By / Mark Janzen
Ladies and gentleman, the main event is just around the corner.
And boy oh boy are the heavyweights ready to rumble.
Forget upsets, upstarts or a Cinderella appearance. This year’s path to the Memorial Cup seems expressly reserved for top seeds and number one contenders.
With the Memorial Cup less than a month away, the competition in the OHL and QMJHL is as offensively powerful as ever.
So for whoever emerges from the WHL, the focus will have to be defence. Offense and lots of it is the name of the game east of Manitoba and if a team from out west plans to come home from Rimouski, Que. with hardware, it’s defence and goaltending that will be the key. And with that in mind, we take a look out at the heaviest of hitters out east.
OHL
There were four teams that dominated the regular season and to no one’s surprise those four teams dominated the playoffs. Belleville, Brampton, London and Windsor have been on a crash course all year and in the conference finals expectations came to fruition.
While all four teams have a legitimate shot at representing Ontario, it’s the Windsor Spitfires that might just have the leg up. Through 13 playoff games, they have four of the top five scorers league-wide including the highly touted 2010 draft prospect Taylor Hall and Canadian WJC defenseman Ryan Ellis. The only question for Windsor is their goaltending. Andrew Engelage has been good but not great—.892 save percentage and a 3.18 GAA in the playoffs—but when you score like Windsor does, those numbers might be good enough.
Although Windsor’s scoring gets the flashy press, their conference final opponent, London has a fair lot of talent to boast as well. The Knights picked up John Tavares and defenseman Michael Del Zotto late in the season to compliment an already bountiful roster. And with goalie Trevor Cann patrolling the crease, the Knights should be considered a significant contender.
In the other conference, Bellville and Brampton have two of the hottest goalies in the league in Mike Murphy and Thomas McCollum respectively. With Eric Tangradi and P.K. Subban leading the Bulls against Brampton’s Cody Hodgson and Matt Duchene, whichever team emerges will have a great chance of going all the way.
QMJHL
The Quebec League playoffs pretty much fell in line as expected. All four teams—Drummondville, Shawinigan, Rimouski and Quebec—are serious threats to win the championship although Quebec might be a slight darkhorse.
Drummondville is the top and has yet to lose in the post-season. They have the top four playoff scorers in the league led by Yannick Riendeau and Chris DiDomenico. The only question mark with Drummondville is goaltending. Marco Cousineau has been decent, but much like Engelage in Windsor, he’s not going to steal a game but he might not have to.
Rimouski, who will host the Memorial Cup, has been the hottest team in the last three months. The Oceanic were hit by a ridiculous amount of injuries to key players early in the season and since their return, Rimouski has been almost unbeatable. Before the league semi-final, the Oceanic had won 28 of their last 30 games. Like Drummondville, their goaltending isn’t outstanding but as hosts, they will be a threat to win.
Shawinigan is the only team left in the QMJHL with a goalie who can win games on his own. Timo Pielmeier is a goalie to watch as he gives the Cataractes a chance every night. And with the offense they can produce, 308 goals in 68 regular season games, they could win their first ever QMJHL championship.
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