CHL Coast to Coast: 12 teams remain
Wednesday April 22, 2015
With the 2015 MasterCard Memorial cup in Quebec City just a month away, the third round of the CHL Playoffs get underway this week with 12 teams remaining in the hunt for national supremacy.
A pair of Game 7 clashes in the QMJHL on Tuesday saw the Moncton Wildcats and the Val-d’Or Foreurs emerge victorious to round out the dozen clubs that continue to compete in the CHL Playoffs.
The Val-d’Or Foreurs overcame a 3-1 deficit in Tuesday night’s Game 7 battle with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar as third period goals from Pierre-Maxime Poudrier and Shawn Ouellette-St. Amant knotted the score at three to force overtime.
Alexis Pepin took a cross-ice feed from Poudrier 4:18 into the extra frame to beat Baie-Comeau goaltender Philippe Cadorette and lead the Foreurs to their second straight President’s Cup Semi-Final berth.
The Foreurs clawed back from a 3-0 series deficit to beat the Drakkar in seven games, mirroring past QMJHL playoff efforts by the Halifax Mooseheads (2012) and the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (2001).
Val-d’Or moves on to face the first place Rimouski Oceanic who come off a 4-1 series victory over the Gatineau Olympiques. Rimouski goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon is the reigning Vaughn CHL Goaltender of the Week while winger Christopher Clapperton leads the team in scoring with nine goals and six assists for 15 points in nine contests.
The Foreurs will have their work cut out for them against a Rimouski club that won all four of the games between the two clubs this season.
Moving eastward, the Moncton Wildcats persevered in a 6-3 home ice victory to eliminate the Halifax Mooseheads in Game 7. Shifty Wildcats forward Conor Garland registered five assists in the win while veteran captain Stephen Johnston had two goals and an assist and St. Louis Blues prospect Ivan Barbashev, also named CHL Player of the Week, had a goal and two helpers.
Moncton shut down QMJHL playoff leading scorer Nikolaj Ehlers, limiting him to just an assist in Game 7. Ehlers finishes his playoff run with 10 goals, 21 assists and 31 points in 14 games.
The Wildcats bounced back after falling behind 2-0 in the series to win games three and four on the road. They’ll be tasked with facing the MasterCard Memorial Cup host Quebec Remparts who swept the Charlottetown Islanders 4-0 in the second round in a series that begins on Thursday.
The OHL Conference Finals are set to get underway starting on Thursday as well, with the CHL’s top ranked Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds taking on Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters on home ice.
The Greyhounds have enjoyed a perfect run of playoff hockey, eliminating the Saginaw Spirit and the Guelph Storm with 4-0 series victories. The Hounds carry a 12-game winning streak into their third round clash with an Otters club that they went 1-1 against this season.
Anaheim Ducks prospect Nick Ritchie has points in all eight of the playoff games he’s appeared in, collecting a team-leading 10 goals, nine assists and 19 points. He’s joined by six other Greyhounds teammates with at least a point-per-game in the OHL Playoffs as the team features some of the best offensive depth in the country.
The Otters will be tasked with starting the series in Sault Ste. Marie in a building that the Greyhounds lost just three times in all season. After a four game sweep of the London Knights, the Otters enter the series with the wind at their backs.
McDavid leads playoff scoring with 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points in nine games. Mid-season acquisitions in Remi Elie and Jake Marchment have paid playoff dividends for the Otters as both players have registered over a point-per-game while Elie is tied for the OHL lead in plus/minus at plus-14 and Marchment follows close behind at plus-9.
Goaltending will be a big difference maker in a series that features two of the CHL’s high powered offenses. New York Rangers prospect Brandon Halverson will be put to the test for the Greyhounds against Otters 19 year-old Devin Williams.
The North Bay Battalion are making a second straight appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Troops eliminated the Barrie Colts in the secound round of the playoffs for the second year in a row, playing their typical shut down style to take a 4-1 series victory.
In a rematch of the 2014 Eastern Conference Final, the Battalion will square off with the first place Oshawa Generals who have defeated both the Peterborough Petes and Niagara IceDogs in five games to reach the third round.
New York Islanders prospect Michael Dal Colle tries to lead a deep Generals team to its first OHL title since 1997 after the club finished with a franchise high 51 wins and 108 points this past season.
Oshawa goaltender Ken Appleby will face his hometown team as the North Bay native finished the season with an OHL-leading 2.08 goals against-average and a .924 save percentage.
The WHL Conference Finals get underway on Friday and Saturday as all four teams will be in action.
The Kelowna Rockets and the Portland Winterhawks meet in the Western Conference Final for the second year in a row after Portland took a 4-2 series victory in 2014 enroute to narrowly losing the WHL Championship to the Edmonton Oil Kings in a seven game thriller.
The Rockets enter action off a 4-1 series victory over the Victoria Royals, one in which big Edmonton Oilers prospect Leon Draisaitl recorded two goals and nine helpers. Kelowna also benefitted from the return of defenceman Josh Morrissey to the lineup. The Calgary, AB, native recorded two goals and seven assists in three contests against Victoria.
The Portland Winterhawks make their fifth consecutive appearance in the Western Conference Finals, having eliminated US Division foes in the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Everett Silvertips.
The dynamic duo of Nic Petan and Oliver Bjorkstrand are second and third in WHL playoff scoring respectively. Petan has seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points in 11 contests while Bjorkstrand leads the WHL playoffs with 10 goals to go with eight assists and 18 points.
Portland took wins in three of their four meetings against Kelowna this season, with three of the four contests decided by one goal.
In the Eastern Conference, the Brandon Wheat Kings make an appearance in the Conference Final for the first time since 2010. After leading the WHL with 114 points in the regular season, Brandon has cruised past both the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Regina Pats in five games to now face the Calgary Hitmen.
The Wheat Kings had to battle in their second round series with Regina, with their last three games decided by a goal, two of which saw their conclusion in overtime. Tanner Kaspick and Peter Quenneville were the heroes into the third round with big overtime goals while goaltender Jordan Papirny has continued his strong play, leading all WHL goaltenders with a 1.98 goals against-average and a .938 save percentage.
WHL playoff leading scorer Adam Tambellini and the Calgary Hitmen come off series victories over the Kootenay Ice and the Medicine Hat Tigers. Philadelphia Flyers prospect Travis Sanheim comes off a big series against Medicine Hat that saw him collect three goals and four assists from the blueline, including the double-overtime winner in Game 5 to decide the series.
The Wheat Kings and Hitmen meet in the WHL Playoffs for the first time since 2012 as Calgary puts their best foot forward in combating Brandon’s potent offense that led the WHL with 340 goals this season.
Twelve teams continue on the road to the 2015 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Quebec City. Only six will emerge from what’s sure to be an intense third round of the CHL Playoffs.
Fans across the country can watch the CHL Playoffs on Sportsnet 360 with the Greyhounds at Otters in Game 3 of the series on Sunday April 26 and Game 4 on Tuesday April 28, as well as Game 5 of the series on Thursday April 30. All games will start at 7pm Eastern.