Saturday, February 17, 2024. 10:52 am
The Barkley Cup is here, and the Ottawa Jr. Canadians (27-16-0-1) finished 3rd in the Martin
Division giving them the matchup against the 6th-seeded Char-Lan Rebels (9-27-5-1).
Game 1: Saturday, February 24th, 7:20 PM @ Earl Armstrong Arena
Game 2: Sunday, February 25th, 8:00 PM @ Char-Lan Recreation Centre
Game 3: Tuesday, February 27th, 7:20 PM @ Earl Armstrong Arena
*Game 4: Thursday, February 29th, @ Char-Lan Recreation Centre
*Game 5: Saturday, March 2nd, @ Earl Armstrong Arena
The first round is a best-of-five game series, alternating home ice. Below we will break
down the advantages each team has in the playoffs’ first round.
Offense
Char-Lan will have a tough time producing goals in this series, especially with the
uncertainty of their high-scoring rookie, William Gosselin, who hasn’t played a game since
a 6-0 loss to Winchester on January 20th. Gosselin had 35 points in 22 games with
Casselman before he was traded to Char-Lan where he played two games and didn’t score
a point. The Rebels will rely heavily on Nolan MacMillan (13G 29P), and Jeremy Chenier
(10G 21P) to put goals on the scoreboard. Char-Lan is averaging 2.05 goals per game.
The Jr. Canadians don’t have the biggest offensive powerhouse but rather the teamwork
allows them to get great opportunities to score. The Canadians totalled 55 more goals than
their counterparts finishing the season with 141 goals on a 3.20 goals per game pace. Liam
Kelleher (7G 9P) coming back from injury for the final few games of the season proved just
how valuable he is and why he is the captain, recording points in three of the four games he
played since October. Daniel Kyte is the team leader in goals with 14, and Luke Going led
the team in points with 34.
Defence
A mixture of goaltending and defence goes into goals allowed but it is hard to ignore Char-
Lan’s 188 goals allowed on the season, a whopping 4.47 goals against per game.
Comparing that to the Jr. Canadians who were the fourth-best team in terms of not allowing
goals with 110 on the season for a 2.50 goals against per game. With big frames on the
back end that love to play physically for the Jr. Canadians like Coen Quinn, Joshua Weekes,
and Matthew Nolet, the Rebels are in for a tough battle, especially in the corners, and net
battles.
Goaltending
The matchup between the pipes is pretty lopsided. The Ottawa have two of the best goalies
in all of the EOJHL, Noah Paddock and Joshua Hawken. Looking at the stats between those
two they are top 10 in almost every stat for goalies. Neither goalie exceeded a 2.50 GAA or
fell below a .915 SV%.
Char-Lan can’t exactly say the same. Remi Hay and Maxime Mayer posted GAA around 4.00
and right around .900 in save percentage. Goaltending could very well be the difference in
this series and it is certainly in the favour of the Ottawa Jr. Canadians on paper.
OJC Media | Kaghlen Roberts
Photo & Graphic | Tyler Cyr
