QUEBEC CITY P.Q.— With the majority of the QMJHL teams having played between 50-53 games in a regular season that is 68 games long, the race for home ice advantage in the first round of playoffs is proving to be very interesting in almost every division. When taking a deeper look into each division and the teams that are involved gives us a better view of what to expect between now and the end of the season. Let’s begin with the Telus Western Division. With 15 games left to play before completing the regular season, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies have accumulated 64 points in 53 games; they have an 11 point advantage over the Gatineau Olympiques. After losing their last game in Quebec on Sunday January 31st (first meeting between the two teams since the Cormier-Tam incident), the Huskies record is 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games playing at a .566 win percentage. Rouyn-Noranda made some important acquisitions before the trade deadline aquring players like Nicholas Champion in goal, Steven Delisle on defense, Jordan Caron, and Patrice Cormier. All expect to play major role for the Huskies in the upcoming playoffs. Unfortunately, the team lost the services of a very important player in Patrice Cormier for whom the team gave up young prospects and several draft picks to get him. But the team still has other players who they will rely heavily on the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs. Identified as a major buyer at the trading deadline, Head Coach and General Manager Andre Tourgny expects his team will continue to play excellent hockey until the end of the season and will become the team that will represent the QMJHL at the upcoming Memorial Cup Tournament. In Gatineau, the Olympiques have 53 points with the same number of games played (50) as the Montreal Junior. Gatineau General Manager Charlie Henry decided to sacrifice several of his key players, defenseman Steven Delisle, forwards Alexandre Quesnel and Alexandre Touchette just to name a few, to turn to the future and make sure that his team still still be competitive. With Maxime Clermont in goal, head coach Jerome Dupont still has a very good goaltender who expects to make the difference in crucial moments. With some veteran players traded away, it gave a chance for several rookies like defensemen Mathieu Gagnon, Adam Jenosik, Jason Seed, forwards Denis Kindl, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Philippe Halley to get more ice time and become better players. The Olympiques will face Montreal in three other occasions before the end of regular season. For the team that hopes to earn home ice advantage, these games might play a key role. Whatever teams Gatineau faces until the end of the 2009-2010 regular season, coach Dupont will make sure that all of his players will be ready for each confrontation. AS of this article, Gatineau is in second place due in large part for their offense having 177 goals compare to 159 for Montreal. In Montreal, the Junior decided to turn to the future by trading their number one goaltender Jake Allen to Drummondville. With the departure of Allen, Jean-Francois Berube becomes the new number one in Montreal. It also gives Etienne Marcoux the chance to backup Berube who is learning the ropes for next season. Defenseman Alex Wall was also traded before the deadline to Moncton for Dillon Donnelly (former NHL player Gord Donnelly’s son) and several draft picks. Pier-Antoine Dion was also traded to Cape Breton for Patrick Lapostolle and a second round pick in 2011. Besides their three games against Gatineau, Montreal will have some other confrontations against teams that will play important roles in the race for home ice advantage over the Olympiques. Victoriaville, Drummondville, Rouyn-Noranda will present a great challenge for head coach Pascal Vincent’s team. Val-d’Or Foreurs close out the ranks in the Western Division with 42 points in 52 games played. Telus Central Division The most interesting race in the division is certainly the one between the Drummondville Voltigeurs and the Victoriaville Tigres. With 72 points in 51 games played, the Voltigeurs have a tiny two point lead over the Tigres but they have two games in hand. Those games in hand won’t mean an automatic two wins. They will have to work hard to win their games if they want to be the beneficiary of their games in hand. It will be interesting to see the contribution of the new number one netminder Jake Allen. The second round pick of the St. Louis Blues in 2008 didn’t have the kind of season Montreal expected from him. With a record of 11-11-0 and a goals against average of 2:66 and a .912 save percentage, the Fredericton New Brunswick native didn’t played the kind of hockey his former team expected from him. Since his arrival in Drummondville, Allen has played in six games with a record of 4-2-0 with a GAA of 2:48 and a .891 save percentage. The Voltigeurs are involved in the fierce race for the ice advantage with Victoriaville with one more win (35-34) than Drummondville. Neither team can rest on their laurels until the end of regular season if they want to be the one that has the right to begin the opening series at home. It’s well known that teams that expect to go as farin the playoffs need to count on great performances from their goaltender. For Allen, it will be an excellent opportunity for him to prove that he is worth his new teams expectations. In Victorville, the Tigres count on another NHL hopeful in Kevin Poulin. Drafted by the New York Islanders 216th overall (5th round) in 2008, the four year veteran of the QMJHL has compiled a record of 25-14-0 with a GAA of 2:78 and a .909 save percentage. With Victoriaville, the Montreal native registered a record of 71-63-0 with a 3.25 GAA and a .898 save percentage. Be opportunistic, create scoring chances, score goals, and get a great performance from your goaltender, will play key roles in Victoriaville if they are to have a chance to win the race against Drummondville. One thing to be sure is that fans who will be attending games at their favorite team’s arena between now and the end of the year will be fun. Exciting hockey will certainly await fans in both cities. Trying to guess which team will win the race will be the equivalent of throwing a quarter in the air and hoping that it falls on the right side. The Shawinigan Cataractes are comfortably installed in third place with 57 points in 52 games played; Lewiston MAINEiacs closes out the rankings with 39 points with 17 games left to play in the regular season. Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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