Inside the Numbers. Setting the stage for the QMJHL semi-finals

The two QMJHL semi-final series that start this Friday, April 22^nd sure have people talking; there’s no denying the fans’ interest. A Rouyn-Noranda/Moncton series means a head-to-head between the two leading regular season scorers: Conor Garland and Francis Perron. Looking elsewhere, the last showdown between Shawinigan and Saint John takes us back to the MasterCard Memorial Cup from the spring of 2012. Expectations are high for this series, which pits two division champions against each other.

*****************************************

ROUYN-NORANDA (#1 | 113 points | Western Division champions)

… vs

MONCTON (#6 | 83 points)

• In the regular season – two encounters of only a one-goal difference was the story of the Huskies and the Wildcats in 2015-2016. Overtime was needed on the 25^th of February at the Iamgold Arena, in an offensive showdown that ended in a score of 7-6. Before that, in December, Rouyn-Noranda won the first meeting of the season in Moncton, by a score of 4-3.
• In history – The Huskies and the Wildcats have met twice in the playoffs. In the second round in 2010, Moncton got the better of Rouyn. Five years earlier, it was André Tourigny’s team that had the upper hand over the New Brunswickers.
• 2008 – is the only year so far where the Huskies defeated their rival in a semi-final round. That was a decisive 4-game victory over the Sea Dogs. On each of the the other 4 occasions when Rouyn-Noranda made it to the semis, they were swept in 4 games. In 2008, Rouyn-Noranda won their first 12 post-season games but fell to the Gatineau Olympiques in 5 games in the final (4-1).
• For a 6^th time – The Wildcats have already played in the semi-finals on 5 previous occasions. On three of those occasions (2004, 2006, & 2010), they went on to the finals, ultimately winning the President Cup the two latter times.
• Big point gap – If you look at the regular season standings you will see that in 2015-16, Rouyn-Noranda (113) amassed 30 more points than Moncton (83). Since the spring of 2010, the team with fewer points in the standings has gone on to the finals on 5 occasions. Last year, Québec was 12 points back of the Wildcats but the latter were upset; eliminated in 4 consecutive games.
• The Perron-Garland duel –The two top regular-season scorers will be trying to show their stuff in this series. Garland (128 points) finished the season with a 20-point lead over Perron. But remember, the Huskies captain was this year’s Most Valuable Player award winner, taking that distinction way from Garland who won it last season. While Perron has maintained a pace of 2 points per game, so far in the playoffs, Garland received a lot of attention from the Tigres and the Olympiques. All the same, he stepped up when he had to, with 12 points in 11 matches. He also took part in three of his team’s goals in their decisive 7-2 win over Gatineau last Monday.

Interesting Links …

• SERIES PROFILE
• COMPARISONS (REG.S.)
• Roster…  ROU | MON
• STATS | big report (PLAYOFFS)
• STATS | big report (REG.S.)
• Box Office…  ROU | MON

*****************************************

SHAWINIGAN (#2 | 93 points | Eastern Division Champions)

… vs

SAINT JOHN (#3 | 90 points | Maritime Division champions)

• In the regular season – The Sea Dogs came out on top over Shawinigan on 2 occasions during the regular season, the first being a 5-2 win in early October. Later, on February 17^th, it was the Cataractes who took an early 2-0 lead in front of their home town fans, only to be unable to hold on to that lead, eventually falling 3-2 on Matthew Highmore’s game-winning goal.
• 2012/05/25 – Everyone will recall the date when the 2 teams faced off in a winner-takes-all game in the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup semi-finals. In a supercharged Bionest Centre, it was the Cataractes who carries the day, winning 7-4 over the Sea Dogs. Two days later, Shawinigan won the MasterCard Memorial Cup, beating London.
• Participation in the semi-finals – Shawinigan is back in the semi-finals for the first time since 2009 – a 4-1 win versus Québec. Since the league was founded in 1969-70, Shawinigan has participated in the semi-finals on 12 occasions, and were victorious twice; 1971 and 2009. Among current semi-finalists, just like Rouyn-Noranda, Shawinigan is on the hunt for its first President Cup. Remember, it was as hosts four years ago and not as QMJHL champions, that Shawinigan participated in the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
• Four-year wait – As for the Sea Dogs, they are back among the quartet of semi-finalists for the 1^st time since 2012. This year marks their 5^th appearance in this round, the other years being 2008, 2010, 2011, & 2012. They will be attempting to take part in their 4^th President Cup final since the team entered the league in 2005-2006.
• Battle of the 20-year-old goalies – Even if both of them were born in 1995, the two goaltenders taking part in the Cataractes/Sea Dogs series have not traveled the same path. This Friday, Cadorette will be taking part in his 72^nd QMJHL playoff game; a league record. On the other side, Marc-Antoine Turcotte will be in net for a 13^th time in the post season, all 12 other outings having taken place this spring.

