Notes on the semi-finals
<b>Pre-series notes on the semi-finals
opposing « Chicoutimi Gatineau » :</b>
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<b>CHICOUTIMI</b>
 The Chicoutimi Sagueneens have eliminated the Val d’Or Foreurs in seven games at the first round, and the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in five games at the quarter-finals.
 Maxime Boisclair registered 10 points and six goals at his four last games against Cape Breton. During these four consecutive wins, Stanislav Lascek participated in nine of the 16 goals scored by his team. Boisclair is the best scorer of the 2004 playoffs with eight goals.
 Goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers also significantly contributed to the previous series against Cape Breton as he maintained a 2.51 goal-against average and a .934 save percentage with an average of 38 shots per game.
 Defenceman Nicolas Marcotte distinguished himself with eight assists in 12 games in the playoffs. He maintained a +3 differential. He also shot 27 times at the goal and distributed 50 body checks along the way, a summit in the QMJHL in the current series.
 Head-coach Richard Martel enters his second consecutive semi-finals after having conducted the Baie Comeau Drakkar to the same last year. Will he be inflicted the same verdict at the end of this series? Last year, the Drakkar had been eliminated at the end of a lengthy seven game semi-final series against Halifax. In total, Martel will be coaching his sixteenth playoff campaign since his debut in the circuit in 1993-94, this one against the Olympiques. So far, he won seven. On the four coaches still active in the 2004 playoffs, he is by far the most experienced with 43 wins in career, an all-time seventh, and 84 games, an eight position in the history of the League.
<b>GATINEAU</b>
 The Gatineau Olympiques have radically dominated the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the 2003-2004 regular season with three wins and no loss, 14 goals scored and two allowed. Defenceman Doug O’Brien has been brilliant during these three games with six points and four goals.
 After having won a bye at the first round as champions of their division and of the regular season as well, head-coach Benoit Groulx has lead his team in the quarter-finals to swiftly eliminate the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in four games.
 Captain Maxime Talbot picked up things where he had left them last year, having then been the most valuable player of the 2003 playoffs and registered three goals and three assists for a total of six points during the last series against the representatives from Abitibi. He is the all-time leader of the most active players of the QMJHL with 61 points in 41 games in playoffs.
 Dominic D’Amour has been a key defence player with 14 body checks, a +3 differential and two assists. He also received 20 shots at the goal, an average of five per game, the best performance of the team on that level.
 Philippe Dupuis has taken advantage of the game in overtime, scoring the winning goal at the second game of the series against the Huskies. This was his third goal in career in overtime during playoffs. The other two were scored in 2002 against Montreal and Victoriaville. Dupuis is currently the most efficient centre player of his team having won an average of 57.3% of the face-offs.
 Between goaltenders having participated in at least four games in series, David Tremblay is the one having kept the best goal-against average (1.92). These games were his firsts in career with the QMJHL since he had tended the goal for a mere eight-minute period during the 2003 playoffs.
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<a HREF="index.php?page=234342412&calendar_mode=0&id_type_cal=2&id_saison=2&serie_ronde=8&browse_mode=1&year1=2004&year2=2004&month1=4&month2=4&month2=4&day1=14&day2=30&id_saison_equipe=43&teammode=1" Target = "_blank" class="lnkBase9px">COMPLETE SCHEDULE Semi-final series: Chicoutimi vs Gatineau</a>
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<b>Pre-series notes on the semi-finals between
« Moncton Rimouski »</b>
<b>MONCTON</b>
 After having srapidly eliminated the Baie Comeau Drakkar in four games, the Moncton Wildcats had their share of hard work to do before getting rid of the resilient PEI Rocket in six games.
 With a combined exceptional performance of 112.6% from the special units or 20.8% in power play and 91.8% when short-handed, head-coach Christian Larue’s players will have to face the best offensive brigade of the current playoffs. Indeed the Rimouski Oceanic have scored an average of four goals per game and maintained a 35.5% efficiency rate on power plays at their four games against Shawinigan.
 The powerful forward Steve Bernier has scored seven goals since the beginning of the series. Two of them were winning ones. Bernier will face two former team mates who played on his line when they were with the Ste. Foy Gouvernors in the Midget AAA : Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Dany Roussin. After having won the Air Canada Cup, the ultimate honour in Canadian Midget AAA hockey, the three of them had each been selected in the first round of the QMJHL Entry Draft in 2001.
 James Sanford distinguished himself with the Monctonion formation with a total of 11 points since the beginning of the playoffs March 19. He stands in the first position of the defensive scorers of the League. Same as his team mate Bernier, he has two winning goals. His +6 Plus and Minus record puts him on the same level as forwards Bruce Graham and Martin Karsums.
 Only one word can summarize veteran goaltender Corey Crawford’s work: dominant! With a .938 save percentage, he has been the best of all goaltenders of the two first rounds of the playoffs. After 10 games, he has a 2.08 goal-against average with an average of 33.7 shots per game. The Oceanic will be quite a challenge for the goaltender whose professional rights belong to the Chicago Black Hawks.
<b>RIMOUSKI</b>
 After having rushed the Shawinigan Cataractes out in four games, the Rimouski Oceanic will want to forge ahead against the formidable Moncton Wildcats.
 The Rimouski offensive is nothing to sneer at with its top guns, the main one being Sidney Crosby who scored six goals and got the same number of assists in the quarter-finals. With 12 points, he is only five points away from the leader from Chicoutimi, Stanislav Lascek.
 The best scorer of the regular season Dany Roussin with 59 goals, has had quite a game last April 6. During the third match against Shawinigan, he got four points and two goals. His team mates Pouliot and Crosby also got four points during that game won 8-2 in Shawinigan.
 During the regular season, defenceman Philippe Lauzé generously distributed 235 body checks. And he is acting the same during the playoffs having given so far a total of 21 after four games. Another defenceman, Patrick Coulombe, shot 14 times at the goals, the most often so far during the playoffs, and collected one goal.
 Guillaume Lavallée will probably have a more important role to play in the series against Moncton. Against the Cataractes, his performance (a 2.00 goal-against average and a .927 save percentage) went almost unnoticed due to the Oceanic rapidly taking the initiative in the scoring and having been behind only during two short moments throughout the quarter finals, at their first and fourth games.
 Further to a popular survey conducted on the Web site of the Oceanic at www.oceanic.qc.ca, 70% of the 1,900 fans voted that the Wildcats will win the semi-finals. The Oceanic is fresh and rested as the team did not play since April 7. Wildcats or Oceanic?
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<a HREF="index.php?page=234342412&calendar_mode=0&id_type_cal=2&id_saison=2&serie_ronde=8&browse_mode=1&year1=2004&year2=2004&month1=4&month2=4&month2=4&day1=14&day2=30&id_saison_equipe=36&teammode=1" Target = "_blank" class="lnkBase9px">COMPLETE SCHEDULE Semi-final series: Moncton vs Rimouski </a>
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