LIVE STREAM
The two top teams in the OUA will clash Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Thompson Arena in London for the 100th Queen’s Cup. Here’s a look at how the OUA West champion Western Mustangs and OUA East champion McGill Redmen stack up.
Offence
McGill comes into London Saturday with easily the OUA’s best offence, scoring at a rate of more than five goals per game in the regular season. Former OUA rookie of the year Alexandre Picard-Hooper may just be the best player in the OUA, racking up 11 goals and 58 points in his 28 games this season. But his linemate Francis Verreault-Paul could probably give him a run for his money, scoring a remarkable 28 goals and 42 points in just 19 games this year.
Picard-Hooper has continued his tear through the playoffs with 15 points in his seven games while Verreault-Paul, last year’s OUA East MVP, isn’t far behind with six goals and 11 points. The surprise for the Redmen this postseason has been the emergence of Andrew Wright, who has five goals and 16 points in his seven playoff games. Also in his third year, Wright has risen to the occasion in the big game before, scoring two goals and being named the MVP in McGill’s 3-1 victory over Lakehead at last year’s Queen’s Cup.
The Mustangs will answer McGill’s high powered attack with the scoring-by-committee approach that has defined the team all year. The Mustangs had five players with ten or more goals and 20 or more points in the regular season as the team spread the scoring across all four lines.
It’s a philosophy that the team has carried into the playoffs as Chris Corbeil, Keaton Turkiewicz, Kyle Lamb and Josh McQuade have all scored four of more goals in the Mustangs seven games. After missing the first half of the season with an Achilles’ tendon injury, McQuade has been on fire in the playoffs, leading the Mustangs with five goals and 9 points in seven games. The rookie has had to step up in the absence of one of the Mustangs best players, Aaron Snow, who was lost to an ACL injury in January.
Defence
While the Mustangs have surrendered the fewest goals of any team in the playoffs, allowing just ten pucks to hit the back of the net in their seven games, Western’s defence hasn’t been air tight. Goaltender Anthony Grieco has faced the second-most shots of any goalie in the league this postseason and should be due to face a bunch more against McGill’s potent offence Saturday.
The Mustangs defence is anchored by shutdown pair Scott Aarson and Geoff Killing, both former OHL defensive stalwarts. They will likely draw the matchup against McGill’s top line as the Mustangs try to shut down the high-scoring Redmen tandem of Picard-Hooper and Verreault-Paul. Meanwhile, defensive partners Adam Nemeth and Brandon Greenside have been the team’s best defenders statistically in the playoffs, leading the team in plus-minus. Matt Paltridge, a rookie, and Jason Swit, who played against some of McGill’s top threats in the Quebec Major Junior League years ago, make up the Mustangs third defensive tandem and have been key minute eaters throughout the playoffs.
McGill, on the other hand, features the best offensive defenceman in the OUA with Marc-Andre Dorion who led all defenders in the regular season with 37 points and continues to lead all OUA rear guards in the playoffs with 9 points in seven games. Ben Morse is also a potent setup man for the Redmen and has five assists through McGill’s seven playoff games. Rookie defenceman Ryan McKierman was a nice surprise for the Redmen in the regular season, scoring seven goals and 20 points. But Kiernan, from White Plains, New York, has been held to just three assists in the postseason.
Kiernan is one of three rookies who have seen regular time on the Redmen blue line along with Hubert Genest and Stephen Valente. Look for third-year veterans Vincent Bourgois and Ben Morse to eat up a lot of minutes for the Redmen on Saturday.
Goaltending
In net the Redmen have ridden third-year goalie Hubert Morin who has been serviceable during the playoffs, winning six of the team’s seven games with a goals against average of 2.93 and a .884 save percentage. Morin was better in the regular season where his 2.18 goals against average was second best in the OUA and his .915 save percentage was good for sixth.
The Mustangs, meanwhile, split their net minding duties between Anthony Grieco and Josh Unice during the regular season, with both goalies performing at a high level. The duo were both in the top ten in most goaltending categories during the regular season while Unice led the nation in save percentage with a .934 rate.
But since the end of the regular season, Grieco has emerged as the Mustangs number one netminder, playing every single minute of the playoffs and allowing just 10 goals in seven games. His six playoff wins and 1.43 goals against average lead all playoff goalies in the OUA while his .952 save percentage is good for third, behind two goalies whose teams have been eliminated.
