Six remain in hunt for MasterCard Memorial Cup
By Josh Sweetland/CHL
Wednesday May 6, 2015
With the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup just two weeks away, the CHL’s 60 teams have been narrowed down to just six still in pursuit of Canadian junior hockey’s ultimate prize.
A trio of league championships are set, as the QMJHL President Cup Final got underway on Tuesday.
The MasterCard Memorial Cup host Quebec Remparts took the first step toward becoming the first team since the 2008 Kitchener Rangers to win a league championship as tournament hosts.
Nineteen year-old forward Michael Joly’s hat-trick wasn’t enough for the Rimouski Oceanic, who fell on home ice to the Remparts in Game 1 as Arizona Coyotes prospect Anthony Duclair had two goals and an assist in a 7-4 decision.
Though Rimouski took the season series between the two clubs with wins in five of their eight regular season meetings, the Remparts have elevated their game in the postseason coming off a 4-0 series sweep over the Moncton Wildcats in the semi-finals.
“We managed to score a few goals that threw them out of their rhythm,” Remparts winger and Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Adam Erne told La Presse’s Carl Tardif following Tuesday’s win. “They weren’t the best team in our league for nothing though,” he added. “The rest of the series won’t be easy and we aren’t taking them lightly.”
The Oceanic have employed the services of both Philippe Desrosiers and Louis-Philippe Guindon in the crease throughout the playoffs. Guindon was chased from the crease on Tuesday after allowing four goals on 19 shots.
Desrosiers, a Dallas Stars prospect, slots back into the crease for the first time since Rimouski’s second round date with Gatineau back in mid-April. He led all QMJHL goaltenders with a 2.50 goals against-average this season to go with a record of 29-9-1-2. Guindon however, had the hot hand throughout the playoffs prior to Tuesday’s bump in the road, posting a 9-0-0-0 record with a 1.50 goals against-average and a .938 save percentage.
The Oceanic are back in the QMJHL Finals for the first time since 2012 when they lost in four straight games to Jonathan Huberdeau and the Saint John Sea Dogs. Even though they have assured themselves a spot in the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup, the Oceanic would love to enter the tournament as champions and raise a banner alongside the crown achieved in 2005 when Sidney Crosby led them to a 4-0 series victory over Halifax.
Game 2 of the series goes Friday night in Rimouski.
Moving west, the Rogers OHL Championship Series gets underway on Friday as well as the Oshawa Generals hold home ice advantage against Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters.
After eliminating the Peterborough Petes, Niagara IceDogs and North Bay Battalion, the Eastern Conference Champion Generals know they’re facing a new challenge in an Otters club that employed a deadly powerplay against the CHL’s top ranked Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
“They have some special players in their lineup that other teams we’ve faced didn’t,” said Generals coach D.J. Smith. “We need to be aware who is on the ice at all times and if we want to win this series we’ll need all 20 guys in our lineup playing their best hockey every night.”
Oshawa surrendered a CHL-low 157 goals this season, a new franchise record. The Generals featured the OHL’s top penalty kill that operated at 85.7%, one that received big contributions from blueline stalwart Josh Brown and goaltender Ken Appleby.
“You always want to put yourself up against the best players and toughest challenges,” said Brown, captain of the Generals and recently signed Florida Panthers prospect. “Our team is excited for the opportunity to compete for a championship.”
The Generals took both regular season meetings against Erie, with Connor McDavid out of the lineup in both instances.
“I don’t think limiting his chances is the job of one or two guys,” Brown said of the task of shutting down the OHL’s leading playoff scorer. “When he’s on the ice we have to make him go through all five of us. It’s going to be a group effort.”
McDavid’s torrid playoff pace continued into the Western Conference Finals as he has been named the CHL Player of the Week back-to-back in each of the last two weeks. The draft eligible centreman is nine points shy of the OHL’s playoff points record of 51 and tied the Otters franchise playoff points record of 42 on Friday with a goal and four assists.
“Most guys don’t get two chances to go deep in the playoffs,” said McDavid whose Otters lost in the Western Conference Final to the eventual OHL Champion Guelph Storm last spring. “We’re fortunate to get through the series with Sault Ste. Marie and be here to battle Oshawa for the championship.”
McDavid and the Otters will have to contend with a big, physical Generals squad featuring Montreal Canadiens first round pick Michael McCarron when the puck drops in Game 1 on Friday at 7:35pm.
A busy week in the WHL features the league handing out its annual awards and also holding the WHL Bantam Draft prior to the start of the WHL Championship Series on Friday.
The Brandon Wheat Kings and the Kelowna Rockets meet in a rematch of the 2005 WHL Finals that saw Shea Weber and the Rockets take a 4-1 series victory to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
This time around, the Wheat Kings, who won the Scotty Munro Trophy with a 53-11-4-4 record this season, hope home ice advantage can work in their favour and help earn them their first WHL title since 1996.
Brandon’s road to the WHL Championship includes 4-1 series victories over the Edmonton Oil Kings, Regina Pats and most recently, the Calgary Hitmen.
While the goals have been supplied by New Jersey Devils prospect John Quenneville, Florida Panthers draftee Jayce Hawryluk and regular season leading scorer Tim McGauley, Brandon’s young defence corps has been especially impressive, limiting opponents to just 34 goals in 15 playoff contests.
NHL scouts have had the Wheat Kings circled on their calendars all season with the likes of draft eligible talent in Ivan Provorov and Ryan Pilon patrolling the blueline.
Not to be forgotten though, is 19 year-old goaltender Jordan Papirny, an undrafted former first round pick by the Wheat Kings in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft. The Edmonton native was recently named the Vaughn WHL Goaltender of the Month after posting an 8-1-1 record with a 2.28 goals against average and a .928 save percentage in the month of April.
“I think it was important for me to have a good start to the playoffs, and I think that gave me confidence to continue through Round 2 and 3, and obviously I’m going to carry that forward going into Round 4,” Papirny told the Brandon Sun’s Rob Henderson. “Everything’s kind of under the microscope in the playoffs. Obviously the stakes are a lot higher and games are more meaningful. For myself it’s just going to the rink with a smile on my face and having some fun.”
Papirny’s poise will be tested in Brandon’s upcoming series against the Kelowna Rockets, a team they’ve been on a collision course with all season long.
The Rockets finished the regular season two points behind Brandon with a 53-13-5-1 record, but took the lone meeting between the two clubs this season by a score of 6-1 back in October.
With a long list of prominent names in Edmonton Oilers first round pick Leon Draisaitl, point producer Tyson Baillie and Canadian National Junior Team defencemen Josh Morrissey and Madison Bowey, the Rockets have cruised past the Tri-City Americans, Victoria Royals and perennial contender Portland Winterhawks to set up a date in the finals.
“We have to slow them down and make sure we’re battling and competing for a full 60,” said Rockets captain Madison Bowey regarding the team’s preparation for Brandon to Doyle Potenteau of the Kelowna Daily Courier. “That’s being on the body every chance we get.”
Much like the looming special teams battle set to take stage between Erie and Oshawa in the OHL, Brandon’s smouldering 32.2% postseason powerplay will be sure to meet resistance against Kelowna’s 87.1% playoff penalty kill.
The Rockets featured the best road record in the WHL this season at 27-5-3-1. It will be put to the test in games one and two in Brandon on Friday and Saturday to kick off the series.
What began as 60 teams is now down to six and will soon be four competing for national supremacy in the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup beginning Friday May 22 in Quebec City.
For more information please visit mastercardmemorialcup.ca.