Taking care of business
QMJHL’s semifinals set after a quick second round
Round 2 of the QMJHL came as quickly as it arrived, with all four series ending in five games or less. But it wasn’t all a case of favoured teams steamrolling overmatched competition.
Indeed, the battle for the 902 area code produced a stunning result in which the underdog Charlottetown Islanders swept the 2019 Memorial Cup host Halifax Mooseheads, despite finishing 12 points behind Halifax in the regular season. Jim Hulton’s Cinderella Islanders club has shown it’s not quite midnight yet. Having turned over most of the roster from last year, the Isles lost seven of their first eight regular-season games before turning it on and actually making moves to improve at Christmas time. A slide after the holidays may have had fans fearing the chemistry had been lost, but the red rock squad is now in the third round for the second straight year.
Overage forward Pascal Aquin has played hero for the Isles, leading the team in playoff scoring and netting the overtime winner in Game 1 against the Mooseheads. Rookie import Nikita Alexandrov has arrived this post-season, averaging more than a point a game after a 31-point regular season. Charlottetown’s heart was on display in Round 2 as they came from behind to win three of the four contests, including overcoming 2-0 holes in games three and four.
For the Islanders, the reward is now a battle with the league’s top dog, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. It’s a rematch of last year’s semifinal that the Armada won in five games despite not having home-ice advantage.
Now faced with the ninthseeded Islanders, it’s the second straight series where the Armada have received a likely more favourable opponent due to an upset. In the league quarter-finals, Blainville dumped No. 13 seed Moncton (who had upset Rimouski) in five matches. The high-powered offense of Joël Bouchard’s squad kicked it up a notch after a relatively quiet opening round. The Armada’s wins came by scores of 6-1, 9-3, 7-1 and 8-3. Former Screaming Eagle Drake Batherson leads the playoffs in scoring with 18 points in nine games, and his linemate Alexandre Alain is right behind him with 17 points.
While the Blainville-Boisbriand/Charlottetown matchup
appears to look like David vs. Goliath, the other semifinal is a full-on heavyweight tilt between two veteran-laden squads. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan and the Victoriaville Tigres are both looking for their first trip to the QMJHL final since 2002 when Victoraiville won in six games.
Much like Blainville-Boisbriand, Bathurst is a regular season division winner that looked better in the second round than the first round. Having been pushed to six games by Chicoutimi in their firstround series, the Titan wasted no time in sweeping the Sherbrooke Phoenix. The big guns for Bathurst — Mitchell Balmas, Antoine Morand and German Rubtsov — have awakened with a combined 17 points in Round 2 after being held to just six in the opening round.
Goaltending has also been key for Bathurst. Evan Fitzpatrick, a draft pick of the St. Louis Blues, had a save percentage of .874 with Sherbrooke before being dealt to the Titan. Facing his old team in the playoffs, the Blues prospect stopped 107 of 111 shots. Aside from a seriesclosing overtime win in Game 4, every victory over the Phoenix was by at least four goals.
Victoriaville was not as dominant on a game-to-game basis but their five-game victory over Drummondville was certainly impressive, given that many pundits pegged the series to go the distance. The No. 6-seeded Tigres dropped the opener in Drummondville against the Voltigeurs but reeled off four straight wins, looking more like
the pre-season favourite they were projected to be and not the team that struggled in the first half.
Etienne Monpetit continues to shine in goal, as Victoriaville was actually outshot in three of their four wins in the series. And despite 2017 QMJHL MVP Vitali Abramov being held to just two points in five games, the Tigres were able to get offence from
their lesser-known scorers, including five points from Jimmy Huntington. Louis Robitaille’s club appears to have fully been brought together and is winning as much with defence as offence. Through 10 playoff outings, the Tigres have only allowed three or more goals twice.
Charlottetown appears to be the odd team out in a final quartet that is otherwise filled with
conventional favourites, but they’ve beaten the odds before this season. There’s no shortage of intrigue as the league heads into the semifinals.