Jason La Rose
The 2021-22 season comes to an end Sunday for the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), with two teams – the Brooks Bandits and Pickering Panthers – remaining in the chase for Canada’s National Junior A Championship.
But how did those two teams, and the rest of the CJHL, get to the championship game at the 2022 Centennial Cup, presented by Tim Hortons? And how do the Bandits and Panthers match up?
ROAD TO THE CENTENNIAL CUP
261 – Days between the first regular-season game (Shamrocks du West Island vs. Collège Français de Longueuil in the Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Québec) on Sept. 10, 2021 and the Centennial Cup final on Sunday.
3,327 – Regular season (2,939) and playoff (388) games necessary for 115 teams to become two on the Road to the Centennial Cup.
23,201 – Goals scored in the regular season (20,731) and playoffs (2,470) by the 115 teams across the CJHL, an average of 6.97 goals per game.
126:21 – Duration of the longest game played on the Road to the Centennial Cup (Brockville Braves defeated Pembroke Lumber Kings 2-1 in Game 7 of their CCHL quarterfinal on April 22).
CENTENNIAL CUP FINAL – HEAD-TO-HEAD
Winning percentage (regular season):
BRO – .867 (52-6-2) – 1st in CJHL PIC – .722 (39-11-4) – 16th in CJHL
Winning percentage (playoffs):
BRO – .944 (17-1) PIC – .800 (16-4)
Goals per game (regular season):
BRO – 6.18 (371 goals in 60 games) – 3rd in CJHL PIC – 3.69 (199 goals in 54 games) – 46th in CJHL
Goals per game (playoffs):
BRO – 6.00 (108 goals in 18 games) PIC – 4.05 (81 goals in 20 games)
Goals against per game (regular season):
BRO – 2.17 (130 goals in 60 games) – 4th in CJHL PIC – 2.50 (135 goals in 54 games) – 12th in CJHL
Goals against per game (playoffs):
BRO – 2.28 (41 goals in 18 games) PIC – 2.85 (57 goals in 20 games)
Power play (regular season):
BRO – 35.3% (100 for 283) – 1st in CJHL PIC – 15.7% (27 for 172) – 88th in CJHL
Power play (playoffs):
BRO – 31.1% (23 for 74) PIC – 20.0% (16 for 80)
Penalty killing (regular season):
BRO – 86.6% (188 of 217) – 14th in CJHL PIC – 90.0% (170 of 189) – 5th in CJHL
Penalty killing (playoffs):
BRO – 85.1% (57 of 67) PIC – 79.8% (79 of 99)