East or West ???

[P-O]

It was only a couple of months ago that chsb came on some other board saying the East was way to good for the west and it was going to be a total domination of the East in the standings.


Right now, my top 3 teams are
Halifax
Baie-Comeau
Rouyn


What do you guys think.. do you think the East is stronger?

[Judas In My Mind]

I agree with your top three teams...not sure if I would order them that way but those are definitely the top three.

I think the east is stronger overall. Just for statistical backup I looked up the record of the 8 eastern teams versus the Telus Division:

7-4 Bathurst
8-6 Cape Breton
8-3 Halifax
8-3-2 Lewiston
4-8 Moncton
8-4-1 PEI
6-3 Saint John
5-8 St. John’s

54-39-3 Overall vs. Telus

Pretty decent advantage there for the eastern side at the moment.

[bois]

The East is deeper IMO

The west has 2-3 solid to great teams and several medicore clubs .. and of course the worst team in the Q

The east has one solid to great team but the rest are all medicore .. possible exception being Moncton but they still find a way to compete

I give the overall advantage to the East but expect the league champion to be Rouyn Nouranda

[catnut]

poquebec said:

It was only a couple of months ago that chsb came on some other board saying the East was way to good for the west and it was going to be a total domination of the East in the standings.


Right now, my top 3 teams are
Halifax
Baie-Comeau
Rouyn


What do you guys think.. do you think the East is stronger?

But the West has Drummondville.

[Gman]

I don't know if Halifax will ever catch BC/RN because almost every night those teams get to play bottom feeders, where over here, we've got an early season contender a point out of last place, and even the last place team gives us fits everytime we play them and we go to OT/SO all the time.

Bottom line- getting 2 points in the east is never easy- it's always a battle no matter who we play. In the Telus, most of the matchups are lobsided affairs. The strong teams are going to steamroll the weaker teams 9/10 times.

Halifax basically has to go pretty close to undefeated the rest of the way to get first place, IMO.

[canucklehead]

gman said:

I don't know if Halifax will ever catch BC/RN because almost every night those teams get to play bottom feeders, where over here, we've got an early season contender a point out of last place, and even the last place team gives us fits everytime we play them and we go to OT/SO all the time.

Bottom line- getting 2 points in the east is never easy- it's always a battle no matter who we play. In the Telus, most of the matchups are lobsided affairs. The strong teams are going to steamroll the weaker teams 9/10 times.

Halifax basically has to go pretty close to undefeated the rest of the way to get first place, IMO.

This is the reason Leasky's theory might be a better gauge

[Deer]

The East is deeper, but assuming that CB has no shot at the title (which I think is a safe assumption) I sure hope the league champion comes out of the West.

[CrazyJoeDavola]

gman said:

I don't know if Halifax will ever catch BC/RN because almost every night those teams get to play bottom feeders, where over here, we've got an early season contender a point out of last place, and even the last place team gives us fits everytime we play them and we go to OT/SO all the time.

Bottom line- getting 2 points in the east is never easy- it's always a battle no matter who we play. In the Telus, most of the matchups are lobsided affairs. The strong teams are going to steamroll the weaker teams 9/10 times.

Halifax basically has to go pretty close to undefeated the rest of the way to get first place, IMO.

Taking both games against RN would be huge. But Moncton are the only team that should be a given win (Moose at full strength, and the tiring of their young guys who are now carrying more of the load after trades). After that, the east have teams that are all capable of beating eachother.

[CrazyJoeDavola]

deer said:

The East is deeper, but assuming that CB has no shot at the title (which I think is a safe assumption) I sure hope the league champion comes out of the West.

But you would have an opportunity to attend a parade in person if Halifax win it!

[bjindaho]

RN and BaC should make the league semis without much trouble. But in the East, there are so many challenges, like winning on the Rock against Pielmeier, getting past Bernier, stopping Acadie-Bathurst's attack, and those aren't even the top 3 teams in the division. Of course, the cross over and PEI/Moncton should make for a cakewalk to the second round for the 1 and 2 seeds in the East. But then again, are there any teams in the west other than BaC and RN that could win even?

[CrazyJoeDavola]

bjindaho said:

RN and BaC should make the league semis without much trouble. But in the East, there are so many challenges, like winning on the Rock against Pielmeier, getting past Bernier, stopping Acadie-Bathurst's attack, and those aren't even the top 3 teams in the division. Of course, the cross over and PEI/Moncton should make for a cakewalk to the second round for the 1 and 2 seeds in the East. But then again, are there any teams in the west other than BaC and RN that could win even?

Gatineau are pretty good, with superstar Giroux and great coaching... but they didnt add any impact players so I'd be surprised if they make a big run. But I wouldnt count them out. I dont think they could beat RN but they might knock out defensive minded BC... That series would be alot of 3-2 games I'd think...

[bjindaho]

whereas the East champ will get at most one easy series

[bois]

bjindaho said:

RN and BaC should make the league semis without much trouble. But in the East, there are so many challenges, like winning on the Rock against Pielmeier, getting past Bernier, stopping Acadie-Bathurst's attack, and those aren't even the top 3 teams in the division. Of course, the cross over and PEI/Moncton should make for a cakewalk to the second round for the 1 and 2 seeds in the East. But then again, are there any teams in the west other than BaC and RN that could win even?

You're assuming you guys will finish ahead of us? You're assuming Bathurst will finish ahead of us?

Alot of assuming there

I don't think we'll be a cakewalk for anyone but we shall see

[SteveUL]

crazyjoedevola said:

gman said:

I don't know if Halifax will ever catch BC/RN because almost every night those teams get to play bottom feeders, where over here, we've got an early season contender a point out of last place, and even the last place team gives us fits everytime we play them and we go to OT/SO all the time.

Bottom line- getting 2 points in the east is never easy- it's always a battle no matter who we play. In the Telus, most of the matchups are lobsided affairs. The strong teams are going to steamroll the weaker teams 9/10 times.

Halifax basically has to go pretty close to undefeated the rest of the way to get first place, IMO.

Taking both games against RN would be huge. But Moncton are the only team that should be a given win (Moose at full strength, and the tiring of their young guys who are now carrying more of the load after trades). After that, the east have teams that are all capable of beating eachother.

Even though Moncton has a poor record ... we lose most nights by one goal ... or two goals with an empty netter. We aren't a last place team in the mold of SJ over the last two years and Drummondvile now ... and Bathurst next year. Our problem is scoring goals ... we are quite effective at keeping them out. We have been blown out only a few times this year ... something like 15 one goal losses now.

There are no gimme wins coming from Moncton ... however if teams like Bathurst and Halifax actually had a little bit of heart on their team they should blow Moncton out of the water ... but they don't.

The best teams we have seen come into Moncton this year are Gatineau and BC ... no other teams have looked as good as them. Halifax never shows up with their best game ... they rely too much on talent and not enough on hard work ... and that and their goaltending will prevent them from winning a championship.

[lou]

Advantage West for the playoffs...Halifax could have to beat both BC and RN couldn't they??