Bob Cole Division 2nd Round - Guelph Platers vs Montreal Canadiens

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Guelph Platers
1986 Memorial Cup Champions

Home Rink: Guelph Memorial Gardens (1948)
GM: BraveCanadian

Coaches: Al Arbour
Captain: Syl Apps
Alternates: Ron Francis, Zdeno Chara

Michel Goulet - Syl Apps - Mark Recchi
Kevin Stevens - Ron Francis - Zigmund Palffy
Dave Balon - Joel Otto - Ed Westfall
Bob Davidson - Ryan Getzlaf - Rick Vaive

Zdeno Chara - Bobby Orr
Duncan Keith - Ted Green
Rod Seiling - Pat Egan

Johnny Bower
Roberto Luongo


Reserves

D Al Arbour - C Jason Spezza - RW Andy Hebenton - RW/LW Al MacAdam


Powerplay:
PP1: Michel Goulet - Syl Apps - Mark Recchi - Pat Egan - Bobby Orr

PP2: Kevin Stevens - Ron Francis - Zigmund Palffy - Duncan Keith - Zdeno Chara / Bobby Orr


Penalty Kill:
PK1: Joel Otto - Ed Westfall - Zdeno Chara - Bobby Orr

PK2: Ron Francis - Bob Davidson - Duncan Keith - Rod Seiling

VS

MONTREAL CANADIENS

Coach: Joel Quenneville
Captains: Boris Mikhailov (K), Frantisek Pospisil (A), Cooney Weiland (A)

Syd Howe - Howie Morenz - Boris Mikhailov
Paul Thompson - Frank Fredrickson - Ernie Russell
Pavol Demitra - Cooney Weiland - Dave Taylor
Igor Liba - Doug Risebrough - Don Marcotte
Spares: Ryan Smyth, Paul Haynes, Ken Wharram

Sprague Cleghorn - Jimmy Thomson
Frantisek Pospisil - Jack Crawford
Jay Bouwmeester - Teppo Numminen
Spare: Keith Magnusson

Frank Brimsek
Mike Richter

Power play 1
Demitra - Morenz - Mikhailov
Cleghorn - Howe

Power play 2
Thompson - Fredrickson - Russell
Pospisil - Numminen

PP spares: Taylor, Weiland, Liba, Thomson

Penalty kill 1
Weiland - Marcotte
Cleghorn - Thomson

Penalty kill 2
Howe - Mikhailov
Pospisil - Crawford

Penalty kill 3
Liba - Risebrough
Bouwmeester - Numminen​

Click to read more...

 

[BraveCanadian]

I don't know how much Jafar/Sturm/overpass are around and I don't have a lot of time myself so my quick thoughts:

I still really like this Canadiens team.

Three balanced scoring lines that are all average or better without the puck and a defensive-energizer bunny line that can contribute as well.

As I said in the assassinations, it looks to me like this team was designed to basically roll lines and impose their style on the game. If the opposition is able to dictate the matchups and flow of the game it will impede Montreal's ability to use their strategy.


Therefore I see my biggest advantages in this series as:

1)Chara - Orr is a huge advantage playing the important minutes over Cleghorn - Thomson. Hell, I'll say it: our top pairing is the best one in the draft coming and going.

I also love that a lot of the spade work on Montreal is done by RWs since they will be facing Chara a good chunk of the time when they are trying to. We also have a pretty gritty set of left wings on that side.

Our forwards well get a bit of a boost from Orr even in this setting.


2) Al Arbour and home ice.

I believe that Quenneville actually has a very strong ATD resume at this point, but Arbour is one of the best.

Being the #1 seed and having home ice gives him an extra boost for our team forcing the game to be played on our terms and allowing us to use a dedicated checking line (Otto) to maximum effect on Montreal's top forwards. Not to mention the Chara-Orr pairing.


3) Our team actually matches up well against Montreal's concept.

We also don't have any glaring weaknesses in our team to exploit and I took care to have a nice balance of offense, defense, grit and leadership throughout the lineup. We can keep things close enough no matter how the game is played that an advantage like Orr can tip things in our favour.


The strengths I see for Montreal in this series are:

1) Just a plain all over strong forward group led by Morenz. Balanced in all respects -- really this is their team concept since they aren't outstanding otherwise -- it was well done.

2) Brimsek is better than Bower. (However Bower is particularly strong in the playoffs - check my bio! - so that helps us some).


Should be a good one.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Guelph wins in 5 games

Stars:

1. Bobby Orr
2. Syl Apps
3. Howie Morenz

Zdeno Chara was also a big factor in the victory.