QUEBEC CITY P.Q. — In the Eastern Division playoffs will pit the Acadie-Bathurst Titan against the Quebec Remparts as well as the Chicoutimi Sagueneens facing off against the Rimouski Oceanic. The Remparts ruled the division for most of the season and was identified at the beginning of the season as a team that would have the best chance to represent the QMJHL at this yeas Memorial Cup. Patrick Roy’s team didn’t play up to the head coach taste during the 2009-10 season. Some nights the team played just good enough to win games. They simply aren’t able to play sixty minutes of hockey the way Roy wanted to see his team play. At the trade deadline, Roy who is also the team’s general manager decided to make changes. He let some important players go like his Captain Kelsey Tessier, defenseman Samuel Grouxl, David Gilbert, Julien Corriveau and Peter Dalmas to make room for younger players, most notably for a goaltender who is able to make saves when it counts the most, so Louis Domingue and Antoine Tardif arrived to give more confidence to the team overall. New chemistry combined with better effort from some other players helped the team play much better. Now, with the so called “true season” finally here, Quebec fans will be able to see just how good their favorite team really is. Ending in fifth place in the Atlantic Division, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan earned their right to be in the playoffs by ending with a better record than Baie-Comeau Drakkar who ended fourth in the Eastern Division. Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs. Quebec Remparts Lead offensively by Dmitry Kugryshev (29 goals), Captain Marc-Olivier Vallerand (34 goals), Johnathan-Audy Marshessault (30 goals) and Mikhail Stefanovich (25 goals), without forgetting Danick Paquette (36 goals), Quebec should be able to count on those players to score goals. With Patrick Roy at the helm, fans can certainly count on the Quebec coach to find some quality line combinations to help their favorite team be competitive. On defense, the return of Mikael Tam after a serious head injury (he missed 16 games after being the victim of an elbow to the head by the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies Patrice Cormier) will help the team tremendously. Rookie Martin Lefebvre played extremely well and showed his coach he can be counted on him in key moments in games. The Terrebonne QC, native had a lot of ice time with Tam’s injury and answered the challenge. Patrick Cusak, a veteran came last summer in a trade, also became an important player on defense transmitting his knowledge to some of his other younger teammates on the defensive unit. In goal, Louis Domingue has been designated by Roy to see most of the action in the playoffs. He has earned Roy’s confidence but if something should happen to Domingue, Antoine Tardif surely will do his best to fill the job between the pipes. In Bathurst, Eric Falle (31 goals), Jonathan Lessard (36 goals) and Taylor Lampke (22 goals) are the teams’ offensive leaders. Quebec fans will get to see former Rempart David Gilbert (who played mostly on Quebec’s third line) who ended fourth offensively with 48 points in 62 games. Defensively, Ryan McKiernan, Jeremie Blain and Olivier Dame are the team’s offensive leaders from the blueline. In goal, Bathurst will send former Shawinigan netminder Francois Lacerte to protect the Titan net since Anthony Mager (rookie) saw action in only three games. Lacerte, who began his junior career with Rimouski, ended his 2009-10 season with a 4:16 GAA and a .878 save percentage. Acadie-Bathurst faced Quebec twice during the 2009-10 seasons and Quebec won both contests by the same score (6-3). During the season Quebec scored 278 goals and allowed 232 while Bathurst scored 208 and allowed 286. One the power play Quebec converted 25.1 percent, Bathurst 17.8. Penalty kill: Quebec 79.2, Bathurst 77.5. Prediction: Quebec will win in five. Chicoutimi Sagueneens vs. Rimouski Oceanic This series promises to be interesting one because fans will see two teams that decided to go with a lot of young players but the Oceanic might have little more experience overall. Everyone who knows head coach Richard Martel knows that he always finds a way to motivate his team to play good hockey. With two young goaltenders in Robin Gusse and Christopher Gibson, Chicoutimi will have to play very well defensively. Looking at the numbers, Chicoutimi ended with 15 points less than Rimouski in the standings. The Sagueneens compiled a record of 3-6-0-1 in their last 10 games and scored 186 goals compared to 246 for Rimouski. Defensively, Chicoutimi allowed 257 goals versus 265 for Rimouski. On special teams, Chicoutimi ended the season with a 18.2 percent rate compared to 25.2 for Rimouski. On the penalty kill Chicoutimi ended with 75.3 percent compared to 76.5 for Rimouski. In almost every department the Oceanic has the advantage but depending to who you talk to, you will get the usual answer of, “The numbers on paper never win games,” or “The game is played on a 200 by 85 sheet of ice.” Publicly both head coaches will try to find anything they can to motivate their team, so you can count on them to find something that will make sure their players give all that they can. Offensively Chicoutimi is lead by defenseman Dominic Jalbert and left winger Antoine Roussel. With Jacob Lagace and Nicholas Deschamps gone elsewhere at the trade deadline, the Sagueneens lost a lot of their firepower offensively. Even with less firepower the series will possibly fall on the goaltender’s shoulders (either Gusse or Gibson). Gusse ended the 2009-10 season with a GAA of 3.67 and a save percentage of .881 allowing 1330 on 1089 shots against him. Besides Jalbert, the Sags head coach will count on Eric Gelinas, Adam Bourque Leblanc, Mathieu Loduc, Michael Trudel, along with rookies Gabriel Vermette and Jeremy Barriault to do the job on defense. It will be interesting to see how Rimouski, who has a little more experience than Chicoutimi, will materialize on the ice Rimouski is led offensively by Felix Lefrancois (39 goals), rookie Petr Straka (28 goals) defenseman Ryan Kavanagh (18 goals) and Patrick Delisle-Houde (19 goals). Rimouski will have to take every opportunity they get to put the puck behind the Chicoutimi goaltender and break the Sagueneens netminders confidence. With the departure of Emmanuel Boudreau, Rimouski lost a veteran who could have helped the younger defensemen on the Oceanic’s defensive unit, which mean some of the other defensemen will have to play the best of their abilities and not make a costly turnover that could translate to losing a game. Now ,Kavanagh and Gleason Fournier are the main defensemen on whom the pressure falls on playing their best regardless of whether or not the team is on the power play or the penalty kill. In goal, Matthew Dopud and Philippe Tremblay are the dynamic duo of goaltenders for Clement Jodoin’s team. Dopud will get the nod in net for Rimouski to begin the series but don’t be surprised to see Tremblay if Dopud doesn’t do the job. Series Prediction: Rimouski will win in six. Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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