Unfamiliar foes
QMJHL’s semifinals pit Maritime clubs against Québec based teams
It’s believed the road to the President’s Cup runs through Saint John, where a veteranladen squad has dressed 17 skaters aged 19 or 20 in the post-season. The Dogs swept the first two rounds of the playoffs, and benefited from Val-d’Or’s upset in round one, outshooting the Foreurs 224-70 over four victories.
Val-d’Or earned their shot at Saint John by eliminating East Division champion Shawinigan. Now it’s the slayers of West champion Rouyn-Noranda, the Chicoutimi Saguenéens (thanks to Olivier Galipeau’s Game 7 overtime winner), that will play the league leaders.
Saint John topped Chicoutimi 1-0 at home on Jan. 20, and 4-2 in Chicoutimi on Feb. 18. The January encounter was one of just four regulation losses the Sags suffered with star import German Rubtsov in the lineup. Rubtsov won’t be playing in the post-season due to a hand injury, but Chicoutimi’s other European, Dmitry Zhukenov, has raised his game with 16 points in 11 games. Saint John brings even more star power, led by QMJHL second team allstar Mathieu Joseph up front and blueliner and World Junior MVP Thomas Chabot who have both delivered this spring.
Chicoutimi and Saint John last met in the playoffs in 2012, also in the semifinals, where the Dogs prevailed in five games en route to their most recent title. The Dogs are the only team in the entire CHL to appear in the third round six times since 2008. For Chicoutimi, this is only their second time in the final four since 2006.
Playoff troubles are familiar to the other semifinalists. The Charlottetown Islanders and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada have both have lived through multiple incarnations, and had a lack of post-season success that has somewhat been solved in their most recent brand. Neither has ever appeared in the league final.
Charlottetown’s history traces back to Montréal, just 45 kilometres from the home of the Armada, where life began as the Montréal Rocket in 1999. After failing to win a single series in four years, the team relocated to the red rock and became the PEI Rocket. After topping the Québec Remparts in 2004, the club wouldn’t win a post-season series again until rebranding as the Islanders. This season marks the third straight time the Isles have been in round two, but it’s their first-ever semifinal.
The Armada visited round three in both 2013 and 2014. But the St. John’s Fog Devils never won a playoff series from 2006 to 2008, and the Montréal Junior never advanced to the semifinals through three seasons. The Armada may be happy not to see Baie-Comeau on the other side this season as the Drakkar eliminated Blanville in both third-round encounters.
Blainville has no easy match facing Charlottetown, as the Islanders will have home ice and hold a pair of 3-0 wins over the Armada this season (in Boisbriand on Feb. 24 and in Charlottetown on March 4). Both Islander wins came during a nine-game winning streak,
while for the Armada those two defeats were their only losses over a 12-game span.
This series is another battle between a team that swept last round and a team that needed seven games to prevail. Charlottetown may have the best of both worlds — rested from a quick series against Cape Breton, but game-hardened as during that series the Islanders were tied heading into the third period three times. One drawback to the quick finish is that star forward Adam Marsh will miss the first two games in round three.
There will be a contrast of styles with Charlottetown’s league-best offense and Blainville’s
league’s-best defense. Daniel Sprong has 39 goals in 39 games since returning from Pittsburgh, while Filip Chlapik has maintained his second allstar team form in the playoffs. Goaltending was considered a question mark for the Isles but Mark Grametbauer, the former Armada netminder, shut out Blainville twice this season and has a .936 save percentage in the playoffs.
Blainville’s offense has improved by adding Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Barre-Boulet, the latter whom leads the league in playoff scoring (21 points in 11 games). There is also Alexandre Alain, a pointper-game forward who missed
both meetings with Charlottetown during the regular season. Between the pipes the Armada hope for the health of star overager Samuel Montembeault, whose return from injury helped the Armada rally from down 3-1 against Bathurst.
An all-Maritime final has loomed large all season, and while the Sags & Armada will not make it easy, the rest gained by the Sea Dogs and Islanders in the first two rounds have put those teams in the driver’s seat.