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Shawinigan Cataractes coach Éric Veilleux taking heat for early QMJHL playoff exit; why he shouldn’t

neate sager

Before the Shawingan Cataractes consider firing Éric Veilleux for their second-round playoff exit that's become known as #versunflopmemorial, they should try to remember how all this trouble started.

The blame always runs downhill, ergo fingers are always going to be pointed at the coach when a MasterCard Memorial Cup host team flames out like the Cataractes did on Tuesday against the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in Game 7 of their second-round series. It's just the third time in 15 seasons the tournament host has been eliminated from its league playoffs before the semifinals. The last two, the 2003 Quebec Remparts and 2002 Guelph Storm, each finished last in the tournament. (The 1999 Ottawa 67's won, which still grates on a few fans of the Belleville Bulls, who beat Ottawa in the OHL playoffs.)

So with the Cataractes set to go 30 days without playing, Veilleux is on the hot seat. Far be it to snark off this is what happens when a Memorial Cup is granted what was a 75-point team that finished seventh overall in an 18-team league last season when a powerhouse with nearly its entire core group returning also applying to host. Or to point out Shawinigan was done in by the Saguenéens, who outmanouevred everyone at the QMJHL trade deadline to land Ottawa Senators pick Jean-Gabriel Pageau, the best centreman who was available, from the Gatineau Olympiques.

Now Cataractes GM Martin Mondou is denying that he talked to former Montreal Canadiens head coaches Jacques Martin and Michel Therrien about coming in to coach. This followed a radio report by CKOI 106.9 (stick tap: Samuel Duranceau-Cloutier) that Shawinigan did talk to Therrien during the season. That was before they were bounced. Now everyone is reading tea leaves to figure out if Veilleux will still have a job.

The media — and a tense Veilleux hurt his standing with them after confrontation with a journo after the pregame skate on Tuesday, when the Cataractes were trying to shield their team from so-called distractions — might have a story it's sticking to.

From Louis Ménard (translated):

Throughout the season, Éric Veilleux was never able to get consistent performance at a good level from his players. Of course, they were ready for all major events, including those against the Saint John Sea Dogs. But for all those great performances, how many points were left on the ice against teams from the second tier? Too, say those who diligently followed the ups and downs of this team which was built for us to forget 40 years of disillusionment.

Several, and I am one of them, have questioned the leadership in the locker room before the arrival of Morgan Ellis and Brandon Gormley and Jonathan Narbonne during the Christmas break. Then we were told that there were many great leaders in this room and it was not a problem. Unfortunately, the issue is still topical. A team full of talented leaders does not lose in the second round of the playoffs. Under any circumstances. (Le Nouvelliste)

Well, sometimes they do. That is just the way it goes once in a while. Any sports nerd can quote you chapter and verse — a little voice in my head just said, "Please don't" — all the times awesomely good teams were somehow defeated.

Onus on league's decision?

The Sea Dogs blog Station Nation called Shawinigan's ouster "a black eye for the QMJHL as it makes it the second straight time the Q host team has failed to reach the President's Cup final. Rimouski was defeated in 2009 before reaching the league final." The Cataractes will do what they will with the composition of their team between now and the start of the Memorial Cup on May 18. It is hard o think that's not where the focus ought to be, though. It goes back to the QMJHL granting the tournament to Shawinigan last spring.

There is nothing innately wrong with any of the three major junior leagues leaning a certain way when they name the Memorial Cup host. It's not fair, but it's their puck, so to speak. Shawinigan lost out to Rimouski in the bidding for last QMJHL-hosted tournament in 2009 and the Cataractes, who have been loyally supported over their long run in the league, lost a seven-game final to the Guy Boucher-coached Drummondville Voltigeurs. There was surely some sentiment to reward one of the league's charter franchise. There was also some anti-Saint John sentiment stemming from the Sea Dogs' success and speculation they might have gamed the system in order to draft some of their current stars such as captain Jonathan Huberdeau. (Whether that's true, who knows, but an easy riposte is that no team in position to host a Memorial Cup would have clean hands in that regard.)

That's where it started, with perhaps putting league politics ahead of considerations such as how strong the team was projected to be this season. (Other factors in the criteria are best not rehashed, but surely people have their own opinions.) It filtered down to what Shawinigan did or didn't do to get up to Memorial Cup calibre. Now they're trying to sell the last few tickets with the host team off for a month and no adjacent city still in the tournament. The buck shouldn't stop with Éric Veilleux, whose job is solely to coach hockey.

No doubt someone will bring up the 1999 Ottawa example to show going out early isn't the end of the world. The 67's played just nine league playoff games before they won the Memorial Cup. But that was a shining exception. Mikaël Lalancette of TVA Sports checked and found that the eight host teams who have raised the trophy since the four-team era began in 1980s played an average of 16.6 playoff games. That includes host teams who also 'went in the front door' as league champs. So going out early bodes poorly for the Cataractes, especially with Saint John and 7-of-8 division winners in the Ontario and Western leagues still chasing the dream.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.