanwhile, the Knights have the best powerplay in the playoffs with a 28.3 per cent effectiveness and are fourth with a 84.4 per cent penalty killing rate. Playoff schedule Game 1 – Wed Apr 15 7:05 PM London at Windsor Game 2 – Fri Apr 17 7:30 PM Windsor at London Game 3 – Sun Apr 19 4:00 PM London at Windsor Game 4 – Mon Apr 20 7:05 PM Windsor at London Game 5 – Wed Apr 22 7:05 PM * London at Windsor Game 6 – Fri Apr 24 7:30 PM * Windsor at London Game 7 – Sat Apr 25 7:05 PM * London at Windsor Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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