The Perth Blue Wings find themselves in the same situation they did one year ago: Four wins away from winning the Barkley Cup, with only the Casselman Vikings standing in their way.
The Blue Wings got to this point after enjoying a first round bye, before taking down the Athens Aeros in five games, and sweeping the second-place Arnprior Packers to win the Richardson Division.
Casselman meanwhile also had a first round bye, before beating the Embrun Panthers in six games and the Richmond Royals in seven.
As is the nature of junior hockey, there’s a mixture of new faces and returnees in a year-to-year overview. And there’s many new faces in this forthcoming series who weren’t around for the 2022 finals, which saw the Vikings beat the Blue Wings in six games and hoist the championship trophy.
First, the Vikings coaching staff.
Head coach Geoff Seguin took the reigns this year of the defending champions after nine seasons with Michel Ruest at the helm, who retired ahead of this season. Seguin was elevated to the top job after serving under Ruest on the 2021-22 club.
Seguin picked his own guys to back him up, with Brendan Doherty and Simon Menard serving as assistant coaches this season.
General Manager Denis Verville went a step further, hiring Patrick Lafontaine as a goalie coach and Derick Viau as Director of Hockey Operations.
They guided Casselman to a 30-10-2 record this season, finishing one point behind the Royals for first place in the Martin Division. Their 62 points was a big leap forward from their fourth place 50 point regular season finish a year ago.
Meanwhile, it’s the status quo on the bench for the Blue Wings, who put up a 37-4-1 regular season record and took first place in the EOJHL.
As was the case last season, Bryan Greer continued as head coach and co-owner, with Blake Kettlye as the Assistant Coach, Shaun Armitage and Skylar Choffe as trainers, and Jeff Choffe as co-owner, GM and Associate Coach.
Returning players:
There’s an abundance of returnees for both squads in 2023 that were on the roster last year, be it as a player or an affiliate.
Perth Blue Wings:
Forwards
Ben Anderson, Nolan Foley, Keagan Johnston (C), Justin Salter, Piotr Skopinski, Will Howarth, Blake Armitage
Defense
Jordan Falcone, Nathan Green, Mitchell Kealey
Casselman Vikings:
Forwards
Nico Pozzebon, Alexis Lafrance, Tristan Simoneau, Cedric Hughes, Connor Cook, Tyler Stewart, Marc-Olivier McCarthy
Defense
Nicholas Lankester, Vincent Bastien
Goalies
Zachari Racine, Mael Gendron
Leading scorers:
The top point getters on the run to the Barkley Cup for the Vikings are Alexis Lafrance with eight goals and six assists across 13 games, Tyler Stewart with 10 goals and three helpers, before a four-way tie for third on the team with eight points. AP Cedric Hughes has stood out with his three goals and five assists in 10 games of action.
For the Blue Wings, EOJHL rookie of the year Travis Ouellette shares a tie with 51 goal scorer Lleyton McLean for first on the team, each with 11 points. Justin Salter and Keagan Johnston follow closely behind with nine and eight points respectively, both forwards scoring overtime winners throughout the run.
Goaltending:
As has been the case all season long, the Blue Wings have the edge in net. Brady McEwan’s performance throughout the Packers sweep, highlighted by a 67 save outing in the Game 2 triple overtime marathon, was widely considered the difference maker.
He’s posted an 8-1 record this postseason with a 0.947 sv% and 2.02 GAA. Those are similar numbers to the regular season, where he went 24-4 with a 0.943 sv%, 2.03 GAA and six shutouts.
If for whatever reason McEwan falters, James Cole is far from a typical backup and is more than capable of stealing a win, and a series. Cole posted a 13-0-1 record in the regular season, with a 0.961 sv% and miniscule 1.07 GAA, with six shutouts himself.
Neither McEwan or Cole were on the 2021-22 roster.
On the other side, it’s the tandem of Mael Gendron and Zachari Racine for the Vikings.
It’s been a shared net throughout their playoff run so far. Racine’s seen nine games, going 5-3 with a 0.926 sv% and 2.64 GAA.
His counterpart Gendron’s seen action in six contests, posting a 3-1-1 record with a 0.929 sv% and 2.34 GAA with a shutout.
AP Tommy St-Louis also saw one period of action.
Game 1 goes Monday night, April 4th, in Perth at 8:00. The full schedule can be found here.
Story by Grant Deme
Comments