2022 QMJHL Playoffs | Phœnix vs. Islanders Preview

The top offensive team from the Western Conference prepares to take on a defensive juggernaut when the Sherbrooke Phœnix travel to Charlottetown to face the Islanders in a best-of-five President Cup semifinal series which gets underway Wednesday night.

The Islanders have, literally, been unbeatable so far in the 2022 playoffs, parlaying sweeps of the Moncton Wildcats and Acadie-Bathurst Titan to a 6-0 record entering the semis.

Patrick Guay (6G, 7A) continues to rattle off points at a torrid pace, sitting third in the postseason scoring derby. Captain Brett Budgell has ten points in the playoffs so far, including six in his team’s sweep of the Titan, a series in which he was a pivotal factor. The trio of defensemen Lukas Cormier, Noah Laaouan and William Trudeau remain forces in all three zones, while Francesco Lapenna continues to have a postseason run for the ages, leading the league in GAA (1.17), save percentage (.951%) and wins (6) for an Islanders squad that has given up a mere seven goals in the first two rounds.

This is the fourth time since 2017 in which Charlottetown has reached round three, including in 2021, when the club went the distance against Victoriaville but fell in five games to the eventual President Cup Champions.

As proficient as the Isles have been defensively, the Phœnix has been every bit as prolific offensively. Overall, the Phœnix has averaged almost five goals per game en route to its first appearance in the league semifinals.

Much of this offense has ran through co-scoring leaders Xavier Parent and Joshua Roy (16 points), along with Julien Anctil. Super freshman David Spacek (1G, 8A) leads all rookies – and all defensemen – in points entering round three, while Jakob Robillard has been a steady presence between the pipes.

The Phœnix eliminated the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in four games in round one before sweeping the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the quarterfinals. This is the first time a team from Sherbrooke has reached the third round of the playoffs since 1993, when Phœnix Executive Member and ex-netminder Jocelyn Thibault led the Sherbrooke Faucons to the President Cup Final.

The Phœnix defeated the Islanders in both meetings between the clubs in the 2021-22 regular season. Anctil scored the game-winner in a 3-2 victory in Sherbrooke on November 5, while Sherbrooke’s 6-2 triumph in Charlottetown on April 22 represents the last time the Islanders were handed a loss on home ice. These two organizations have met once before in postseason action; a first-round encounter in 2015 that saw the Isles emerge victorious in six games, their first playoff series win in 11 years.

One of these teams will punch its ticket to the President Cup Final for the first time ever. The battle for that berth will definitely be one to remember.

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