Jason La Rose
The 2018-19 season comes to an end Sunday for the Canadian Junior Hockey League, with two teams – the host Brooks Bandits and Prince George Spruce Kings – remaining in the chase for the National Junior A Championship.
But how did those two teams, and the rest of the CJHL, get to the championship game? And how do the Bandits and Spruce Kings match up?
ROAD TO THE NJAC
260 – Days between the first regular-season game (Kanata Lasers vs. Hawkesbury Hawks in the Central Canada Hockey League) on Sept. 1, 2018 and the National Junior A Championship final on Sunday.
4,278 – Regular season (3,735) and playoff (543) games necessary for 133 teams to become two on the Road to the National Junior A Championship.
28,729 – Goals scored in the regular season (25,311) and playoffs (3,418) by the 132 teams across the CJHL, an average of 6.72 goals per game.
116:03 – Duration of the longest game played on the Road to the National Junior A Championship (Kirkland Lake Gold Miners defeated Powassan Voodoos 4-3 in Game 5 of their NOJHL quarter-final on March 23).
NJAC FINAL – HEAD TO HEAD
Winning percentage (regular season): BRO – .950 (57-3-0) – 1st in CJHL PG – .672 (39-13-6) – 21st in CJHL
Winning percentage (playoffs): BRO – .731 (15-7) PG – .857 (24-4)
Goals per game (regular season): BRO – 5.57 (334 goals in 60 games) – 2nd in CJHL PG – 3.12 (181 goals in 58 games) – 84th in CJHL
Goals per game (playoffs): BRO – 4.46 (98 goals in 22 games) PG – 3.43 (96 goals in 28 games)
Goals against per game (regular season): BRO – 2.08 (125 goals in 60 games) – 4th in CJHL PG – 2.07 (120 goals in 58 games) – 3rd in CJHL
Goals against per game (playoffs): BRO – 2.68 (59 goals in 22 games) PG – 1.57 (44 goals in 28 games)
Power play (regular season): BRO – 29.6% (95 for 321) – 2nd in CJHL PG – 19.8% (47 for 238) – 49th in CJHL
Power play (playoffs): BRO – 22.2% (24 for 108) PG – 23.3% (24 for 103)
Penalty killing (regular season): BRO – 84.4% (211 of 250) – 43rd in CJHL PG – 82.7% (153 of 185) – 58th in CJHL
Penalty killing (playoffs): BRO – 81.0% (94 of 116) PG – 83.1% (69 of 83)