2021 QMJHL Playoffs | Tigres vs. Islanders Preview
For the first time this season, a Maritime-based squad will tangle with a team from Quebec when the Charlottetown Islanders face the Victoriaville Tigres in their best-of-five President Cup Semi-Final series. The action gets underway tonight in Quebec City.
The Islanders earned a bye to the league Quarterfinals after finishing with a convincing lead atop the Maritime Division standings. Despite the extended time off, they nonetheless dispatched the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in three straight games. A closely contested series despite the short duration, it was many of the usual suspects propelling the Isles into round three, led by regular season scoring champ Cedric Desruisseaux, who put up three goals and four points in the sweep. Tying him for the team scoring lead is center Brett Budgell, who produced a pair of game-winning goals against the Titan. Lukas Cormier was a typical force from the blueline, leading the squad in plus/minus (+5). Between the pipes, Colten Ellis did what he does best in his Islanders playoff debut, pitching a shutout in the opener to go with the seven he notched in the regular season. This marks the second appearance in the Semifinals for the Islanders, who last reached this point in 2017 when they were outlasted by the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in seven games.
The Tigres know a thing or two about long series with the Armada as well; it took the full five games for the club to get past Blainville-Boisbriand in the Quarterfinals. Continuing on his strong opening round performance was center Mikhail Abramov, who put up three points in the decisive game against the Armada to pull into a tie for second place in postseason scoring with 14 points. Alex Beaucage and Nicholas Daigle proved to be almost unstoppable with 11 and nine points, respectively. While Sean Larochelle continued to steady the ship from the back end along with fellow veterans Vincent Sevigny and Alexis Arsenault, Nikolas Hurtubise maintained the steady presence in nets that sees him among the top five in GAA and save percentage entering the Semifinals. The Tigres, who swept the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the opening round, have reached the Semis for the first time since 2018 when they were swept by Acadie-Bathurst. The organization is aiming to punch its ticket to the Final for the third time in its history; a feat last realized in 2002 when the Tigres earned their only President Cup title to date.
This will be the first postseason encounter between these two clubs. Although they have not faced one another this season, recent history is firmly on the side of the Isles, who took both games in the season series between the two clubs in 2019-2020 and have rang up a 7-1-0-0 record against the Tigres in regular season play over the past five years.
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Team Comparison (Reg. Season):
Charlottetown | Victoriaville | |
Record | 35-5-0-0 — .875% Pct. | 16-9-1-0 — .635% Pct. |
Division Ranking | 1st Maritimes | 3rd East |
League Ranking | 1st | 6th |
GF | 197 | 99 |
GA | 89 | 65 |
PP (Overall) | 31.5% (51/162) | 21.5% (17/79) |
PK (Overall) | 85.5% (26/179) | 84.9% (15/99) |
Leading Rookie | Oliver (9-13-22) | Roy (1-9-10) |
Leading Scorers | Desruisseaux (42-36-78) | Element (17-26-43) |
Casey (34-40-74) | Abramov (12-18-30) | |
Budgell (15-43-58) | Beaucage (17-11-28) | |
Cormier (16-38-54) | Frenette (10-16-26) | |
Laaouan (7-31-38) | Daigle (9-15-24) |