GX94 Playoff Preview: Wayway Wolverines (4) vs Portage Terriers (1)

Wayway (26-27-3-6) 61 pts @ Portage (46-13-3) 95 pts

Regular Season

Wayway's Leaders
Points: Jason Bowles (79), Paul Marcoux (65), Logan Dew (38)
Goals: Marcoux (35), Bowles (27), Dew (18)
Assists: Bowles (52), Marcoux (30), Cody Danychuk (28)
Defenseman Points: Danychuk (37), Jordan Holovach (21)

Portage Leaders
Points: Riley Nixdorf (103), Eric Delong (93 in just 49 GP), Carson Rowat (68), Brenden Walker (64), Ryan Audino/Tyler Moore (62), Donnie Glennie (49 in 44 GP)
Goals: Delong (46), Nixdorf (37), Audino (28)
Assists: Nixdorf (66), Rowat (38), Delong (47)
Defenseman Points: Drew Ellement (41), Kyle Fisher (34), Eddie Friesen (32)

Season Series:
All 8 games were decided in regulation and the series was controlled by the Terriers for the most part.

Portage: 7-1
Wayway: 1-7

The Terriers shutout Wayway twice, and scored 5 goals or more three times, their most lop-sided win was the first meeting of the season when the Terriers won 6-1 on November 2nd.

Portage out-scored Wayway 37-16, an average of 4.6-2 per game.

Head-to-Head Numbers
When healthy, the Terriers' Eric Delong, Riley Nixdorf and Donnie Glennie usually play together, and despite both Delong and Glennie missing 2 games against Wayway, the trio combined for 18-goals and 41-points against the Wolverines.

Portage
Eric Delong: 7G-8A-15P (in 6 GP)
Riley Nixdorf: 6G-9A-15P
Donnie Glennie: 5G-6A-11P (in 6 GP)
Brenden Walker: 3G-6A-9P

For Wayway, it's worth pointing out their leading scorer Jason Bowles managed just a goal and an assist in 7 games against Portage. However all Wolverine players were held under a point per game in the season series.

Wayway
Paul Marcoux 3G-3A-6P
Logan Dew 2G-3A-5P
Ryan Regal 1G-3A-4P

Between The Pipes

Wayway
#29 Jayme Janzen: 19-19-1-5, 2.98 GAA, .902%, 1SO
#30 Carey Dyck: 5-7-1-1, 3.63 GAA, .886%, 1SO

Portage
#33 Bryan Mountain: 32-9-1, 2.66 GAA, .911%, 3SO
#35 Matt Krahn: 12-3-2, 3.37 GAA, .885%, 1SO
(Mountain started the first 4 games, Krahn played the last 4)

Here's the BIGGEST stat that stands out to me as far as head-to-head goes.

Bryan Mountain vs Wayway
4-0, 0.75 GAA, .974%, 2SO

Jayme Janzen vs Portage
1-6, 4.50, .865%

Analysis
There's no question, the Terriers are favoured in this one, and the word HEAVILY could even be thrown in there and I don't think you'd get too many arguments. The Wolverines, who are making their 3rd consecutive playoff appearance, have yet to win a round in their franchise's history, following Game 7 losses to Dauphin in each of the last two seasons. But, this is the playoffs. I watched the Swan Valley Stampeders come within one win (more like a grossly waved-off overtime goal) of upsetting the first place Terriers a year ago. And Wayway's very rarely been healthy this season, and it looks like they could have a full lineup come Friday, providing Niko Grose, who had 17-points in 17-games since coming over from Estevan, is ready to go for the weekend. When he was in the lineup he was playing with Logan Dew and Ryan Regal and they were outstanding. That still leaves their leading point man Jason Bowles, top goal scorer Paul Marcoux, Preston Mcleod, Chad Loewen, Shane Gray, Jerrett Bicknell, Evan Durnin, Richard Little, Ryan Duhaime and Am Sidhu. It's too bad Dave Lamouche left the team due to personal reasons after just 21 games. He had 27-points, including 14-goals during that stretch, and is still the team's 6th highest point-getter, and 5th highest goal scorer. There's no doubt those numbers would help out on left wing of any one of those lines. While the Terriers are more dangerous as a whole, I really believe the Wolverines have the ability to roll 4 lines as much, or even more than Portage, which could be a factor if it's a long series. For Portage, if Don Glennie hadn't missed 19 games, he would have easily surpassed 20 goals and 50 points, which would have given the Terriers 7 forwards with more than 20G and 50 pts.

Portage is much older on the backend, with veterans like Drew Ellement, Kyle Fisher, Darren Miller and former Wolverine Eddie Friesen. The Wolverines are extremely young on the backend, but in watching them play a dozen or so times this season, it's unreal how far they've come, and how scary they'll be if they all stick in Wolverine threads for 3, or in some cases, FIVE years. Zach Sweet (who's mother is an avid reader in Winnipeg! Thanks!), has really emerged as a 16-year-old, and plays plenty of powerplay time. Ryan Breen is also 16, while 17 year olds David McKelvey-Gunson and Steven Duda are also playing beyond their years. 18 year old Jordan Holovach, a local kid from Russell had a break-out season, adding some offense with 3-goals and 21-points. 20 year olds Cody Danychuk and Brenden Bradbury will be counted on for the leadership and experience they possess, and Danychuk in particular adds a lot of offense from the point, mainly with his shot on the powerplay.

There's no doubt the Yorkton/Melville series will hog a lot of attention around these parts, but we're treating the two series equally on the radio and I'm condifent the Wolverines and Terriers will be a lot closer than many are predicting.