Val-d’Or vs Rimouski series preview
The showdown between the Rimouski Océanic and the Val-d’Or Foreurs will get underway on Friday night at the Sun Life Financial Colisée in Rimouski. The match-up is an intriguing one, pitting a rested team against one that’s riding high from an emotional series. The Foreurs expended a lot of energy in their seven-game series against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
Val-d’Or will be looking to carry their momentum into this series against the Océanic who themselves have been off since April 17. In fact, Rimouski has played only nine games so far this spring thanks to their four-game sweep of the Victoriaville Tigres and five-game triumph over the Gatineau Olympiques. Val-d’Or meanwhile has played 13 games, including their six-game victory over Rouyn-Noranda in the opening round.
To win this series, the Foreurs will have to find some cracks in Océanic netminder Louis-Philip Guidon’s game. After taking over from Philippe Desrosiers and then only gave up one goal over 174 minutes of play, kicking aside 61-of-62 Gatineau shots he faced. With a perfect 5-0 record this spring, the former Voltigeurs goalie is oozing confidence right now.
In the Foreurs’ crease, rookie Etienne Montpetit has won all eight games for his team so far. He also helped lead the charge in Val-d’Or’s comeback against Baie-Comeau which included a pair of huge overtime wins.
Veterans’ Day
Armed with his 53 career playoff games under his belt, veteran Christopher Clapperton leads the charge for the Océanic with 15 points in nine games so far. He also has three game-winning goals and is riding a seven-game point streak. Clapperton is trailed by Alexis Loiseau and Frederik Gauthier in the point department for the Océanic. Despite having played only nine games, their power-play has still managed to score 11 goals for a solid 24.4% clip.
The vets have also been pacing the Foreurs’ attack as Anthony Richard (19 points), Anthony Beauregard (15), Jérémie Fraser (15), Nicolas Aubé-Kubel (14) and Pierre-Maxime Poudrier (13) are all averaging over a point per game. All five of them also won the President Cup with Val-d’Or last season. They will now be looking to solve a stingy Océanic penalty-killing unit that has surrendered only seven goals over 49 opportunities.
Advantage Océanic
While the playoffs are of course a whole new season, it’s worth noting that the Océanic did win all four regular season meetings with the Foreurs in 2014-15, scoring 22 goals in those games. This clash pits the league’s second-ranked defence (Rimouski) against the Q’s second-ranked offence (Val-d’Or) through the 68-game regular season.
As for the overall standings, the top-ranked Océanic had a 21-point edge over the Foreurs.
Schedule
| FRI | 15-04-24 | 7:30 pm | Val-d’Or | Rimouski | ||
| SAT | 15-04-25 | 4:00 pm | Val-d’Or | Rimouski | ||
| TUE | 15-04-28 | 7:30 pm | Rimouski | Val-d’Or | ||
| WED | 15-04-29 | 7:30 pm | Rimouski | Val-d’Or | ||
| FRI | 15-05-01 | 7:30 pm | * | Val-d’Or | Rimouski | |
| SUN | 15-05-03 | 4:00 pm | * | Rimouski | Val-d’Or | |
| TUE | 15-05-05 | 7:30 pm | * | Val-d’Or | Rimouski |
Head to Head
| Head to Head Record 2014-15 | Regular Season | Val-d’Or 0-4-0-0 | Rimouski 4-0-0-0 |
| Head to Head Record 2013-14 | Regular Season | Val-d’Or 2-2-0-0 | Rimouski 2-2-0-0 |
| Last 5 Years record between teams | Val-d’Or 7-12-0-1 | Rimouski 13-5-2-0 |
| Val-d’Or vs. Rimouski Last 5 Years record at Val-d’Or | Val-d’Or 6-3-0-1 | Rimouski 4-5-1-0 |
| Val-d’Or vs. Rimouski Last 5 Years record at Rimouski | Val-d’Or 1-9-0-0 | Rimouski 9-0-1-0 |
| Previous Meetings This Season | Val-d’Or 3 @ Rimouski 5 (Jan 17 2015) Final | |
| Rimouski 4 @ Val-d’Or 2 (Jan 9 2015) Final | ||
| Val-d’Or 2 @ Rimouski 8 (Oct 26 2014) Final | ||
| Rimouski 5 @ Val-d’Or 4 (Sep 21 2014) Final |
Team Stats
| Rimouski | Val-d’Or | |
| Team Record | 47-16-3-2 — 99 points | 35-25-3-5 — 78 points |
| Division Ranking | 1st East | 2nd West |
| Conference Ranking | 1st QMJHL | 6th QMJHL |
| League Ranking | 1st | 6th |
| Home Record | 28-4-1-1 | 21-10-0-3 |
| Away Record | 19-12-2-1 | 14-15-3-2 |
| GF | 279 | 283 |
| GA | 198 | 266 |
| PP (Overall) | (64/282) 22.7% | (74/291) 25.4% |
| PP (Home) | (40/157) 25.5% | (46/154) 29.9% |
| PP (Away) | (24/125) 19.2% | (28/137) 20.4% |
| PK (Overall) | (58/343) 83.1% | (77/319) 75.9% |
| PK (Home) | (23/151) 84.8% | (38/160) 76.3% |
| PK (Away) | (35/192) 81.8% | (39/159) 75.5% |
| Leading Rookie (PTS) | Laberge (15-11-26) | Desjardins (3-10-13) |
| Most PIM | Dunn – 153 | Fraser – 155 |
| Team PIM/GM | 17.4/Game | 14.8/Game |
| Leading Scorers (PTS) | Loiseau (35-61-96) | Richard (43-48-91) |
| DeLuca (44-47-91) | Beauregard (29-58-87) | |
| Clapperton (35-41-76) | Aubé-Kubel (38-42-80) | |
| Joly (26-19-45) | Poudrier (29-46-75) | |
| Kostalek (7-36-43) | Gauthier (38-35-73) | |
| Leading After 1st | 31-1-1-2 | 18-4-0-1 |
| Leading After 2nd | 29-1-0-0 | 25-1-0-2 |
| Tied After 1st | 11-4-1-0 | 12-10-0-2 |
| Tied After 2nd | 16-3-2-2 | 6-5-0-2 |
| Trailing After 1st | 5-11-1-0 | 5-11-3-2 |
| Trailing After 2nd | 2-12-1-0 | 4-19-3-1 |
| Out Shooting Opponents | 37-10-1-2 | 25-12-0-1 |
| Out Shot by Opponents | 10-6-2-0 | 9-13-3-4 |
| 1-Goal Games | 18-5-3-2 | 9-4-3-5 |
| 2-Goal Games | 10-1-0-0 | 7-7-0-0 |
| 3-Goal Games | 5-6-0-0 | 11-10-0-0 |
