Eric Veilleux jokes about not being able to give a more elaborate answer about why his team is playing so well right now.
The Halifax Mooseheads head coach said sometimes the explanation is as simple as good health and circumstances. With the exception of injured depth winger Cole Stewart, Veilleux finally has a full lineup after going the entire regular season and the first 13 games of the playoffs with at least one key player sidelined.
“Obviously when you add BO Groulx back to our lineup against Drummondville (in the third round), it is a bit of a boost,” Veilleux said. “But at the same time the kid hadn’t played in five weeks. I thought his game progressed as the series went on and that was good news for us.
“For me, I play the players that are available to me. That’s all I can do. If they’re there or not there, our job in playoffs is to find ways to win hockey games. I try to play the best ones that I feel are going to give us the chance to win. And the ones that do, they’re going to get more ice time and that’s always the way it goes. It’s been that way forever and that’s never going to change.”
Veilleux also said competitors naturally get swept up in the emotion of the post-season so he hasn’t had to push any special buttons, either. He may be underselling his contributions somewhat there but the concept does ring true in many respects.
“It’s more important to concentrate on what we do and the way we play."
The Mooseheads are brimming with confidence after eliminating the Voltigeurs in six games in the semifinals. Now that they’re headed into the QMJHL championship series against the powerhouse Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, Veilleux plans to do little more than give them a slightly tailored game plan and then turn them loose.
“It’s more important to concentrate on what we do and the way we play,” he said. “What we’ve been through, that’s what we base ourselves on at this point. We’ll give the players a few pointers on how Rouyn plays. But at the same time, we have our style and we just to play that way. That’s it.”
The mindset in Rouyn-Noranda isn’t much different. Head coach and general manager Mario Pouliot said he devotes very little time to fine-tuning now that his team is this far into the playoffs, especially given how efficient the Huskies were all year. They set a new QMJHL record with 59 wins and are 12-2 so far in the post-season.
The Huskies are coming off sweeps of the Victoriaville Tigres and Rimouski Oceanic and are riding a 10-game winning streak, while the Mooseheads are 12-3 since dropping the first two games of their opening-round series against the Quebec Remparts.
“We’re going to face a really good team that is well prepared,” said Pouliot, who coached the Bathurst Titan to QMJHL and Memorial Cup titles last year. “With Eric, this is his fourth President Cup final so he has a lot of experience and their team improved a lot this season. They faced a lot of adversity. They started the season (on the road) for 15 games and they had a lot of injuries. Now that they have Groulx back they have a full lineup and you can see they are playing with a ton of poise and confidence. They’re playing a strong game right now so it’s going to be fun.”
Pouliot also said Quebec league scoring champion Peter Abbandonato’s recovery from mononucleosis is progressing well but he still doesn’t have a timetable for a return.
“He’s getting better,” he said. “He is supposed to meet our team doctor later this week so we’ll see what happens down the road. Some days he’s on the ice and stuff like that but you really don’t know with (mono). The doctor is the one who will decide that and it’s impossible to say when he will be ready.”
There are two Nova Scotians on the Huskies, although defenceman Ryan MacLellan is more of a depth player who has only appeared in two playoff games so far. Forward Tyler Hinam plays a key role on the Rouyn attack. The third-year winger had 22 goals and 44 points in 67 games this year.
“He’s one of our important players because he gives us depth up front, he’s a big kid and he’s a good skater,” Pouliot said. “He plays a solid game and he’s good on the forecheck. He’s confident with the puck and with (Vincent) Marleau and (Patrik) Hrehorcak, they played really good hockey against the Oceanic. He brings a lot to our lineup and he can create a lot of possession for us down low. He’s an important player in our puzzle.”
The best-of-seven series opens in Rouyn-Noranda on Thursday night.
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