Drummondville Defies Logic

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The Voltigeurs players are either banged up or throwing up and yet somehow they were able to pull out a 3-2 overtime victory over the home team Rimouski Oceanic tonight at the Memorial Cup.

And let's be honest - Rimouski dominated Drummondville for most of this game. The first period was spent almost entirely in the Voltigeurs half of the ice, the zamboni may have only needed to flood one side of the rink.

The shots on goal after the first period were 11-4 Rimouski thanks to 6 minutes of power play time. I'd say something like "I don't know how the Oceanic didn't have a 3 goal lead going into the second period" but the fact is I do know - his name is Marco Cousineau and tonight he was fantastic! Drummondville's goalie must have been feeling some heat after a forgettable outing on Monday against Kelowna when he was burned 6 times including a couple he'd like to forget. Well he had people forgetting those softies tonight as he stopped 39 of 41 Rimouski shots en route to the win.

Rimouski scored the night's first goal just over a minute into the second period and I thought the roof might cave in on the Volts. However, 17-year-old Jonathan Brunelle, a late addition to the game roster, scored a beauty with a nice individual effort. When Dmitri Kulikov struck a few minutes later while on the power play, the Oceanic faithful had to have been questioning the justice of it all.

To that point in the hockey game it was Rimouski who had carried the play and had out-chanced and out shot their opponents but just couldn't finish. When Cousineau wasn't robbing them blind the Oceanic were guilty of trying to be too cute - which happened way to much tonight in my opinion.

Rimouski did manage to equal the score when Patrice Cormier snapped one home from the slot. Regulation time expired with the score still tied so for the second time in the tournament the Voltigeurs would head to extra time.

Drummondville, who has the flu bug going through the room, somehow mustered up enough energy to be competitive in the overtime and eventually scored the winner. Eralier in the night Rogers Sportsnet colour commentator Sam Cosentino suggested this was a perfect game for a player like Gabriel Dumont and sure enough, he would be the Drummondville hero that scored the winner. (I think Sam's been standing too close to Loubardias and those dead-on predictions are getting a bit too frequent!)

Final shots in the game were 41-20 in favor of Rimouski but it will be the Oceanic who now have to bounce back from this loss to play Windsor in a tie-breaker game tomorrow. If they win that one it will be right back onto the ice on Friday night for another collision with the Voltigeurs in the semi-final.

Players of note for Drummondville: Obviously goalie Marco Cousineau (ANH) was sensational and the biggest reason why the Volts will rest until Friday night. Gabriel Dumont is an intriguing player - small but a bulldog that isn't afraid of anything. Dumont is undrafted.

Dmitri Kulikov needs to check his equipment because clearly someone had hung a target on his back before the game. The Russian was getting hammered all night long whether it was Cormier or Logan MacMillan's flying elbow at the end of the third period. He was knocked woozy a couple of times but give this guy credit - he's not the stereotypical Euro because not only did he not miss a shift, sometimes he was staying on and playing through the haze he must have been feeling. Top 10 pick this June, no question in my mind.

For Rimouski it was the same guys that I've been liking all tournament. Marc-Andre Bourdon (PHI) wasn't as dominant tonight as he was against Windsor (and I hope he returns to that form tomorrow) but he was sound in his defensive play. I thought Luca Cunti (TBY) was again the best Oceanic forward on the ice tonight.

Dean Millard and I argued on last night's show about Keven Veilleux's performance so far. For my money, he's a 6'5 power forward that is playing like he's 5'11... feel free to hit someone. Tonight he passed up several chances to get the puck on net instead opting for a cutesy pass attempt that inevitably failed. I like his size and he appears to be able to skate pretty well but I'd like to see him be more aggressive and take the puck to the net AND SHOOT.

Philippe Cornet jumps out every once in a while but for the most part is just one of Rimouski's top 6 forwards - not the performance I was expecting from their leading scorer. He's creative and I like to see that but he doesn't look very strong and I don't know if I've seen him shoot the puck more than twice in the past week.

