Cataractes and Islanders seek first President Cup
You have the Charlottetown Islanders, who have lost just once in the QMJHL postseason, against a Shawinigan Cataractes side that just eliminated the best team in the league.
It sure makes for an intriguing 2022 President Cup. Especially when neither have ever seen their name on the cup.
“We weren’t the team that was supposed to win the series so to upset them is always nice,” said Pierrick Dube, who had a hat-trick and scored the game-winner with just 48 seconds left against the Quebec Remparts. “It was an incredible feeling and a big deal for us.”
It further proved the never-die attitude of Shawinigan. In the best of five series, they trailed 2-1 but kept their season alive in Game 4 with a 3-2 overtime win on home ice courtesy of captain Mavrik Bourque’s winner.
Dube, against his former side, would then steal the headlines with his first career QMJHL postseason hat-trick in a 5-3 road victory Wednesday.
“We proved everyone that we’re a pretty solid group,” Dube said. “We beat Rouyn-Noranda, Gatineau and now the first team in the league. The group is pretty confident.
“We’re excited to go to Charlottetown and try to win the President Cup.”
In Charlottetown, you’ll find a squad that has learned from the past. In 2019, the Islanders saw an opening round 2-0 series lead evaporate against Cape Breton. In 2021, they held a 2-1 lead before they lost two straight to Victoriaville in the semi-finals.
They weren’t going to let it happen again this year. After they swept Moncton and Acadie-Bathurst, Charlottetown eliminated Sherbrooke in four games to advance to the President Cup for the first time in franchise history.
“I’m really proud of our group but the job certainly isn’t finished yet,” captain Brett Budgell said. “A lot of guys on our team learned a lot from last year. We were up 2-1 and ended up losing in Game 5. We definitely didn’t want to feel that again … to finally be able to push through and get to the finals is something that we were all working towards the entire season.”
Budgell himself has had an excellent postseason, with 14 points (nine goals) in 10 games. But the emergence of Patrick Guay, whose 10 goals leads the QMJHL in the postseason, has provided a massive spark as he has continued on from his sensational regular season where he scored 55 goals and 104 points.
“He’s a great player and he’s had a wonderful season,” Bugdell said. “He’s put up great numbers this year and it hasn’t stopped in the postseason as he’s been one of our best players as well.
“It’s great to see him break through and it couldn’t happen to a better guy.”
The two teams met just twice during the regular season. Shawinigan won 4-0 in Charlottetown on Oct. 16 while Guay had the only goal on March 3 in a 1-0 road win for the Islanders.
Regardless of who wins the series, it will be a first time President Cup champion. The Cataractes are 0-3 in the QMJHL Finals in their history.
“They have a good group of d-men and forwards that can be very dangerous,” Dube said of the Isles. “We have to play our game, keep things simple, just like we did against Quebec.
“It’s going to be tight and a huge series for both teams and we’re so excited for it.”
As are Charlottetown, who dating back to the regular season, are 17-2 over their last 19 games.
“There’s a lot of confidence in the room,” Budgell said. “We’re feeling pretty good about ourselves right now.”
The 2022 President Cup can be seen in its entirety on CHLTV. Furthermore, Games 3-7 will be shown LIVE exclusively on TSN and RDS.