Everyone loves winning, right!? Well today I am going to dive into the stats of the best team that is not named the Timber. The Quebec City Citadelles (QCC) are on a record pace for most points in a SMJHL regular season. The main reason for this is the additional games that were added, but that still does not take away from their incredible year. They have the highest winning percentage (82%) since S53 where the Detroit Falcons won 84% of their games. They have amassed 105 points so far and have a team plus/minus of 102. They have scored 53 more goals than any other team while also maintaining the 2nd best defensive record in the league. Simply put, they are a machine that looks primed to bring home some silverware come the playoffs.

So, how are they getting it done? Well for starters, they have the front runner for MVP on their team in center Zdenko Beranek. He leads the league in goals with 36, while also pitching in a very respectable 32 assists. His points total of 68 is the most in the league. In fact, it is 10 more points than any other player in the league. And wouldn’t you know, the player with the 2nd most points in the league is also a QCC player, Jst Maro. He has pitched in with 22 goals of his own, while setting up 36 goals for his teammates. Both of these guys are scoring very efficiently on 16%+ of their shot attempts. We only have to scan a little further down the list to find another QCC player, Stan Q. Next. He comes in at 10th in the league in points, registering 13 goals and a league leading 40 assists! You must be thinking, well yeah, these guys are just on a really good line together and are scoring and assisting to each other. You’d actually be wrong. All three of these guys are the centers on their respective lines. That means QCC’s offense is electric for pretty much every minute of the game.

If you were hoping to find a weakness in their defense, you came to the wrong spot. The first line of Heikkinen and Petrov lead the league in plus/minus at +48 and +47 respectively. Their second line comes in at 13th and 16th on the plus/minus chart, followed closely by their third line who are ranked 19th and 20th. In fact, when diving deeper, QCC actually have 14 of the top 20 plus/minus ratings in the entire league. It could be argued that their defense is actually better than their offense. Their worst starter on defense has a +23 goal differential.

Lastly, I have to bring up the net minders, Mat Smith and Tyler Ward. Smith has started 39 games and has gone 31-5-3 while saving 92.2% of his shots faced. And if opponents are hoping to get lucky and face the backup, well that ain’t happening. Ward has started 28 games and has gone 18-3-4 while saving 90.4% of his shots faced. When comparing goals against averages, Smith allows 2.33 per game (4th) and Ward allows 2.42 (6th). However, two of the players ahead of them have only started 11 and 16 games, so the sample size is much smaller.

TL;DR Quebec City Citadelles are an unstoppable force on offense and an immovable object on defense. Good luck to their opponents in the playoffs!

Approved, +5 TPE @Z-Whiz