Interesting Links …

• SERIES PROFILE
• COMPARISONS (REG.S.)
• Rosters…  SHA | SNB
• STATS | big report (PLAYOFFS)
• STATS | big report (REG.S.)
• Box Office…  SHA | SNB

*****************************************

In Brief

• Chase Marchand (Rouyn-Noranda) – Let’s be realistic! His outstanding goals against average of .41 will be hard to keep under 1.0 until the end of the playoffs. He can however set his sights on Louis-Philip Guindon’s QMJHL record of 1.84, set last year. He also lacks only one shutout to establish a new single post-season record. With 5 shutouts so far, he has equalled the mark set by Guillaume Lavallée (Halifax, 2003). A tip of the hat to the show put on so far by Marchand and his defence corps.
• Jean-Christophe Beaudin (Rouyn-Noranda) – In the recent series against the Armada, he was the Huskies’ most productive forward, with 5 points; 3 of them goals. AJ Greer was also credited with as many points; 5 assists.
• Manuel Weiderer (Moncton) – The 19-year-old veteran had 2 consecutive 3-goal games, helping his side take games 5 and 6 in their quarter-final series with Gatineau. In Wildcats history, only Mathieu Benoit (2000) and Gabriel Bourque (2010) can claim two hat tricks in the same playoff series. The German forward shares 1^st place for goals in the 2016 playoffs with 11; alongside the Sea Dog’s Sam Povorozniouk and Michael Joly of the Eagles.
• Austin Kosack (Moncton) – Keep an eye on the Wildcats’ defenceman, #3. This 20-year-old veteran, originally from Ontario, proved himself intense and effective in the recent series against the Olympiques, with 3 points in his last 2 games and a differential of +5. Overall in the playoffs, his +10 ties him with teammate Adam Holwell for 3^rd place for that stat, behind leader Cavan Fitzgerald (Shawinigan, +12).
• Philippe Cadorette (Shawinigan) – With 46 lifetime wins in the QMJHL, he sits in 2^nd place, just behind Zachary Fucale (49). If the Cataractes and Cado go on to the final round, those 4 necessary wins will make him the first goalie in league history to hit the magic number of 50 post-season victories.

Most wins by a goaltender in the QMJHL playoffs (lifetime)
Pos	Goaltender	Team(s)	Season	Record
1	Zachary Fucale	Halifax-Québec	2011>>2015	49
2	Philippe Cadorette	Baie-Comeau-Shawinigan	2011>>2016	46
3	Roberto Luongo	Val-d`Or-Acadie-Bathurst	1995>>1999	38
4	Robert Desjardins	Shawinigan-Hull-Longueuil-Victoriaville	1984>>1988	30
5	Emmanuel Fernandez	Laval	1991>>1994	29
6	Adam Russo	Acadie-Bathurst	2000>>2003	28
6	Marco Cousineau	Baie-Comeau-Drummondville-Saint John	2006>>2010	28
8	Jacques Cloutier	Trois-Rivières	1976>>1980	27
8	Etienne Marcoux	Blainville-Boisbriand	2009>>2014	27
10	David Tremblay	Hull-Gatineau	2002>>2006	26
10	Cédrick Desjardins	Rimouski-Québec	2003>>2006	26

• Gabriel Gagné (Shawinigan) – Everyone knows about the Cataractes’ offensive power. In the recent series against Charlottetown, one has to mention the energy of Gabriel Gagné, who produced 8 points, 5 of which were goals, in 6 games. His plus/minus of +7 illustrates well the contribution of this 6’5” giant.
• Thomas Chabot (Saint John) – had two outings of 4 assists so far in the playoffs, the record for a defenceman being 3 in the same year. That record was set in 1986 by Sylvain Côté of the Hull Olympiques, who even had a 5-assist game. His differential of +11 is the second most impressive among defencemen, while he leads all d-men with 17 points, 15 of those, assists.
• Matthew Highmore (Saint John) – With 3 two-goal games in the series against Cape Breton, he was, along with Sam Povorozniouk (9 points, +5) a spark plug for his team. The latter had 39 regular-season goals.
• Michael Joly (Cape Breton) – with the elimination of his team Tuesday, he finished his Junior career with 8 game-winning goals to his credit; 2 shy of the league record. Jonathan Drouin, (Halifax, 2012-2104) is the only player since 1970 to reach the mark of 10 game-winning, playoff goals.
• Matt Murphy (Saint John) – if he plays in 7 more playoff games, he would tie the all time record for most games played by a player in the playoffs (78). The record is currently held by forward Marc Bouchard and defenseman Danny Groulx.

Most games played by a player in the QMJHL playoffs (lifetime)
Pos	Player	Team(s)	Season	Record
1	Marc Bouchard	Chicoutimi-Acadie-Bathurst	1994>>1999	78
	Danny Groulx	Val-d`Or-Acadie-Bathurst-Victoriaville	1997>>2002	78
3	Philippe Dupuis	Hull-Gatineau-Rouyn-Noranda-Moncton	2001>>2006	76
4	Stephen MacAulay	Saint John-Halifax	2008>>2013	75
5	Jacques Jr Locas	St-Jérôme-Québec	1969>>1974	73
	Daniel Goneau	Laval-Granby	1992>>1996	73
	Nick Fugère	Hull-Gatineau	2001>>2006	73
8	Eric Dubois	Laval	1986>>1991	71
	Jason Boudrias	Laval-Chicoutimi	1992>>1996	71
	Frédéric Chartier	Laval-Beauport	1992>>1996	71
	Sébastien Bêty	Drummondville-Chicoutimi	1992>>1997	71
	Mathieu Benoit	Chicoutimi-Acadie-Bathurst-Moncton	1995>>2000	71
	Matt Murphy	Val-d`Or-Halifax-Québec-Saint John	2011>>2016	71
14	Jérémy Grégoire	Chicoutimi-Baie-Comeau	2011>>2015	70

A LITTLE HISTORY

• Radou! Radou! – Ten years ago in the spring of 2006, with 23 consecutive games of at least 1 point, the Québec Remparts’ Alexander Radulov set a new QMJHL playoff record. His 55 total points constitute the 2^nd greatest playoff total in history, just behind Simon Gamache (57 point, Val-d’Or, 2001). That year, the Remparts fell to Moncton in the QMJHL final, but were all the same able to participate in the MasterCard Memorial Cup. There, they took their revenge on the Wildcats, beating them in the final game of the championship. It was the very first time where two QMJHL teams faced off in the CHL grand finale.