QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Four teams are still in the race to win the President Cup trophy representing the QMJHL champion. After eliminating the Moncton Wildcats in round one, the Lewiston MAINEiac surprisingly tossed aside the Montreal Junior in six games earning the right to face the QMJHL best team in the league over the regular season, the Saint John Sea Dogs. After easily sweeping Cape Breton in first round, Saint John needed five games to settle Victoriaville Tigres fate in Quarter-Final round, earning their place in four aces square for second straight years and third times in Franchise history.
In the other Semi-Final series, the Gatineau Olympiques won their first round series needing five games (three in overtime) to eliminate the Rimouski Oceanic. In the Quarter-Final series the Olympiques needed six games to force Drummondville to stored their equipment and wait until next year, before playing hockey again. After sweeping the Val-d’Or Foreurs in four games, Quebec finally got the best against Shawinigan needing seven games to win their series and complete the four aces square teams.
Both series will begin with two games in Saint John and Quebec on next Friday April 22nd and 23rd. Let’s see what fans should expect in the QMJHL Semi-Final series.
Lewiston MAINEiacs vs. Saint John Sea Dogs: At first sight, this series shouldn’t cause too much trouble for the Sea Dogs. But for people who might be tempted to lean this way, they might have a surprise at the end. Saint John should come out as a winner, at the end, but Gerard Gallant’s team will need to work harder than most people think before winning that series.
How many people gave chances to Lewiston team before their series began against Montreal in the Quarter-Final? Be honest here, not too many, and see what happened.
When you look at the Sea Dogs team, with players like Jonathan Huberdeau who is the second best leader (21 points in 9 games in playoff) just behind Quebec forwards, John Audy- Marchessault (28 points in 11 games) you see why they are favored. Zack Phillips (ranked 7th with 16 points in 9 games, 9 goals) and Stanislav Galiev ranked 9th with (15 points in 9 games, 7 goals), as first line those three players will certainly represent big challenges for the MAINEiacs.
Lewiston head coach, Jean-Francois Houle, will have to make sure his team will respect the game plan on the T, if they want to compete with the best team in the QMJHL, over 68 regular season games. Beside their powerful first line, Saint John possesses a very well-balance team offensively.
Players like Michael Kirkpatrick (82 points in 63 games, 31 goals), Steven Anthony (60 points in 61 games, 23 goals), Tomas Jurco (56 points in 60 games, 31 goals) and Ryan Tessink (35 points in 59 games, 8 goals) provide help offensively when needed.
On defense, the Sea Dogs can throw in the melee four great defensemen who can bring water to the mills offensively speaking. In the regular season, Nathan Beaulieu (45 points in 65 games, 12 goals), Eric Gelinas (44 points in 62 games, 12 goals) (20 points in 27 games since coming from Chicoutimi), Simon Despres (41 points in 47 games, 13 goals), Gabriel Bourret (33 points in 63 games, 8 goals) were the four best offensive defensemen. Kevin Gagne (32 points in 59 games, 6 goals) and Pierre Durepost (30 points in 68 games, 3 goals) complete the Saint John defensive units.
In goal, Jacob DeSerres saw all action in playoff combining a GAA of 1.87 with 0.923 save percentage.
Pierre-Olivier Morin has come out of the shadow of other teammates in the 2010-11 playoffs. Centering a line with Kirill Kabanov and Etienne Brodeur, they were the principal actors in the Montreal Junior elimination.
Author of two goals in game six, series-clinching victory over Montreal, the native of Trois-Rivieres did his job quietly. Lewiston head coach Jean-Francois Houle was the first to praise the work of his center in local newspaper Sun Journal.
“He never gets enough credit for the way he plays the game. He is very fast, very solid defensively, but he was key part of that line with Kabanov and Brodeur in the playoffs.”
With an average of 17.1 minutes of penalty in regular season, Lewiston found a way to keep playing tough but without taking stupid penalties. On the other hand, Saint John will have to demonstrate, they can do the job even when the opponent played tough style.
Michael Chaput (59 points in 62 games, 25 goals), Stefan Fournier (47 points in 67 games, 20 goals), Antoine Houde-Caron (41 points in 64 games, 16 goals) played solid hockey for the MAINEiacs.
Defensively Olivier Dame-Malka is the best offensive defenseman since the playoff began totaling 16 points in 11 games scoring 8 goals. Samuel Carrier ranked fifth with 10 points in 11 games with 2 goals are the main offensive defensemen for head coach Houle.
In goal, this series should offer an interesting battle. Beside DeSerres for Saint John who has a goaltending average of 1.87, Nicholas Champion on whom some have had some reserve before the series began, seemed to do the job in 2010-11 playoffs. In 11 games, Champion has a goaltending average of 2.42 but in the save percentage Champion ranked just below his opponent in that series at 0.922.
The head-to-head matchup between the two teams in regular season was 1-1-0-0. Lewiston loses in Saint John 6-2 on December 3, 2010. On December 10, 2010, Lewiston won 5-2 at home. In the goals for department Saint John scored 59 more ending the regular season with 324 against 265 for Lewiston. As far as goals against, Saint John is still on top allowing 58 less goals than Lewiston 165-223.
Prediction: Saint John will prevail in six.
Contact Serge.Poulin@prohockeynews.com
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