The Norfolk Admirals and Trois-Rivieres Lions will meet in the Kelly Cup Playoff for the second straight season, this time with a trip to the Conference Finals on the line. Norfolk beat the Lions in six games during the 2024 North Division Semifinals. Trois-Rivieres went 5-4-1 vs Norfolk in the regular season, which should make for a very good North Division Final.
Schedule For Norfolk Admirals and Trois-Rivieres Lions
G1: Friday March 2nd at 7 PM
G2: Sunday May 4th at 3 PM
G3: Thursday May 8th at 7:05 PM
G4: Friday May 9th at 7:05 PM
G5: Sunday May 11th at 5:05 PM
G6: Tuesday May 13th at 7PM
G7: Wednesday March 14th at 7PM
Key Players
Trois-Rivieres Lions
Xavier Cormier– The 23-year-old forward would finish the regular season tied for the team lead in assists (42) and led the team in the opening round with seven. Cormier had a strong regular season against the Admirals, picking up three goals and three assists for six points in eight games. The line of Nihoff-Cormier-Beaucage accounted for 11 points in the opening round.
Chris Jandric– Trois-Rivieres went 3-13 in the PP opening round with Chris Jandric assisting on all three of the power-play goals. This shouldn’t be a shock, as Jandric had 20 PP assists during the regular season. Jandric, 26, led the Lions offensively during the regular season with 10 goals and 50 assists for 60 points. He has five assists in seven games against the Lions this season.
Alex Beaucage– The Trois-Rivieres native had an excellent first career Kelly Cup Playoff series. In the four games, he put up four goals and three assists for seven points. He led the Lions in goals and points during the series. There’s no doubt that in the Playoffs, you need your stars to shine, and that’s exactly what the 23-year-old forward did. In four games against Norfolk in the regular season, he had two goals and one assist for three points. Expect the Lions to lead on Beaucage, especially since Jakov Novak missed the last game.
Norfolk Admirals
Brady Fleurent– The 30-year-old forward’s career year has continued into the Playoffs as he put up a goal and seven assists for eight games in the opening round. Flurent has flourished this year vs Trois-Rivieres, putting up four goals and three assists for seven points in 10 games. He had five points during last year’s opening round series vs TR. The Biddeford, Maine, native didn’t find his scoring touch in the opening round but still found a way to be productive. Norfolk has a lot of weapons on their offense, so Fleurent not scoring like he did in the regular season shouldn’t be a concern to Admiral fans.
Hank Crone– It’s been hard to ignore the impact that Hank Crone has had on the Admirals since being acquired by the Admirals at the ECHL Trade Deadline. The 27-year-old forward had four goals and six assists for 10 points in seven games with the Admirals at the end of the regular season. His success has carried into the Kelly Cup Playoffs, putting up six assists in the opening round. Crone had four points in three games vs TR during the regular season, including a three-point night on December 12th as a member of the Idaho Steelheads.
Darick Louis-Jean– The Norfolk Admirals had 30 goals from defensemen during the regular season, but got just four during the opening round. Darick Loius-Jean had four goals in 70 games during the regular season and scored three of those four goals. He finished the series with three goals and two assists and had a point in all five games. Norfolk will need Louis-Jean to stay hot while also trying to get their other defensemen going if they want to win the series vs TR. The Montreal native had five assists in 10 games against the Lions last season.
Goaltending
Norfolk Admirals
The Admirals and Lions cruised past the first round by way of goaltending. Norfolk currently leads the Kelly Cup Playoffs, allowing under a goal and a half through the first five games they’ve played. Thomas Milic led the way for Norfolk, pitching back-to-back shutouts in the first two games of the series. Milic went 2-0 vs Trois-Rivieres in the regular season, allowing just one goal. With Games 3 and 4 being back-to-back, the Admirals elected to go with Domenic DiVincentiis in Game 4 after he was sent down from the Manitoba Moose.
The 21-year-old goaltender would make 29 saves and a win in his first Kelly Cup Playoff start. Norfolk will likely start the series with Milic between the pipes, but with a back-to-back between Games 3 and 4, I would expect DiVincentiis to see at least one start for the Admirals during this series. DiVincentiis has started the majority of the games against Norfolk, going 3-2 in five starts against Trois-Rivieres.
Trois-Rivieres Lions
The Trois-Rivieres Lions will benefit from their parent club, the Montreal Canadiens, losing in five games to the Washington Capitals. The injury forced a goaltending shuffle in the organization, which saw Luke Cavallin head up to the Laval Rocket. Cavillin, 24, will likely head back to the Lions with Jakub Dobes making his way down to Laval. In the opening round vs Reading, Cavallin went 4-0 with a 1.59 GAA and .945SV%. Cavallin started all 10 games vs Norfolk during the regular season. The week off will benefit Cavallin and the Lions, as the 24-year-old goaltender started four games in five nights for the Lions in the opening round. Trois-Rivieres backup goaltender is Hunter Jones, but barring an injury, I would expect the Lions to roll with Cavallin. Jones went 15-6-6 with a 2.87 GAA, and .905SV% in 28 games during the regular season.
Predection
Unlike the opening series for each of these teams, this series should go six or seven games. Both teams have the offensive firepower and the goaltending to win this series. I would give the slight edge to Norfolk, seeing that they were in this situation last season vs Adirondack. It would be a series to forget for the Admirals, who blew a 3-1 lead in the series to the top-seeded team in the North Division. Trois-Rivieres had a strong regular season at home this season. However, the Admirals were one of the teams that had success at Colisée Videotron, going 3-1 in their four games north of the border.
ITR 36: Coaching Carousel – Inside The Rink
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