By Patrick King, Sportsnet.ca
Conservative isn’t in the Gatineau Olympiques’ vocabulary.
Despite being considered underdogs in their semi-final series with the talented Halifax Mooseheads, the Olympiques took care of business when they needed to. Gatineau used two overtime victories on the road en route to a series sweep of the Mooseheads.
Although a split of the first two games would have still given Gatineau the opportunity to close the series out at home, star forward Claude Giroux didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
“If they would have won one game that would mean we would have to win three in a row at home to finish it or go back to Halifax, so anything could have happened,” he said. “I think we got lucky we scored two goals in overtime and that was the reason why we won the series.”
The series win propelled the Olympiques to the Québec Major Junior Hockey League championship series against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies which begins on Friday.
Gatineau head coach and general manager Benoit Groulx didn’t shy away from calling the series what it was: an upset. However, the upset wasn’t because of which team won the series, but rather because of how quickly it ended.
“We are surprised because Halifax was considered by many as the best team in the Eastern Division and one of the top teams in the league along with Rouyn,” Groulx said. “I really feel the turning point was the first two games over there in overtime. It’s huge (for them) when you lose the first two at home in overtime.”
With their sweep of the Mooseheads, the Olympiques are finally beginning to receive the recognition they deserve. They were neck and neck throughout the regular season with the Huskies and Baie-Comeau Drakkar atop the Telus Division, eventually finishing third.
All the talk heading into the post-season surrounded the Huskies, Drakkar and the Mooseheads, which gave the Olympiques the opportunity to fly below the radar.
Part of the reason the Olympiques may have been underestimated is that they were often viewed as a team with talented players but one which lacked the depth to make a run. Although Giroux has been the main star leading the way, Gatineau’s success has been from a solid team-effort where each player is playing their best hockey at the right time.
Take 16-year-old defenceman Hubert Labrie’s maturity and solid shutdown skills, for instance. Groulx had no hesitation in putting him out against some of the top scorers in junior hockey in Halifax’s Jakub Voracek and Québec’s Angelo Esposito.
“Here’s three guys (including Shawinigan’s Cédric Lalonde-McNicoll) that are top scorers of their team going into the playoffs and they weren’t able to score a goal at even strength against Hubert Labrie,” Groulx said.
“He’s playing his best hockey of his career right now,” Giroux added.
Since Halifax boasted one of the most dynamic offence’s in the Canadian Hockey League, Gatineau made a point of never letting Halifax’s offence get organized. The Olympiques limited the time and space of the talented Mooseheads players, forcing them to beat them as a team rather than individually.
“The way they want to carry the puck from one end to the other, it’s only a matter of time that you’ll be in trouble,” Groulx said. “We have many guys here that are unsung heroes that are working very hard to make this team successful.”
One of those unsung heroes is overage defenceman Joey Ryan, whom Groulx referred to as “a true leader.” The product of Stoneham, Mass. was acquired from the Québec Remparts earlier this season to help guide his new team with experience after winning the Memorial Cup two seasons ago with the Remparts.
Since there are 60 teams in the CHL, Ryan is a series win away from getting a rare second shot at winning the Memorial Cup.
“It would be awesome to win another one,” he said. “It would be a dream come true, I guess. Not many players can say they won it twice.”
For Ryan and the Olympiques to get the chance to participate in the Memorial Cup, they’ll need to do what no other team has been able to do: beat the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. The Huskies have not lost a game in the first three rounds of the playoffs and for Gatineau to be successful, they’ll need Giroux to continue his torrid scoring pace.
As the QMJHL playoff leader in points with 37 in 14 games, Giroux knows the Huskies will be gunning for him.
“(The pressure) really doesn’t seem to bother him,” Ryan said. “He just goes out there and does what he needs to do.”
“When it’s your last year you want to end things on a good note,” Giroux added.
In order to end his junior career on a good note, Giroux’s Olympiques will need to avoid playing conservative hockey.
