The Quebec Remparts are the first team through to the Memorial Cup final. Carol Schram digs through the stats, from the special teams to the players.
Blink and you might miss it: the 2023 Memorial Cup is already half complete. Each of the four teams has played two games, and there's now some separation between the competitors.
With their 3-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Monday, Patrick Roy's Quebec Remparts clinched first place in the round-robin and earned the coveted bye into Sunday's championship game.
The QMJHL representatives are the only 2-0 team after kicking off their tournament with an 8-3 drubbing of the host Kamloops Blazers on opening night. They'll close out their round-robin against the 0-2 Peterborough Petes on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET).
The preliminary round wraps up with the all-WHL clash between the Thunderbirds and the Blazers on Wednesday (also 9 p.m. ET). Both teams are currently 1-1 and got there the same way — beating Peterborough and losing to Quebec.
The winner of the Seattle/Kamloops game will finish second and be treated as the home team for Friday's semifinal.
Will We See a Tiebreaker?
There is one scenario where a tiebreaker would be needed to determine the second semifinalist.
If Peterborough can rally to beat Quebec on Tuesday, the Petes would finish with one win, matching the loser of Wednesday's matchup between Seattle and Kamloops. If that happens, the OHL champs would play that losing team for the second berth in the semifinal.
That means the Petes are going into Tuesday's game with their entire tournament on the line. And while the Remparts have been the class of the field so far, we all know that anything can happen in a one-game showdown.
The Remparts will be playing solely for the pride of a perfect round-robin record. Because they have already beaten Seattle and Kamloops, they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against both teams.
They're guaranteed to finish first, even if they lose on Tuesday and wrap up this section of the tournament with a 2-1 record.
In addition, the Remparts will be in a tough back-to-back situation on Tuesday after an intense outing against Seattle. Though they played with the lead for more than 59 minutes, they often found themselves in defense-first mode as they were outshot 36-22.
Standouts So Far
Handicapping the race for Memorial Cup MVP, the clubhouse leader at this point should be Quebec captain Theo Rochette.
The undrafted 21-year-old center is tied for the tournament lead in goals, with three, and is tied for second in total points, with four. Rochette has scored both of his team's game-winning goals so far, and his third was a tone-setting rebound against a tough Seattle team just 54 seconds into Monday's first period.
The Remparts' player of the game against Kamloops was Columbus Blue Jackets prospect James Malatesta, who tallied a hat trick.
With 14 goals in 18 games, 19-year-old Malatesta was also named MVP of the QMJHL playoffs.
One other Rempart also deserves a mention. William Rousseau is the only unbeaten goaltender in the tournament and deserves full credit for those wins. He has faced more shots than any of his peers (66) and allowed the fewest goals, just four.
Through two games, Rousseau boasts a .939 save percentage while none of the other stoppers is above .900. With five goals against on 47 shots, Seattle's Thomas Milic sits second at .894.
But we've got nearly a week before the 2023 champions will be crowned, and plenty could still happen between now and then. One player to keep an eye on is 2022 CHL player of the year Logan Stankoven, the Blazers' captain.
Though he plays in a fishbowl in his hometown, Stankoven is not unaccustomed to putting his team on his back. After the Blazers' opening-night loss, he did it again with a five-point performance against Peterborough.
Stankoven also logged three assists against Quebec. After four games, he has lapped the rest of the field with eight points. No other player has more than four.
The Thunderbirds' most impactful player so far has been left wing Kyle Crnkovic, who posted a hat trick of his own against Peterborough on Saturday. Defenseman Nolan Allan, not normally known for his offense, also has two goals.
But with a loaded lineup that has made them arguably the favorites to win this tournament, the Thunderbirds' offensive heavy hitters have been quiet through the first two games. Dylan Guenther, who had 16 goals in the WHL playoffs, leads his team with 10 shots on goal but is pointless. Brad Lambert sits second with nine shots but has just one assist to show for his efforts so far.
In the WHL playoffs, the Thunderbirds feasted on the power play, going 17-for-57, or 29.8 percent. Guenther's nine points and Lambert's seven assists led the man advantage. But the opposition in Kamloops has made a point of playing with discipline and defending responsibly as needed. Seattle has had just four power-play chances through two games and has yet to score.
The Remparts, actually, are in a similar situation, at 1-for-4. Peterborough is a solid 2-for-6, and Kamloops's stat line looks like it's from a completely different tournament at 6-for-14.
Seattle has been the stingiest penalty-killing team so far, shorthanded just five times and with only one goal against and a shorthanded goal to their credit. Peterborough is tied with Quebec for the most man-advantage opportunities allowed — nine. But the Petes have given up four goals while shorthanded compared to just two by the Remparts, who also have a shorthanded goal.