CHL Coast to Coast: League championships get underway

Wednesday May 4, 2016

Six teams have made it through three rounds of playoffs across the Canadian Hockey League and enter championship series play this week in the WHL, OHL and QMJHL for a chance to advance to the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Red Deer.

The Brandon Wheat Kings, Seattle Thunderbirds, London Knights, Niagara IceDogs, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Shawinigan Cataractes are still in action, while the MasterCard Memorial Cup host Red Deer Rebels will get an extended rest after being eliminated by Brandon in the WHL’s Eastern Conference Championship Series.

The Wheat Kings are out for redemption after being swept in the WHL Finals by Kelowna last spring. Brandon has caught playoff fever as fans have come out in droves to Westman Place, already selling out Game 1 of the Rogers WHL Championship Series at home to Seattle on Friday.

“The crowds lately have been just amazing, selling 5,000 tickets by Monday before the final is just incredible,” Wheat Kings forward Tyler Coulter told the Brandon Sun’s Terry Bergson. “I know we didn’t get this kind of support last year. It’s nice to see the fans getting into it and the city coming alive.”

Brandon features five of the top six scorers in the WHL playoffs, with New Jersey Devils prospect John Quenneville (13-11–24) and 2017 NHL Draft hopeful Nolan Patrick (10-14–24) leading the attack.

Two clubs separated by a vast geographical distance, the Wheat Kings and Seattle Thunderbirds met just once this season, with the T-Birds taking a 7-2 win on home ice back on October 27th.

Seattle has reached the WHL Finals having eliminated Prince George, Everett and Kelowna, going 12-1 over those three series. Their 21 goals against over 13 games are a result of solid team defence and the continued stellar play of overage netminder Landon Bow who leads the WHL playoffs with a 1.54 goals-against average, a .936 save percentage and two shutouts.

Offensively, the Thunderbirds have turned to New York Islanders first round pick Mathew Barzal who leads the way with 19 points (5-14–19) in 13 playoff contests while Edmonton Oilers draftee Ethan Bear (6-9–15) has been a key part of Seattle’s success on the back end.

“The season and the whole year just keeps getting better and better,” Bear told 710 ESPN’s Andy Eide. “I’m trying to not get too far ahead of myself. I’m just going to keep working and stay humble.”

While the Thunderbirds and Wheat Kings battle for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, the perennial contender London Knights and a surging Niagara IceDogs club square off for the OHL’s J. Ross Robertson Cup.

The Knights claimed their third Wayne Gretzky Trophy as Western Conference Champions in the last five years with a stunning 4-0 series sweep over the Midwest Division champion Erie Otters. 

The big line of Mitch Marner, Christian Dvorak and Matthew Tkachuk continues to click, with the trio accounting for over 60% of London’s goals throughout the postseason.

While a trip to the MasterCard Memorial Cup is within reach, Marner and the Knights aren’t looking past a Niagara IceDogs club that enters the Rogers OHL Championship Series on a 10-game winning streak.

“We have to stay in the moment and you can never get too far ahead of yourself,” said Marner, who was named the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player on Tuesday. “Niagara is going to come at us hard, they’ve been playing their best hockey of late and we need to be ready to play.”

The Knights will look for continued contributions from top NHL Draft prospect Olli Juolevi on the blueline while veteran Jacob Graves and puck-moving rearguard Victor Mete continue to see big minutes as well.

All London’s Niagara opponent has done of late is win, ousting both the East Division champion Kingston Frontenacs and Central Division champion Barrie Colts with consecutive four game sweeps to reach the OHL Finals.

Thanks to great goaltending from Carolina Hurricanes prospect Alex Nedeljkovic and steady production from the line of Josh Ho-Sang, Stephen Harper and Pavel Jenys, the IceDogs are back in a 2012 OHL Championship rematch with the Knights.

“We had a good battle four years ago but came up short,” said IceDogs head coach Marty Williamson. “We’re hoping to continue our strong play and have better results this time around. We have a great group of guys and they’ve fought hard to get here.”

