GX94 SJHL Final Preview: Mils (2nd in Sherwood) vs Broncos (1st in Itech)

After knocking out the Sherwood Conference first place Weyburn Red Wings in the conference final, the Melville Millionaires have one more challenging obstacle infront of them to get past if they want their first ever SJHL Championship.

The obstacle, none other than the 2 time defending league champs, and the defending National Champion Humboldt Broncos.

This is the third championship series between these two foes in the last seven years. http://www.sjhl.ca/ breaks down the previous two battles, in '03 and '07.

Melville's Leaders (Regular Season)
Points: Daniel Hope (63), Levi Lind (60), Kale Dolinski/Logan Herauf (50)
Goals: Hope (28), Lind (24), Dolinski (22), Herauf/Shane Stanicky (19)
Assists: Lind (36), Hope (35), Herauf (31), Tyler Murray (30)
Defenseman Points: Jordan Reeve/Casey Dion (21), Austin Krahenbil/Curtis Beech (16)

(Playoffs)
Points: Dolinski (11), Kelly Friesen (9), Tyler Murray/Lind/Aaron Decorby (8)
Goals: Murray/Lind (6), Dolinski (5), Brayden Metz (4)
Assists: Dolinski/Friesen/Decorby/Hope/Krahenbil (6), Matt Kinnunen (5)
Defenseman Points: Friesen (9), Krahenbil (7), Reeve (4)

Humboldt's Leaders (Regular Season)
Points: Brady Wacker (82), Scott Schroeder (66), Tanner Vandesype (64), Steve Schroeder (57)
Goals: Matt Kirzinger (29) (in just 39 GP), Tory Allan (28), Scott/Steven Schroeder (27)
Assists: Wacker (65), Vandesype (42), Scott Schroeder (39)
Defenseman Points: Wacker (82), Vandesype (64), Kyle Cowan (18)

(Playoffs)
Points: Kirzinger/Vandesype (10), Spencer Braaten/Wacker (9)
Goals: Kirzinger (6), Nick Kalnicki (5), Braaten/Steve Schroeder (4)
Assists: Vandesype (8), Wacker/Shawn Hunter (6)
Defenseman Points: Vandesype (10), Wacker (9), Garrett Leedahl (3)

Season Series
The Millionaires were the only SJHL team the Broncos out-right lost the regular season series to. The Mils went 3-1 against Humboldt, 2-0 at home, and 1-1 at the EPA. The Broncos won the first head to head meeting 5-0, the Mils won 9-1 at home 3 nights later, and finished the year with a pair of February meetings with a 5-3 win in Humboldt, and 4-1 at the Vault.

Head-to-Head Numbers

Melville
Levi Lind 5G-3A-8P
Logan Herauf 0G-5A-5P
Tyler Murray 3G-2A-5P
Kale Dolinski 1G-3A-4P

D- Jordan Reeve 3A

Humboldt
Brady Wacker 1G-4A-5P
Tanner Vandesype 1G-3A-4P
Tory Allan/Matt Kirzinger 2-1-3

Between the pipes:
Travis Bosch was likely the MVP of the Sherwood Conference Final, while Humboldt's Andrew Bodnarchuk and Mathieu Larochelle for Humboldt both saw action in the Itech Final. Bodnarchuk's had most of the playoff load, and based on the numbers, one would assume it's his job vs Melville, after backing up Taylor Nelson last year in the SJHL final against Kindersley.

Melville
#34 Travis Bosch: 29-16-3, 2.36 GAA, .928%, 1 SO
#35 Brady Wilyman: 3-0, 3.41, .882%, 1 SO

Bosch in Playoffs
8-5, 2.27, .930, 1 SO

Bosch vs Humboldt
2-1, 3.00, .913
(Wilyman- 1-0, 1.00, .963)

Humboldt
#1 Andrew Bodnarchuk 25-5-0-2, 2.23, .916%, 6 SO
#31 Matt Larouchelle 5-2, 2.01, .922%, 1 SO

Playoffs
Bodnarchuk 7-0, 1.30, .950
Larochelle 1-2, 2.93, .904

vs Melville
Bodnarchuk 1-2, 4.50, .871
Larochelle 0-1, 2.76, .917

Bosch beat Bodnarchuk in minutes played, wins, save percentage, virutally every goaltending statistic, except, goals against average. What's the SJHL Goalie of the Year Award solely based on? GAA. Which makes it more like the NHL's Jennings Trophy rather than the Vezina. I would argue Bosch was more important to his team, having had a full goal less of support per game. The Mils scored 3.54/game when Bosch was in net, while Bodnarchuk received 4.53 of support for Humboldt. Plus the minutes played is also a big factor, and Bosch played almost 1000 more minutes. I'm not saying anything against Bodnarchuk, he's a great young goalie, but I think the league got it right when Bosch was named to the first All-Star team. Bosch was in the Melville net 83% of the time, while Bodnarchuk was in for the Broncos 55% of the time. Perhaps the true measuring stick will be which tender gets 4 wins in this series and a Credit Union Cup.

Each team's missing a sniper
Melville captain Daniel Hope (head) and Humboldt's Tory Allan (spleen) are both expected to miss the entire Credit Union Cup series. Both are 20-year-old forwards, and both had 28 goals during the regular season.

The series starts Friday night (7:15/7:30 on GX94).