2022 QMJHL Playoffs | Cataractes vs. Islanders Preview
There will be a first time President Cup Champion in the QMJHL this year at the conclusion of the upcoming Final tilt between the Shawinigan Cataractes and Charlottetown Islanders. The two clubs open their best-of-seven season in Charlottetown on Saturday.
The Islanders ride a 9-1 record into their first-ever President Cup Final appearance, having dispatched the Moncton Wildcats, Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Sherbrooke Phoenix along the way. In their four-game semifinal triumph over the Phoenix, Patrick Guay led the way, averaging two points per game against his former club and emerging from round three as the league’s leading scorer among players still active in the postseason.
Xavier Simoneau played a significant factor in the first three games of the that same series, though he will be unavailable for Saturday’s opener due to a one-game suspension for boarding in the clincher against Sherbrooke. Captain Brett Budgell was his usual clutch self, potting a pair of goals in the semis’ series-clincher. Lukas Cormier, as he did in the regular season, currently leads all blueliners in scoring while headlining a defense corps that has given up a mere 18 goals in 10 playoff contests to this point.
Another factor in such stingy play has been the performance of goaltender Francesco Lapenna, who leads the league in save percentage and was a key difference maker against Sherbrooke. All of this, plus the phenomenal coaching of Jim Hulton, has brought the Isles to a new height in the franchise’s 19-year history in PEI.
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The Cataractes have lost just twice in the postseason, eliminating the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, Gatineau Olympiques and Quebec Remparts in the process. It was that most recent series, against the regular season champion Remparts, which proved to be the toughest test for Daniel Renaud’s charges thus far. Down two games to one in the best-of-five encounter, the Cataractes engineered a pair of come-from-behind victories to move on.
Key players included the team leading scorer Mavrik Bourque, the overtime hero in Game 4, Xavier Bourgault, who’s overtime-winner clinched Game 2 for Shawinigan, and Pierrick Dube, who notched a hat trick, including the eventual series winner, with under a minute remaining in regulation time of the deciding fifth game against his former Remparts teammates.
Overage rearguard Zachary Massicotte averaged a point per game in the semis while sharing key minutes with crafty rookie Jordan Tourigny. Between the pipes, Antoine Coulombe has been sensational, notching a shutout in Game 2 against Quebec and making several key stops in all three of the Cataractes third-round triumphs.
This is the fourth trip to the President Cup Final in franchise history for the Cataractes, who previously reached this level in 2016 and 2009. The club’s first appearance took place way back in 1971 as the Shawinigan Bruins. In that series, they were defeated by the eventual Memorial Cup Champion Quebec Remparts, who were led by the legendary Guy Lafleur, to whom the 2022 President Cup Final has been dedicated.
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The season series between these two clubs was split at one win each, the road team posting a shutout in each occurrence. The Cataractes handed the Islanders a 4-0 defeat on October 16, while the Isles returned the favor in Shawinigan on March 4, holding the injury depleted Cataractes to 11 shots in a 1-0 victory.
The two teams have met twice before in the postseason, Shawinigan earning a first-round triumph in 2011 and a second-round win in 2016.
A trip to the Memorial Cup is on the line between two clubs that are waiting for their first taste of QMJHL playoff superiority. Though both have been very impressive to this point, an epic battle awaits on the road towards the national championship in Saint John.
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Team Comparison:
Charlottetown | Shawinigan | |
Record | 48-13-7-0 — 103 Pts | 40-24-1-3 — 84 Pts |
Division Rank | 1st Maritimes | 2nd Central |
League Rank | 2nd | 7th |
GF | 283 | 235 |
GA | 179 | 190 |
PP (Total) | (66/252) 26.2% | (85/271) 31.4% |
PK (Total) | (46/293) 84.3% | (52/254) 79.5% |
Top Rookie | Brabenec (17-47-64) | Tourigny (4-17-21) |
Top Scorers | Guay (55-49-104) | Nadeau (35-43-78) |
Simoneau (24-62-86) | Bourgault (36-39-75) | |
Cormier (33-48-81) | Bourque (20-48-68) | |
Budgell (40-39-79) | Dube (19-25-44) | |
Brabenec (17-47-64) | Canonica (15-29-44) |