Though they’ve missed smooth-skating St. Louis Blues prospect Vince Dunn to injury of late, Niagara’s defence corps has been very efficient, getting quiet contributions from shutdown defenders in Aleksandar Mikulovich, Aaron Haydon and Josh Wesley. 

As is often the case in the playoffs, special teams will be something to keep an eye on in this series as the IceDogs will be tasked with facing London’s top-ranked power play that has run at 29.6% throughout the postseason.

From one lethal power play to another, the scene shifts to the QMJHL where the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, who have scored 24 of their 67 playoff goals on a 32% power play are colliding with the equally impressive Shawinigan Cataractes for the President Cup.

Rouyn-Noranda has gone wire-to-wire, leading the league with a 54-9-3-2 record this past season before disposing of Drummondville, Blainville-Boisbriand and Moncton to reach the QMJHL Championship Series.

The Huskies are fueled offensively by QMJHL Player of the Year Francis Perron (10-14–24), San Jose Sharks first round selection Timo Meier (10-8–18) and Colorado Avalanche prospect Jean-Christophe Beaudin (7-12–19). 

Though the frightening injury to key defenceman Jeremy Lauzon has forced him out of the lineup since April 15, the Huskies blueline has continued to excel with Philadelphia Flyers prospect Philippe Myers picking up the slack and overage veteran Nikolas Brouillard quarterbacking the power play.

In goal, two-time playoff Vaughn CHL Goaltender of the Week Chase Marchand has been nearly unbeatable most nights, registering six shutouts while also setting a new QMJHL playoff record, going 215:08 without surrendering a goal in Rouyn-Noranda’s second round series against Blainville-Boisbriand.

Marchand will be tested against Shawinigan though as the Cataractes and QMJHL playoff leading scorer Anthony Beauvillier (12-14–26) have scored 77 goals over 16 games.

The Cataractes have eliminated Sherbrooke, Charlottetown and Saint John in the quest for their first President Trophy in franchise history.

Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Dmytro Timashov has played a key role in Shawinigan’s playoff surge, netting 24 points (12-12–24) over 16 games. Veteran forwards Alexis D’Aoust (8-13–21), Gabriel Gagne (9-10–19) and Danny Moynihan (4-15–19) give the Cataractes a wealth of strength and experience up front while blueliners Samuel Girard (1-17–18) and Cavan Fitzgerald (3-16–19) are counted upon by head coach Claude Bouchard.

Rouyn-Noranda won the season series with a record of 3-0-1-0, but the two clubs combined to score at least seven goals in all four of their meetings.

Of the six teams remaining, just three along with the MasterCard Memorial Cup host Red Deer Rebels will advance, setting high stakes on what’s sure to be an exciting week of championship hockey across the Canadian Hockey League.

Here’s a look at respective championships across the WHL, OHL and QMJHL this week:

 

ROGERS WHL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES:

(1) Brandon Wheat Kings (48-18-4-2) vs. (3) Seattle Thunderbirds (45-23-4-0) 

 

ROGERS OHL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES:

(3) London Knights (51-14-2-1) vs. (4) Niagara IceDogs (35-26-4-3)

 

ROGERS QMJHL PRESIDENT CUP FINAL:

(1) Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (54-9-3-2) vs. (2) Shawinigan Cataractes (44-19-4-1)

 

CHL PLAYOFFS ON SPORTSNET:
Friday May 6th – Seattle at Brandon – Game 1 (9:00pm ET) – Sportsnet 360
Sunday May 8th – Rouyn-Noranda at Shawinigan – Game 3 (7:00pm ET) – Sportsnet 360
Wednesday May 11th – London at Niagara – Game 4 (7:00pm ET) – Sportsnet 360
Friday May 13th – Niagara at London – Game 5 (7:30pm ET) – Sportsnet 360
Sunday May 15th – London at Niagara – Game 6 (2:00pm ET) – Sportsnet 360