2022 QMJHL Playoffs | Huskies vs. Cataractes Preview

 

The last time these two teams locked horns in the postseason, the Huskies were overwhelming favorites on the first step towards a Memorial Cup title but received a surprisingly tough battle from a Cataractes club most felt would be outmatched.

This year, the tables are turned and it’s the Huskies who are hoping to find a way to take a bite out of their entertaining counterparts from Shawinigan.

The Cataractes do not lack in star power. Led up front by a pair of first-round NHL draft picks in Mavrik Bourque (Dallas, 2020) and Xavier Bourgault (Edmonton, 2021), as well as leading scorer Olivier Nadeau and mid-season acquisition Pierrick Dubé, the Cats have the firepower to compete with many of the top teams.

Isaac Menard, despite suffering a late-season injury, led the team’s rearguards in scoring, while 17-year-old rookie Jordan Tourigny has filled in admirably on the blueline while the club battled through numerous ailments.

In net, the Cats feature one of the most formidable tandems in the league in Charles-Antoine Lavallee, the league leader in GAA, as well as Antoine Coulombe, author of three shutouts on the season.

The Cataractes are searching for their first series victory since 2016, when they fell to this same Huskies squad in the President Cup Final. After dropping their first-round series to the eventual President Cup Champion Victoriaville Tigres in three straight games last year, the Huskies are looking for their first playoff victory since their 2019 national triumph

 

One of the holdovers from that season is current leading scorer, Mathieu Gagnon. Winger Samuel Johnson was also a constant two-way threat all season long, while rookie Danill Bourash led all Huskies in goals.

With veteran Samuel Regis out of the lineup for a prolonged period of time, defensemen Thomas Belzile, Emeric Gaudet and Dyllan Gill have filled in the gaps on the top two pairs.

Between the pipes, Samuel Richard has been outstanding, leading the league in save percentage while notching five shutouts.

 

The Cataractes took the first three games in the season series between these two clubs before the Huskies prevailed in their final meeting. This is the sixth playoff encounter between the two clubs. While the Huskies have won in the aforementioned 2016 and 2019 clashes, the Cataractes were triumphant in the first three meetings, in 2001, 2006 and 2012, respectively.

The “Cats” are hungry to finally get over the playoff hump after a lengthy roster building exercise, but they’ll need to fend off a pack of hungry dogs to get the job done.

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Team Comparison:

	Shawinigan	Rouyn-Noranda
Record	40-24-1-3 — 84 Pts	28-35-1-4 — 61 Pts
Division Ranking	2nd Central	3rd West
League Ranking	7th	13th
GF	235	190
GA	190	256
PP (Overall)	(85/271) 31.4%	(42/251) 16.7%
PK (Overall)	(52/254) 79.5%	(54/251) 78.5%
Leading Rookie	Tourigny (4-17-21)	Bourash (29-15-44)
Leading Scorers	Nadeau (35-43-78)	Gagnon (15-37-52)
	Bourgault (36-39-75)	Johnson (17-31-48)
	Bourque (20-48-68)	Bourash (29-15-44)
	Dube (19-25-44)	Arsenault (11-22-33)
	Canonica (15-29-44)	Regis (7-25-32)