The defending champs take on the pre-season favourites in a highly anticipated third-round matchup.
For a lot of the season, this matchup seemed extremely possible in the playoffs this year.
The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada entered the season as preseason favourites, thanks to a big summer, acquiring players like Jakub Milota, Spencer Gill and Bill Zonnon to add to a strong core headlined by Justin Carbonneau.
Meanwhile, Moncton came into the year as defending champs, and were able to retain Caleb Desnoyers. They made some very shrewd additions in the American market, and vaulted themselves back to the one seed heading into the postseason.
This series needs no introduction, and promises to be one with plenty of intrigue and offensive talent on both sides.
Moncton's Rian Chudzinski battles for position in front of William Lacelle's goal. (Photo: Daniel St-Louis)What to expect from Moncton
The Wildcats are a well-oiled machine who have dominated their way through the first two rounds, sweeping both the Sea Dogs and Foreurs en route to the final four.
Their offence is deep and versatile, led by the Utah Mammoth prospect duo of Desnoyers and Gabe Smith, as well as Teddy Mutryn and Tommy Bleyl.
Smith leads the playoffs in goals, and the other three all sit over a point per game, as do Preston Lounsbury, Niko Tournas and Rian Chudzinski.
This is also an excellent team on the other side of the puck, one that's allowed just 14 goals in eight playoff games. Rudy Guimond in goal is a big part of this, but Moncton allows very few chances, which makes any goaltender's job easier.
Their power play has been fine, but not great so far this postseason, at 24.1%. Meanwhile, the penalty kill has been fantastic, operating at 87%, the best of any team that made it out of the first round.
In order to make back-to-back QMJHL finals, the Wildcats will need to keep the offence flowing, but more importantly keep the momentum and flow of the game under control so the high-flying Armada don't start to run the show.
What to expect from Blainville-Boisbriand
The season hasn't gone exactly as expected so far for the Armada, but they've made it to the semifinal round anyway.
Injuries to Zonnon, Milota, Xavier Villeneuve and more derailed their regular season to some extent, and saw them finish second in the Western conference, and as the fourth-highest seed heading into the playoffs.
But, they've gotten healthy at the right time, and while they haven't bulldozed the competition the way Moncton has, they swept the Tigres in round one before a hard-fought, six-game series victory over a physical Regiment team.
Their strength comes in their top line, specifically Carbonneau's scoring ability and Zonnon's physicality. When this team is rolling, they can score with anyone.
And yet, it's odd how poor their special teams have been these playoffs. The power-play is a dismal 10.6%, and the penalty kill is just 76.5%.
Getting these numbers up, and finding some consistency defensively will be the keys to taking down this experienced Moncton group.
Schedule
Game one: Thursday, April 23, 6 PM EDT @ Moncton
Game two: Saturday, April 25, 6 PM EDT @ Moncton
Game three: Monday, April 27, 7 PM EDT @ Blainville-Boisbriand
Game four: Tuesday, April 28, 7 PM EDT @ Blainville-Boisbriand
Game five*: Friday, May 1, 6 PM EDT @ Moncton
Game six*: Sunday, May 3, 3 PM EDT @ Blainville-Boisbriand
Game seven*: Tuesday, May 5, 6 PM EDT @ Moncton
* = if necessary
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