QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. —Needing six games to go through their opponent in their QMJHL first round series Acadie-Bathurst Titan, the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, might have left some energy they will need to battle the Shawinigan Cataractes in second round. As the host of the Memorial Cup, Shawinigan already has their place in the Memorial Cup tournament as one of two QMJHL teams.
But for general manager Martin Mondou and head coach Eric Veilleux they certainly don’t want to see their team enters the tournament by the back door. Knowing his team needed some re-enforcement Mondou went on the trading market making some very good acquisitions that could cost the organization over next two or three years.
But as may have said when you have a chance to have the Memorial in your court, don’t waste time and do whatever you need to do to be representative. And that’s what the general manager did at last trading deadline making the acquisitions of defensemen Jonathan Narbone, Morgan Ellis and Brandon Gormley even if the latest one missed the first round due to injury.
Eliminating the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in four straight games, the Cataractes enter the quarterfinal round confident in they can win their series facing the Sagueneens.
Playing for one game over 500 on the road in regular season (16-15-1-2) It will certainly boost Chicoutimi confidence if Marc-Etienne Hubert can return home stealing one of first two games in the Bionest Center. Chicoutimi ended regular season with a positive record at home (19-9-2-4) but in counterpart they loses their last two games to end the regular season.
In goal: Knowing the importance the goaltender has in playoff it will be interesting to see the goaltending battle. On one side, with 2.97 goal-against-averages and 0.893 save percentage Christopher Gibson will have Chicoutimi destiny in hands if the Saguennens want to pursue his road and get a chance to win the President Cup emblem of QMJHL champion.
On the Shawinigan side, head coach Eric Veilleux has the luxury to count on two great goaltenders ranking two and third best after the first round. Remembered the time in Montreal when reporters always asked to Canadiens head coach who would be in net? Halak or Price? In Shawinigan it is about the same situation with Gabriel Girard or Alex Dubeau. With a 2.45 goal-against-averages and 0.911 save percentage over 68 games of regular season, Girard ended the 2011-12 seasons as second best netminder.
Sowing a goal-against-averages of 2.56 and save percentage 0.904 young Alex Dubeau ranked third best also over 68 regular season games.
After the first round, ranked as fourth best with a G.A.A. of 2.00 allowing only 8 goals in 240 minutes of play, Girard ranked as fourth best, just one over Chicoutimi goalie Gibson with 2.49 goal-against-averages and 0.913 save percentage, allowing 12 goals in 385.37 minutes of play. The battle promise to be interesting, Gibson on one side facing Girard or Dubeau on the other.
Defensively: Shawinigan begins the series with at least (no offense to Chicoutimi fans) slight edges. With Narbone, Ellis and the possible return of Gormley, the Cataractes got three very well defensemen able to launch or re-launch Shawinigan offense from their defensive zone. Morgan Ellis is as of this writing the best offensive defenseman of both sides showing a record of 7 points in 4 games with 2 goals. Andrew O’Brien of Chicoutimi ranked just below Ellis with also 7 points but over 6 games.
Let’s have a look at the other defensemen on both sides. Beside O’Brien, on Chicoutimi the Shawinigan forwards will find Mathieu Gagnon, Gabriel Bouret, Dominic Poulin, Gabriwl Vermette and rookie Elliot Bisson.
For the Cataractes, besides Narbonne, Ellis and Gormley, Jonathan Racine, Justin Hache, Mathieu Gagnon and rookie Dylan Labbe completes Shawinigan defensive units. As you read above, slight advantage to Shawinigan.
Offensively: Guillaume Asselin (3g-6a-9pts), Christian Ouellet (6g-1a-7pts), Steve Lebel (3g-3a-6pts), and Charles Hudon (3g-2a-5pts) represents Chicoutimi best points producers after first series. But don’t forget Lukas Sendlak (3g-1a-4pts), veteran Jean-Gabriel Pageau (0g-4a-4pts) because they will certainly bring more offensive contributions if Chicoutimi fans want to belive to their favorite chances to pull what most will consider another miracle in QMJHL 2011-12 playoff series.
On the Shawinigan side: head coach Veilleux will be able to count on service of Yanick Veilleux (5g-2a-7pts), Michael Chaput (3g-2a-5pts), Michael Bournival (1g-4a-5pts), Pierre-Olivier Morin (1g-4a-5pts) as his four best offensive leaders. Paying less attentions to players like Loik Poudrier (3g-1a-4pts), Kirill Kabanov (2g-2a-4pts), Mitchell Maynard (1g-3a-4pts), Anton Zlobin (0g-4a-4pts) could be a big mistake for Chicoutimi, because, these players can come at anytime in the game and break your back, with the killer goal, or defensive play, that could be consider a key play in game leading the team at key victory in series.
Prediction: At the end, after a possible grueling battle, Shawinigan will prevail in six.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
