CCHL Playoff Preview: Round 3 Dick “Dirty Mitts” Puxindeep

CCHL Playoff Preview:  Round 3 Dick “Dirty Mitts” Puxindeep


Well that was a fast first round.  Yours truly has gone 8-0 in the playoff prediction pool, and I’m looking for double digits as the CCHL enters the conference final round; otherwise known as the semi-final.

We’ll start in the Canosa Conference where the Reykjavik Puffin just finished handing Copenhagen their first playoff lost since the semi-final in 2013 taking on the upstarts Georgetown Millers.    

Georgetown (52-22-8) vs. Reykjavik (55-20-7)

The Puffin have continued what they had started in the regular season; massive offense with some defensive holes in their game that has goaltender Rask left to fend for himself.
Rask has struggled in round 1 of the playoffs (Reykjavik received a round one bye), with a .871 save percentage during the series against the defending champion Crusaders.

One glance at Rask’s numbers in that round would leave you thinking that the Puffin were about to hit the golf course, but that offense is something else. Tarasenko and Giroux have lit it up with 12 and 10 points respectively, while both Patrick “Don’t call me Evander” Kane and Joe Thornton added nine points each in eliminating Copenhagen.  The lines that don’t light up the lamp were exposed in that series however, with the 3rd and 4th lines sporting minus numbers in the plus minus category illustrating that while Copenhagen had better depth, the top line players for Reykjavik were indeed the best players in that series.

The Georgetown Millers are almost the complete opposite in their seven game series with Minnesota.
Goaltending was the theme of the series for the Millers, with Fleury and Talbot splitting time to hold the Norsemen to just 2.5 goals per game in the series.  Talbot’s performance in relief of Marc-Andre Fleury after just 13 minutes could go down in Georgetown history if this Millers team can go onto something special. Brayden Schenn led the Millers in scoring with seven points, while late season acquisition Eric Staal validated GM Chris Kash’s investment by adding five points of his own.
The key to this series will be the Millers ability to limit the offensive opportunities for the Puffin’s high octane attack.

The Puffin averaged nearly six goals per game against the solid defense of the Crusaders and torched the champs on the power play at an astonishing 34.8% in that series.
Georgetown must find a way to improve upon their 83.3% penalty killing success rate if they hope to make a series out of this, or better yet, just stay out of the box, period.  Georgetown averaged a league low seven minutes in the box in the first round, and this trend must continue into the conference final round.

While I think the Millers run has been amazing this year, it appears that midnight might be quickly approaching for the Millers in the playoff ball. Under normal circumstances, defense beats offense but I just can’t help but think Reykjavik are packing a little too much punch in this series.  I’ll have to take the Puffin to advance to represent the Canosa Conference in the CCHL finals for the Kehler cup.
Prediction:  Reykjavik in 6 games.  

Now we’ll move over to the Corfield Conference and look at the conference finals over in that group.
Calgary (52-17-13) vs. Dayton (65-12-5)

At the risk of repeating myself, we’re once again looking at a series that pits a defensive team against an offensive team, but with a little twist.

Calgary have star goaltender Carey Price in between the pipes and have ridden him to success all season long while making defensive play a focus to success.  Many question where the Chinook would be without Price in their lineup all season long, but Price is about to be tested unlike he has been consistently this season.

The Dayton Musicmen have four of the league’s top ten leading scorers, but have not done it at the expense of their defensive game this season. Dayton led the league in goals against with 132 this season, and have parlayed the tandem of Dubnyk and “Hamburgler” Hammond into an amazing 18 shutouts.  Both Hammond and Dubnyk have goals against averages well under two this season, and their ability to each play at a high level has allowed Dayton GM Bill Corfield to have two fresh goalies all season long. Jason Spezza, Tyler Johnson and Tyler Seguin continued their offensive dominance of the regular season against the three time finalist Fort Erie, combining for 20 points in just four games in the sweep of the Falcons.

Dayton head into this series on top of their defensive game, holding Fort Erie to just four goals in the series victory, while denting the twine 20 times themselves. Calgary must continue to focus on their solid defensive game, and not allow this series to become anything resembling an old fashioned shootout. Sean Monahan led the team with six points while Niederrieter and Henrik Sedin each tallied five points in their victory over Niagara Falls.

Once again in this series, special teams could really be the difference maker as Dayton has a playoff leading 89.5% penalty killing success rate (leading based on the fact they are still playing).  Dayton also are second in the playoffs with a 33.3 success rate on the power play; the Musicmen are flying and did that against a very respectable Falcons’ penalty kill. This is an area that the Chinook will need to avoid, and should focus on trying to keep the game five on five as much as possible. Calgary currently sits last in the playoffs in both power play success (8.7%) and are only killing penalties off at 70%; they simply cannot spend any time in the sin bin against the Musicmen.

Let’s set the record straight:  I believe that Carey Price could make this series really close, however he can’t do it on his own.

Calgary were just 13th in scoring as a team this season and the Musicmen were making sweet offensive waves all year long, finishing second in goals while topping Calgary by 106 goals.

While you never want to under-rate Price, you just can’t help but wonder how many goals the 13th ranked offense can score against the best defensive team in the league. It wasn’t easy but with the lack of true game breaking talent, I’m going to have to go with Dayton to return to the CCHL final on the Corfield side of the bracket.

Prediction:  Dayton in 6 games


There you have it folks, my conference final predictions are complete.  Hope you enjoy the third round of the CCHL’s second season and I’ll be back with my predictions for the CCHL finals as soon as the matchups become available.  


About the author:
Dick “Dirty Mitts” Puxindeep has been a CCHL columnist since December of 2015.  When he’s not watching hockey or eating chicken wings, he can be found at local karaoke competitions performing his world famous rendition of ‘Baby Got Back’.  Dick knows what he knows and won’t stray from that.  Enjoy reading Dick’s semi-regular column here when he posts it.