For the first time since the 2022-23 season, there will be intra-league play at Canada's junior level.
On Friday, the QMJHL's Gatineau Olympiques will head to TD Place to take on the OHL's Ottawa 67's. The next day will see the completion of "The Battle of the Ottawa River", with the 67's crossing the Ottawa River to take on Gatineau in the return leg.
But what is the history behind this matchup, and what should one expect in this year's series?
The most recent bout between the two teams started in 2017 when an outdoor game between the two teams was played at TD Place. That game was won 4-1 by the Olympiques; however, the 67's would take the second game by a score of 5-0. The next season would see the rivalry dubbed "The Battle of the Ottawa River", with two games taking place back-to-back in early-December. Despite losing the opening game in Hull, Ottawa would blow Gatineau out in the second leg of the series that year.
In 2019-20, Ottawa dominated the cross-river series, shutting Gatineau out 4-0 on the road before once again dominating on the south side of the Ontario-Quebec border.
Despite COVID-19 leading to the rivalry not taking place over the next two years, the series ended up returning in 2022-23. That year, it was all Gatineau; the Olympiques would beat the 67's 5-2 at TD Place before once again defeating them 4-1 at the Slush Puppie Centre.
Before the more modern bouts between the two teams, there were several bouts contested throughout the early-to-mid-2000's. Ultimately, the series would end up going on hiatus after the 2002-03 edition.
Despite the two teams playing in different leagues, the games played between them would count towards both the OHL and QMJHL standings.
It's also worth noting that this isn't the only inter-league series to take place this year; alongside The Battle of the Ottawa River, the OHL's Sudbury Wolves will take on the QMJHL's Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
Unlike in 2022-23, which saw Ottawa and Gatineau enter the rivalry series at or near the top of their respective leagues, both the 67's and Olympiques find themselves in completely different positions heading into Friday's encounter. On one hand, the Ottawa 67's have started their OHL campaign with a 29-9-1-2 record, good for second in the East Division and third in the Eastern Conference (Barrie is second as they lead the Central Division; division winners are also given the top two playoff seeds in the conference). Meanwhile, Gatineau once again finds itself in the bottom of the QMJHL standings; as of January 14th, the Olympiques are tied with Saint John for the final playoff spot while also leading the last-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar by eight points.
In terms of individual statistics, Ottawa's talented roster can be seen to be having a pretty big year. In terms of goalscoring, four 67's players - Cooper Foster, Jasper Kuhta, Nic Whitehead, and Kohyn Eshkawkogan - have tallied at least thirty points so far this season. Of those four players, Cooper Foster and Jasper Kuhta have tallied at least twenty goals, while Kohyn Eshkawkogan is the team leader in the assists department with twenty-seven. Two additional 67's players - Nic Whitehead and Cooper Foster - have recorded at least twenty assists thus far on the season.
The same can be seen for the 67's goaltending, as goaltender Ryder Fetterolf has established himself as one of the OHL's top goaltenders. As of this writing, Fetterolf is second in the league in goals against per game (1.98) and in terms of save percentage (.926). He's also won eighteen of his twenty-four starts while also recording three shutouts.
For Gatineau, the statistical picture can be seen to vary. While the point-scoring is spread throughout the lineup - twelve Olympiques have tallied at least ten points on the season - just three have recorded more than twenty points. No Gatineau player has secured more than thirty points so far this season.
In terms of goaltending, the Olympiques have fielded four goaltenders at several points throughout this QMJHL season. The team's main goaltender is Danai Shaiikov, who has had a decent season thus far. Despite conceding about two-and-a-half goals per game, he's also posted a .904 save percentage and a record of 13-15-1-1.
The rest of the goaltending hasn't exactly been pretty. The team's remaining three goalies have all posted save percentages below .900 while also conceding at least three goals per game.
It's possible to infer that Gatineau's chances rely on their depth scoring; the Olympiques do have players capable of putting points. The issue? They don't do it enough.
If this series is going to be one decided on scoring, there's a good chance that it's going to be won by Ottawa. While Gatineau could get enough contribution up and down the roster to contend with the 67's, Ottawa does score almost four goals per game. And through 41 regular season games, the 67's have given up just 97 goals.
There's also a chance this series could become a goaltending duel; this is arguably going to be the way the Olympiques stay in this. If Danai Shaiikov can get a good start in Friday's game and keep the Olympiques close through forty minutes, Gatineau should be able to make an impression through the final two thirds of the series. That said, my concern is with the goaltending depth; as a result, the Olympiques' coaching staff is going to have a pretty big headache deciding the goaltending for both games. Even then, Shaiikov should get the start to open the series.
There is a catch 22 here: historically, regular season form doesn't entirely translate to success in The Battle of the Ottawa River. While this could mean Gatineau takes advantage of this closely-fought rivalry and dominates à la 2022-23, the mutually conflicting condition that stems from my attempt at a catch 22 is that Ottawa could also dominate like in 2019-20. After all, this is a rivalry series, and it's therefore reasonable to throw some logic out the window.
I have a feeling this series is going to start out really close and then go one of two ways. Either the Gatineau goaltending is able to back a strong Friday effort and the offence can do enough on Saturday to back a series win, or the goaltending completely falls apart at the Slush Puppie Centre and Ottawa blows them out.
I don't think this series is going to be a blowout, however I don't have enough confidence to back Gatineau. The 67's will win this, but expect both games to be close.
Game 1 prediction: Ottawa 3, Gatineau 2
Game 2 prediction: Ottawa 4, Gatineau 2
Aggregate: Ottawa 7, Gatineau 4