Eric Veilleux’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar next up to try and derail the Halifax Mooseheads: QMJHL Final preview

(2) Baie-Comeau Drakkar (44-19-2-3, .684) vs. (1) Halifax Mooseheads (58-6-3-1, .882)

Odds favour: Halifax 76 per cent.Most statistically probably outcome: Halifax in 5.Mike’s prediction: Halifax in 6.

It took a lot of upsets and bloodshed to get to where we are in the QMJHL playoffs, but anyone with a standings page could have pointed to these two favourites and predicted they would make it to the final.

Either way, we have a 1-vs-2 final that could be a barnburner, and will definitely be a thriller.

The Mooseheads have left a trail of Saint John Sea Dogs, Gatineau Olympiques and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in their midst to get to this point. The Drakkar defeated the Sherbrooke Phoenix, Victoriaville Tigres and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada to get here.

Behind the benches, last year’s Memorial Cup winning coach Eric Veilleux is back in the final this year with the Drakkar. He clearly knows how to get the best out of his players and what’s at stake, as he was able to coach the Shawinigan Cataractes against all odds, beating the champions from the WHL, QMJHL and OHL in three straight elimination games, to a Memorial Cup win last May.

He will be up against Dominique Ducharme, who has never been this far in the QMJHL playoffs and hasn’t really been tested matchup-wise. Ducharme was able to outwit Patrick Roy in last year’s playoffs though, so he is capable of playing and winning a mind game. Veilleux will give him a go this series, to be sure.

At the same time, how much strategy does Ducharme really have to use with names such as Nathan MacKinnon (28 points), Jonathan Drouin (29), Martin Frk (24) and Stefan Fournier (23, and a Q-leading 13 goals) in his arsenal? The four forwards are in the top six in QMJHL playoff scoring and have been the backbone of Halifax’s depth on offence. Baie-Comeau offers Petr Straka in the top 10, then Jérémy Grégoire, Valentin Zykov, Raphaël Bussières, Carl Gélinas and Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau in the top 20. While they don’t have the numbers the Mooseheads forwards do, they do speak to the depth that Veilleux-coached teams rely on.

One thing is certain, the forwards dictate the offence. Neither team really have an o fensive threat on the back-end, as Konrad Abeltshauser of Halifax and Maxim Lamarche of Baie-Comeau are the only defencemen left alive with more than 10 points.

The Drakkar sit in third place in the playoffs with 56 goals, and the Mooseheads lead the league with 69 red lights. In the regular season, Baie-Comeau was in a three-way tie for third place with 274 goals, and the Mooseheads were well ahead with 347 markers.

Matchup of 17-year-old goalies

Defensively, the Mooseheads were tops in the league in preventing goals as well, with 176 goals against this season, and the Drakkar finished third with 191 goals against. In the playoffs, the Mooseheads have given up two more goals in two less games, 25-23.

In goal, Philippe Cadorette has been all around awesome, posting a 1.69 GAA and a .933 save percentage in 13 games. He’s matched up with Zach Fucale, the best ranked North American goaltender in the 2013 NHL entry draft rankings, with a goals against mark of just above two (2.02) and a save percentage of .903. Also, Fucale hasn’t yet lost in these playoffs.

And neither have the Mooseheads. They haven’t lost in two months, their last notch in the L column coming in early March in a 7-6 overtime loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. They are a perfect 12-0 this postseason, 6-0 at home and 6-0 on the road. Not to be outdone is a Drakkar team that hadn’t lost until they were shutout 3-0 to the Armada in game 3 of their third round matchup. They were 10-0 at that point. They have only lost twice.

While both teams give good arguments for winning the series, it’s hard not to go with the team that has not lost in regulation since Feb. 8. The Mooseheads are on a heck of a roll right now, and though the Drakkar taking a game or two wouldn’t surprise too many people, the Mooseheads are just playing too well to lose four games out of seven.

The series starts Friday in Halifax.