Alexis Joseph and the Sea Dogs are up against an experienced Wildcats side looking to go back to back.
It's always tough to pull an upset in the QMJHL as an eighth seed. It may be even harder when the team you're up against already won the championship last year.
Star rookie Alexis Joseph is trying to lead the Saint John John Sea Dogs to do the improbable against Caleb Desnoyers' Moncton Wildcats.
The 'Cats have double the standings points and wins as the Sea Dogs this year, and are rightfully favoured by a huge amount in this series. But miracles have happened before.
Moncton rookie Tommy Bleyl spins away from Saint John overager Angelo Fullerton's pressure. (Photo: Daniel St-Louis)What to expect from Moncton
Any team with 50 wins from 64 games is obviously going to be a contender. The Wildcats come off last season's Memorial Cup appearance with a squad just as good, led of course by star Utah Mammoth prospect Caleb Desnoyers.
But this is far from a one-man show. For all the talk of Saint John's youth, Tommy Bleyl is almost definitely going to win the Sidney Crosby Trophy for rookie of the year.
Gabe Smith, Niko Tournas, Teddy Mutryn, Alex Mercier, Kuzma Voronin, Simon Binkley, Preston Lounsbury, Rian Chudzinski and Gavin Cornforth round out a strong, deep forward core.
Where teams like Chicoutimi have loaded up by making in-league trades, Moncton has mastered the American pathway, taking a ton of talent from the New England region to build a super deep squad without having to give up a ton of future assets.
On defence after Bleyl (another one from the American pathway), Evan Depatie, Adam Fortier-Gendron, Max Vilen and Matthew Virgilio build out a strong unit, and Rudy Guimond has been so good in goal for this team he's set the record for lowest career goals-against average in QMJHL history.
This is such a strong team, from arguably the best player in the league up front to talent up and down the roster. With Gardiner MacDougall at the head coaching post, they have a serious chance of going back to back.
What to expect from Saint John
The Sea Dogs are a young team that are probably a year too green from making serious noise come the postseason. But, Alexis Joseph and Olivier Groulx lead the offence, while Alexander Donovan and Dylan Rozzi have had solid years as well.
Everett Baldwin is a solid rookie defender, while other young names like Olivers Murnieks, William Yared, Jabez Seymour and Olivier Duhamel build a really solid young core.
Playoff experience will be the name of the game, and they have an exceptional measuring stick in the experienced Wildcats.
But to have any chance in this series, they'll need some fast maturation from a lot of their youngsters, and Arseni Radkov will need to have the best game of his life multiple times.
Schedule
Game one: Friday, March 27, 6:00 PM EDT @ Moncton
Game two: Saturday, March 28, 6:00 PM EDT @ Moncton
Game three: Tuesday, March 31, 6:00 PM EDT @ Saint John
Game four: Wednesday, April 1: 6:00 PM EDT @ Saint John
Game five*: Friday, April 3, 6:00 PM EDT @ Moncton
Game six*: Sunday, April 5, 2:00 PM EDT @ Saint John
Game seven*: Tuesday, April 7, 6:00 PM EDT @ Moncton
* = if necessary
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