Tomorrow night's game will be interesting. Is Windsor back on track after edging Kelowna (who had nothing on the line Tuesday and played like it)? Can Rimouski bounce back after a loss where they definitely were the better team or has the wind gone out of their sails?

Rogers Sportsnet, 5:00 PM Edmonton time (7:00 PM Eastern).

Top 5 Tuesday: Memorial Cup Moments

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The hardest championship to win, in my humble opinion, is almost halfway over and today in Top 5 Tuesday I'll give you 5 things I've noticed through 4 games.


5. Windsor Winless

Who would have thunk it? Not me and probably not anyone if they are being truthful. A team with so much firepower has yet to win a game. Windsor pretty much steamrolled their way to the Memorial Cup but after an overtime loss to Drummondville and losing to an inspired host team from Rimouski, they need to beat Kelowna tonight and get some help to see the weekend. I can't believe it but maybe I shouldn't be to shocked, after all the #1 team in the country didn't even make the Memorial Cup. After winning 12 straight playoff games, Calgary lost to Kelowna in 6 games during the WHL final.

4. Goaltending Gaffes

With the exception of Rimouski's Maxime Gougeon, the goaltending at the 2009 Mastercard Memorial Cup has been well below average. Each of Mark Guggenberger from Kelowna, Marco Coussineau from Drummondville and Andrew Engelage from Windsor have given up soft goals. Engelage has done it at key times like the goal that forced overtime against Drummondville and the eventual game winner vs. Rimouski. Windsor is reminding me of Regina at the 2001 Memorial Cup. Donald Choukalas started for the Pats but was brutal as they fell to 0-2. Chad Davidson took over and led the host team to within an overtime game of reaching the final. Will Windsor pull the chute on Engalage and go with Josh Unice who played in this tournament with Kitchener last year?

3. Kool Kulikov

I'm really starting to like how Dmitry Kulikov plays the game. Ok so he struggled against Kelowna Monday night, but if we judged a player on one game, Jakob Markstrom wouldn't be so highly rated after his meltdown against Canada in the WJC gold medal game this year. Kulikov seems to know exactly when to dash up the ice and does it smoothly. He's a great power play QB and has a pretty decent shot. Drummondville's Mr. Everything on defence played in Russia's top 4 at the WJC as an underager. He's been hanging around the #10 spot for the past few months in the ISS rankings but one scout I spoke to tonight thinks he'll be gone earlier than that.

2. Barrie Outplaying Ellis

I'm not suggesting that NHL scouts will start ranking Kelowna's Tyson Barrie ahead of Windsor's Ryan Ellis, but in the battle of the pint sized blueliners, Barrie is winning. Barrie is listed at 5.10, 190 lbs and has 4 points in 2 games - including a 3 point night against Drummondville Monday - he's also plus 2. Ellis has just one goal, on the power play, and has been on the ice for 3 goals against giving him a -3 rating. I called Barrie a poor man's Ryan Ellis on TPS last Tuesday, he's ranked 77th by ISS in their May report but some scouts might be moving him up their list.

1. Huska = Memorial Cup Championships

With their win Monday night, Kelowna sent head coach Ryan Huska to the Memorial Cup final for a 5th time in his playing/coaching career, looking for his 5th championship. He won 3 as a player with Kamloops and was an assistant coach to Jeff Truitt when Kelowna won it all in 2004 on home ice. Incredibly this is Huska's 7th time at the tournament, the other 2 times they failed to make the final. So you have to think history is on his side as each time he's reached the title game, he's won it.

Drummondville drops Windsor

After last night's game that was never really in doubt, Memorial Cup fans were treated to a dandy today between Drummondville and Windsor.

Like last night, a Quebec goalie stood on his head, as Marco Cousineau(Anaheim, 3rd round, 08) made several terrific saves for the Voltigeurs. Unlike Rimouski pipeman Maxime Gougeon last night, Cousineau received some offensive support from his mates.

