The regular season has come to a close, and the Listowel Cyclones once again find themselves at the top staring down the standings at their Midwestern Conference brethren.
This year wasn't quite the dominant performance that saw the Cyclones rack up 88 points in 2017-18 en route to the greatest season in franchise history, as the Cyclones marched to a back-to-back Cherrey Cup and the team's first ever Sutherland Cup. However, the team still has plenty of talent, and managed to rally around plenty of new faces with 9 rookies in the team to finish 1st overall with 70 points. The Cyclones will face a beleaguered Bombers squad that again fell to the bottom. That being said, the bombers still have talented players and will be physical enough to cause the Cyclones issues if they aren't careful. Listowel is a much younger team this year and if those guys aren't ready to play right away, the Bombers could jump on that and take advantage.
On the offensive side of the puck, the contest really isn't close. Holdyn Lansink smashed the team's single season scoring record with 111 points, while rookie centre Brayden Krieger played very well between Lansink and veteran Chayse Herrfort. Krieger finished with 84 points, 32 better than the next highest rookie, while Herrfort had 83 and surpassed the games played record by a Cyclone this year. Lansink and Herrfort led the entire GOJHL in goals with 46 and 38 respectively, and made some history. Lansink tied the career high in game winners with 22 total in his career now, and maybe more impressively, Krieger set a new single season game winners mark with a whopping 12. Lansink is now the third highest scoring player in GOJHL history with 290 career points, behind only Adam Arsenault's 297 and Cam McLean's 369. The Cyclones as a team drop off quite a bit from the top line, as the next highest scorers are Luke Israel and Steven Grant with 27 and 26 points, and Israel only earned 14 as a Cyclone. That being said, they are a fast and defensively sound group that still forecheck extremely well in head coach Jason Brooks' system. The team had the second highest goals for mark this season in the Midwest at 188 behind only Waterloo's 219.
Brampton was the worst offesnive team in the Midwest, putting up just 114 goasl collectively, but there are some good players in the mix here. Brandan Fisher was the lone point-per-gamer with 44 points in just 40 games, and he plays a heavy physical game built on agitation, as his 157 PIMs suggest. Hughie Sheppard posted a 40 point season and is much the same in his approach, amassing 94 PIMs. Marcus Didiano is the main sniper, finishing with a team high 19 goals and third in overall points with 29, tied with Remy Dalben. After those four, no other forward scored 20 or more points. The Bombers will be in tough against one of the best defensive units in the entire GOJHL.
On the back end, even though the Cyclones lost a ton of their high end blue line talent, they still turned in another great year defensively, a testament to the coaching staff and the system buy-in from the players. Listowel only allowed 122 goals against, second only to Stratford at 117. Harlen VanWynsberghe was the top point producer on the blue line, amassing 23 points and getting some time in at power play quarterback, though sometimes the top unit runs 5 forwards. 11 of Harlen's 23 points were on the man advantage though, as he showed poise and good passing ability and a willingness to find shooting lanes. He and Brenden Clayton form a top pair that is physical and smart with their puck distribution. Clayton, who put up 17 points, has never been of the offensive mould, instead focusing on closing down forwards and quickly separating them from pucks with a good stick or a booming check, admirable given he isn't the biggest kid. His hits and willingness to block shots and pay a physical price is appreciated by his team mates. Brendan Koops made big strides throughout the season, becoming more reliable in tight games and late guarding leads. David Mabey, Thomas Gangl and Danny Heelis are all solid, no nonsense defenders who focus on quickly getting pucks out of danger zones for the back checkers to get after and into transition.
The Bombers had a rough year keeping pucks out of their net, often getting swarmed early and often. They allowed 215 goals against, second only to Brantford's massive 240. This group is younger and don't have some of the skating or puck moving ability that Listowel still possess, and they don't often get the run support to help them out offensively either. Luka Profaca had a solid year with 20 points, and he is the go-to guy on the Bombers power play up top, posting 13 of his 20 points with the man advantage. Braeden Ferguson had 13 points, while Tyler Sampson put up an impressive 11 in only 17 games played. Zach Jones, Seth Coulter and Noah Church round out a top 6 that can sometimes get victimized by teams who lay into them on heavy cycles, something Listowel certainly thrives on. They do heavy damage below the goal line, and they'll give this young Bombers group everything they can handle.
In goal, Listowel once again benefits from a two-headed monster in veteran Evan Morrison, another OHL steal for the franchise, and starter for the future Riley McCabe. Morrison struggled early on but found his footing, going 14-7-0 with a shutout, a 2.54 GAA and a .912 save percentage. He will get the early nod heading into this series, but should he falter, the Cycs will have no issue turning to the brilliant youngster in McCabe, who was the starter for a good chunk of the year before Morrison arrived. McCabe twice was named Goalie of the Month, and went a blistering 19-6-0 with 5 goose eggs, a sparkling 2.16 GAA and .914 save percentage. McCabe is bar-none the goalie of the future and will eat up starts next year, but for now he will yield to the OHL veteran. Listowel is stacked in the crease.
Brampton will likely will with Owen Porter, who started 32 games and went 5-22-0 with a 4.31 GAA and an .889 save percentage. He's a quick and agile netminder who can make great desperation saves and he often has to. He will be backed up, and likely share some playoff time with David Giancola, who went 3-17-1 with a 4.47 GAA and an .883 save percentage. He is the slightly smaller goalie at 6 feet, but he has quick feet and solid rebound control. Goalies on weaker teams are always hard to gauge. You read the stats and may think the goalies are an issue, but that's not my sense having watched these two play. They get very little help and have teams in front of them that can collapse under pressure. These two will compete hard to keep the Bombers in games.
On special teams, Listowel clipped along at a Midwest best 25 percent, leaning heavily on Herrfort and Lansink's brilliance with extra ice. Listowel scored a GOJHL-high 67 goals on the man advantage, way more than second place London at 57. Brampton on the other hand had the worst Midwest power play at just 13 percent, and not surprisingly scored a Midwest-low 33 times. On the penalty kill, Listowel actually fell way off from their dominance last year, finishing with the Midwest's 3rd worst kill at just 80 percent, something the Bombers could maybe take advantage of with a better power play. The Cylones allowed the second fewest power play goals against though at 39, only better than Stratford's 28. Listowel also scored a Midwest-best 11 shorties, which Brampton also managed to tie surprisingly. Brampton was worse off on the PK, at just 77 percent, second worst in all of the GOJHL and just ahead of Brantford's 72 percent. They also allowed the second most power play markers at 60, again only trailing Brantford's 63. It's clear where the advantage lies here.
The Cyclones will be looking to go on a run towards an incredible three-peat of Cherrey Cups, but they will need to be attentive and not sleep on Brampton. While there is a large talent disparity here, anything can happen come playoffs, and the Cyclones need to be up to the task no matter who they play. It should be a great ride again, and it all starts this Friday, March 1st in Listowel at 7:30, where we will be broadcasting live at the Steve Kerr Memorial. Pre-game live on CKNX AM920 just after 7. Enjoy the show.
Full Cyclones 1st round schedule:
Game 1 Friday, March 1st at 7:30 in Listowel
Game 2 Sunday, March 3rd at 2:30 in Brampton
Game 3 Tuesday, March 5th at 7:30 in Listowel
Game 4 Thursday, March 7th at 4:30 in Brampton
If necessary
Game 5 Friday, March 8th at 7:30 in Listowel
Game 6 Sunday, March 10th at 2:30 in Brampton
Game 7 Monday, March 11th at 8:30 in Listowel
