QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Seven of eight first round series ended in four straight games in the QMJHL. The only series that needed more games (6) was between Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Chicoutimi Sagueneens. Now the quarterfinal round will see the following match up. Sweeping the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in four straight games the Saint John Sea Dogs will face the surprising Baie-Comeau Drakkar winner in four games against Victoriaville Tigres.
The second series will see Chicoutimi facing Shawinigan. In the third quarterfinal series, the Rimouski Oceanic will go to Blainville-Boisbriand facing the Armada. Finally in last quarterfinal series Halifax Mooseheads will come to Quebec facing the Remparts for first two games before going back home for the next three games due to the distance between the two cities (more than 800 kilometers).
In the first of four articles, let’s have a deeper look of what fans in both cities Saint John and Baie-Comeau should expects in their series.
Baie-Comeau was the surprise of the first round in sweeping the Victoriaville Tigres in four games. Baie-Comeau’s victory in the first round now has them facing the QMJHL favorite team the Saint John Sea Dogs. The Sea Dogs are not just favored to repeat to win the President Cup, emblem of QMJHL championship, but to repeat as the Memorial Cup champion.
In goal: This series will oppose a veteran goalie in Mathieu Corbeil to young rookie Philippe Cadorette. As veteran, going through playoff and Memorial Cup tournament, having won both the President Cup and be the best junior team in Canada the Saint John netminder will begin that series with certainly the edge over the young Baie-Comeau rookie.
Showing a goal-against-average of 2.00 and 0.918 as save percentage, allowing only 8 goals in four games, it will be interesting to see how the veteran goalie will react in front of a bunch of players in Baie-Comeau who gained confidence after their surprising win in first round.
Being ranked at seven best goalies in the QMJHL after the first round (Corbeil ranked third), showing a goal-against-average of 2.92 and 0.905 save percentage allowing 12 goals also in four games, Cadorette will have to be extraordinaire to give a chance to cause a second surprises this time in quarterfinal.
Believing in Baie-Comeau chances in that series will be equivalent as, to believe in miracle. But as god said once and reported in bible, Happy to ones who believe in miracle. You never know what can happen, you have had team in the past that had no chances to win series that finally won. Time will see which team will go forward.
Defensively: led by Nathan Beaulieu (5 points, 2 goals) and Kevin Gagne (5 points, 1 goal) Saint John will be in good hands, Charles-Olivier Roussel, Jason Seed, Pierre Durepot and Spencer MacDonald will completes Saint John defensive unit. Corbeil as goaltender will be well protected.
On the other end, Samuel Carrier (3 points, 1 goal), Maxim Lamarche (3 points, 0 goal), Sacha Guimont and Gabriel Verpaelst represents the four best offensive defensemen, Alexandre Chenevert, Julien Lepage and Samuel Noreau are the other Drakkar defensive unit.
Offensively: Scoring 12 more goals over four games, Saint John has an advantage over Baie-Comeau (24-12). Ending the regular season scoring 298 goals for compared to 217 for Baie-Comeau in 68 games give a better idea of the task ahead of team coach by Steve Ahern.
Finding a way to stop, or better keep Saint John most dangerous offensive players out of scoring sheet for most of the games in series, won’t be an ordinary task, for Drakkar players, who will have to face them each games.
Coming out of Boston University to join the Sea Dogs, Charles Coyle did not ended only eighth best offensive leader playing last 23 games with Saint John but ended as best Sea Dogs scoring leader after first round with 13 points, 9 goals in 4 games.
Beside the Weymouth Mass, native the Baie-Comeau players who will have the charge to try to reduce Sea Dogs offensive will have other players to keep an eye on. Stanislav Galiev (12 points, 3 goals), Zach Phillips (12 points, 2 goals), Tomas Jurco (11 points 2 goals), Danick Gauthier (7 points, 5 goals) and Jonathan Beaulieu (7 points, 2 goals) will all have to be neutralize for the underdogs team to get a chance to win in next series.
On Baie-Comeau side: David Rose with (8 points, 3 goals) is the scoring leader after 4 games other players Saint John will have to keep an eye on are Jonathan Lessard (6 points, 4 goals), Raphael Bussieres (6 points, 2 goals), Tomas Filippi (6 points, 1 goal), Carl Gelinas (5 points, 2 goals) and Jean-Philippe Caron (4 points, 2 goals).
Prediction: As you read above in the article, happy are the ones who believe in miracles. Baie-Comeau fans already got their miracle when their favorites eliminated Victoriaville in first round. Unfortunately for Baie-Comeau fans, the road to the President Cup as future QMJHL champion will stop here. Saint John in 5 games.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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