The reality of this year’s QMJHL final is it has no impact on who makes it to the Memorial Cup.
The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Halifax Mooseheads have already qualified for the tournament but that doesn’t mean either team will go through the motions in the championship series. Athletes are programmed to win at all costs and it is certain the players from both sides badly want to have a league title on their resumes. It’s just how they’re wired.
And the good news is you couldn’t ask for a better matchup than this. Both teams are powerhouses who are peaking at the right time.
Here’s how they compare <heading into the upcoming best-of-seven:
Offence
There is no shortage of firepower in this matchup. The Huskies scored the second-most goals in the league during the regular season (320) and the Mooseheads weren’t far behind in fourth (300). Rouyn-Noranda won’t have league scoring champion Peter Abbandonato because of mononucleosis but can roll out five other forwards who averaged better than a point per game — Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Joel Teasdale, Alex Beaucage, Felix Bibeau and Louis-Filip Cote. The Mooseheads counter with similar depth, led by the league’s top goal scorer from the regular season (Samuel Asselin, 48) and playoffs (Raphael Lavoie, 17). Asselin, Lavoie, BO Groulx, Arnaud Durandeau, Antoine Morand, Keith Getson and Maxim Trepanier all scored at a pace similar to their Huskies counterparts.
Defence
The league’s best defenceman — Noah Dobson — is a pillar on the Rouyn-Noranda blue line, along with Justin Bergeron, who had 57 points in 65 regular season games. The rest of the Huskies defence helped them lead the league in goals against (138), which was 28 better than the second-place Mooseheads. Halifax’s Jared McIsaac was second in the league in scoring by defencemen during the regular season with 62 points and Justin Barron, Patty Kyte and Jake Ryczek all had 30-plus points. Jocktan Chainey might have also hit that plateau had he not missed 36 games and Walter Flower contributed 20 points, while posting a plus-30.
Goaltending
Rouyn-Noranda’s Zachary Emond (1.73 goals against average) and Samuel Harvey (2.08) teamed up to allow just two goals per game during the regular season and have lowered that to 1.86 during the post-season. Harvey is the starter and carries an incredible 1.67 GAA at the moment. Alexis Gravel had a rocky start to the playoffs but has been Halifax’s most valuable player the past two rounds. His .921 save percentage isn’t far behind Harvey (.928) but his stats took a beating during the first few games of the first round against the Quebec Remparts. His save percentage since Game 5 of that series is .933.
Coaching
Halifax’s Eric Veilleux and Rouyn-Noranda’s Mario Pouliot have won a Memorial Cup. Veilleux got his in 2012 with the Shawinigan Cataractes and Pouliot is the reigning national championship coach after guiding the Bathurst Titan to last year’s title. This is Veilleux’s fourth trip to the President Cup final as a head coach and Pouliot’s second. Ironically, Veilleux replaced Pouliot behind the Baie-Comeau Drakkar bench in 2012.
Special teams
Both teams really excel on the power play and penalty kill. Halifax was second-best in the league with the man advantage during the regular season (28.1 per cent) and remains in that slot in the post-season (30.8). The Huskies were fourth during the season (26.5) and have taken that conversion rate up to 35.2 in the playoffs to put them just ahead of the Mooseheads in top spot. Halifax also edged Rouyn-Noranda in regular season penalty killing (85.6 vs. 83.3) but the playoff numbers vary dramatically. The Huskies remain steady in second (87.7) but the Mooseheads slid drastically to 13th (74.6).
Intangibles
The Huskies have three players — Abbandonato, Harvey and Jacob Neveu — who were on the Rouyn-Noranda team that won the 2016 President Cup and went to the Memorial Cup. ... There are two Nova Scotians on the Huskies roster — forward Tyler Hinam and defenceman Ryan MacLellan. ... With the exception of a 4 p.m., Game 6 start, all the other games are scheduled for 8 p.m. Atlantic time. ... Games 1 and 2 are in Rouyn-Noranda on Thursday and Friday, followed by Games 3 and 4 in Halifax on Monday and Tuesday next week. ... The Huskies set a QMJHL record with 59 regular season wins.