However it was Windsor that opened the scoring after a scoreless first and almost second period. Adam Henrique (New Jersey, 3rd round, 08) was lurking near the net and poked in puck with .02 seconds to play in the middle frame. They reviewed it, but it was clearly a good goal. It was really cool to listen in on TV to the video replay conversation. Nice work by Sportsnet for working this into the broadcast.

In the 3rd, things really picked up. Drummondville got on the board just as a power play was expiring. Dmitry Kulikov (09 draft) made a nice pass to Marc Olivier Vachon (08 draft)who slid a cross crease feed to Gabriel Dumont (08 draft) who tucked it past Andrew Engelage (07 draft).

Windsor regained it's lead when Henrique tipped home his second of the game, but with under 6 minutes to go, Phillipe Lefebvre (09 draft) beat Engelage with a softy from just inside the blueline. It looked like he just missed it with his glove.

That goal aside both goalies were great through 60 minutes, but someone has to give up the game winner, and that was Engelage, although you could hardly fault him on the winner.

Maxime Frennete (09 draft) picked up a loose puck and sent a nice back hand into a gaping cage to seal the comeback win for Drummondville. Frennete is a nice story. He only played today because the V's top forward Chris DiDomenico (Toronto, 6th round, 2007) is out with a broken leg. He started the game as the extra forward but played his way onto the ice in overtime and it paid off for Drummondville.

A few players impressed me in this game. Obviously both goalies were good, but I really enjoyed watching Dmitry Kulikov play. He's smooth, smart and does a great job quarterbacking the power play. I said Tuesday on TPS that I think if the Oilers are going to draft a D-man they should take Kulikov at 10. If he keeps playing like this, he might not be there when they are picking. Taylor Hall was very good for Windsor as well, always seemed to be dangerous on the ice but was snake bitten with his 7 shots on goal.

Next up is Rimouski Vs. Windsor tomorrow where I expect the Spitfires to bounce back.

Memorial Cup Head-to-Head: Goalies

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I had originally planned on doing a series that would give in-depth previews of each of the four Memorial Cup qualifiers but I noticed earlier today that Patrick King has done an excellent job of that already. I highly recommend his team profiles that can be found at Sportsnet.ca.

Because King did those breakdowns for us I'm going to drawn on them as a basis for looking at some head to head matchups beginning with the pipemen.

It's interesting to note that the four starting netminders are all undrafted and really, none have much notoriety outside of their own league and arguably, not even there.

Tale of the Tape

Maxim Gougeon (RIM): 5'8 and 158 lbs
Marco Cousineau (DRU): 6' and 200 lbs
Andrew Engelage (WSR): 6'5 and 206 lbs
Mark Guggenberger (KEL): 6'2 and 208 lbs

If size matters, and in net it often does, then the height advantage here has to go to Windsor with the wookie-like Engelage. That said, last year Dustin Tokarski helped to steal the show for Spokane and he checks in at a paltry 5'11, 185 lbs so size isn't the be-all end-all category to look at. For now though... Edge: Windsor.

Regular Season Stats

Gougeon (RIM): 51 Games, 34-16-0... 2.93 GAA... .892 sv%
Cousineau (DRU): 50 Games, 21-29-0... 3.24 GAA... .893 sv%
Engelage (WSR): 54 Games, 46-4-1... 2.35 GAA... .914 sv%
Guggenberger (KEL): 49 Games, 29-14-1... 2.41 GAA... .915sv%

Just going by these numbers, it doesn't look good for the two Quebec League goalies, but we're comparing three different leagues so it might not be fair to just make assumptions. Rather than compare the goalies against each other than, I'm going to compare their regular season numbers to how they made out in the playoffs when it really matters.

Playoff Stats

Gougeon (RIM): 13 Games, 8-5... 3.08 GAA... .896 sv%
Cousineau (DRU): 17 Games, 13-3... 2.44 GAA... .910 sv%
Engelage (WSR): 20 Games, 14-3... 2.86 GAA... .908sv%
Guggenberger (KEL): 22 Games, 16-6... 2.36 GAA... .907 sv%

Here we see Gougeon actually did worse in the playoffs and I attribute much of that to the 4 straight losses to Drummondville. Cousineau certainly appears to have gotten better but we know from speaking with media that covers the Q that Drummondville's first two round opponents were extremely weak in comparison. It's interesting to see that both Engelage and Guggenberger's numbers are weaker in the playoffs (aside from the Kelowna goalie's GAA).

I don't know who should get the edge out of this but I think it's safe to say that both Windsor and Kelowna appear to be stronger in net than their QMJHL opponents. Edge: Windsor & Kelowna

Who's Hotter?

We heard coach Clem Jodoin talk about the play of Gougeon in the second half of the season after he was told that, unlike each of the previous three years, he would not be traded at the deadline. Accoding to Jodoin, Gougeon became "a new man" and a check at the record in 2009 proves that statement. Gougeon went 16-4 leading up to the playoffs and lost only once in the playoffs before the collapse in the third round.

The Voltigeurs goalie, Marco Cousineau, began the year with Baie-Comeau and only came to his current team at the deadline. He went from one of the worst teams to the best club so a positive jump in his record and performance should be expected - and there was one. He appeared in 16 games for his new club and won 12 of them, he was 9-25 before the trade. Cousineau, like the team in front of him, was tough to beat during the first three rounds of the playoffs but once they ran into Shawinigan, a Memorial Cup caliber club... that wasn't the case. The Cataractes were able to score 4 or more goals in three games. Cousineau was a 3rd round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 2008.

Windsor's starting netminder had a ridiculously good regular season. His record in 2009 was a perfect 19-0 with a couple games thrown in where he took neither the win nor the loss. Engelage only had 4 regulation time losses during the 68-game season and the last came a week before Christmas. In the playoffs, GM Warren Rychel suggested that Engelage got off to a slow start; he was puled twice in the opening round series against Owen Sound. After that though he's been pretty strong again and in the final he held an offensively talented Brampton club to a single goal in three of their five meetings.

Like Cousineau, Mark Guggenberger didn't start the season with the same team that he's with at the Memorial Cup. Guggenberger was with Swift Current until the trade deadline and he had a 12-11 record at the time of the deal. With Kelowna he improved to 17-3, but unlike Cousineau this wasn't a case of going from a bottom feeder to a power house. Swift Current ended the year with 86 points compared to Kelowna's 98 but play in a conference with much more parity. In the playoffs Guggenberger has been either exceptional or simply good; he's had four +4-goal games in the last two series including a pair of meetings with Calgary who put 6 behind him. He also has 3 shutouts in that same time span.

Clearly Engelage has been the better performer for a longer period of time this year and goes into the Memorial Cup playing the hottest of the four goalies. Edge: Windsor

Summary

It's no exact science and anyone who knows me knows that I don't claim to be a stats expert - far from it so I'll let one of the corsi/qualcomp/ipsofacto experts chime in and tell me if they agree with my summation.

Gougeon's biggest downfall might be his size although Patrick King (Sportsnet) points out that he can be his own worst enemy if he gives up quick goals. He may also be lacking in rebound control and he's got a tiny frame... not a good combination against the elite CHL teams he'll be facing.

King suggests that consistency is the weakness for Cousineau. I wonder how sheltered he was playing on a strong team after the trade deadline. His pre-trade numbers are pretty bad but on a better team last year he performed well enough to attract Anaheim in the 3rd round of the draft.

It's very interesting to me that King lists netminding as the first weakness for Windsor in his report. Perhaps this is the goalie that is actually more of a product of the team than a major reason for the team's success? I've spoken with some other people who would know and they aren't 100% sold on Engelage just yet... but it's hard to deny the stats and the natural size.

Guggenberger doesn't have a ton of experience as a starter (only since coming to Kelowna) so who knows how he'll perform under the brightest spotlight he's seen in his career. Like I said before, he was very good and average in the WHL playoffs but leaning more often to the postive side.

In my opinion, the team with the best goaltending heading into the Memorial Cup is the Windsor Spitfires followed closely by the Kelowna Rockets.