Frolik and Riopel are Players of the Week

On Monday, Rimouski Océanic forward Michael Frolik and Moncton Wildcats goaltender Nicola Riopel were named the offensive and defensive players for the week ending February 24th. Frolik scored twice (one game-winner), assisted on five others, and was a +5. Wednesday was his best game as he added the game-winning goal in overtime and an assisted on Olivier Fortier’s game tying goal with 10:00 to go in the third. He was also the first star of the game. Halifax’s Brad Marchand (4G, 1A), Baie-Comeau’s Benjamin Breault (2G, 3A), and Cape Breton’s Dean Ouellet (3G, 2A) were also nominated.

Riopel went 2-0-0-1 with a 1.93 GAA and 0.941 SAV % over three games last week as he faced 32 shots per game. Like Frolik, Riopel’s best game was also on Wednesday as he stopped 26 shots as Moncton beat Saint John 2-1. Moncton is two points back of PEI for the final Eastern Division playoff spot, and they have two more games against each other this season. Cape Breton’s Alex Lamontagne (2G, 3A with a +4 rating), Saint John’s Travis Fullerton (1-1, 122 MIN, 1.47 GAA, .954 SAV %), and St. John’s Timo Pielmeier (1-1, 125 MIN, 1.44 GAA, .954 SAV %) also were up for the award.

Pistilli and Roy are CHL Players of the Week

On Wednesday, the Canadian Hockey League announced that Gatineau Olympiques forward Matthew Pistilli and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles goalie Olivier Roy are the CHL players for the week ending February 17th. They were also the QMJHL offensive and defensive players of the week for that period as well.

Pistilli scored five times, added eight assists, and was a +9. His goals came on 16 shots. On Friday, he had a career night with six points (2G, 4A) in Gatineau’s 8-1 win over Shawinigan. Sunday afternoon his hat trick and two helpers helped Gatineau demolish Shawinigan 9-2.

Roy went 2-0 with a 0.50 GAA, and 0.974 SAV % over a two game period last weekend. He made 21 saves on Saturday as Cape Breton shutout Rouyn-Noranda 2-0. Sunday afternoon saw him make 17 more saves in Cape Breton’s 4-1 beating of Moncton. He needs one more win to tie the league record of 23 wins by a 16-year-old that Lewiston MAINEiacs netminder Peter Delmas set last season.

Harding Suspended One Game, Lewiston Fined

Lewiston MAINEiacs head coach Ed Harding was suspended for his team’s game on Sunday against the Saint John Sea Dogs, and the MAINEiacs were fined $1000 for Harding’s actions in last Saturday’s game versus Acadie-Bathurst at home.

Rouyn-Noranda, Baie-Comeau, Gatineau Make CHL Top 10

When the CHL weekly rankings were announced on Wednesday, Rouyn-Noranda remained in seventh place from the previous week, while Baie-Comeau fell two spots to eighth, and Gatineau re-entered the Top 10 at 10th.

Top 10 Rankings — Week 21

1. Kitchener Rangers - (44-9-1-2)
2. Tri-City Americans - (44-13-2-2)
3. Spokane Chiefs - (41-13-1-5)
4. Calgary Hitmen - (43-16-1-3)
5. Belleville Bulls - (38-12-4-2)
6. Vancouver Giants - (40-13-2-5)
7. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies - (39-18-2-1)
8. Baie-Comeau Drakkar - (38-16-2-4)
9. Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds - (36-15-2-4)
10. Gatineau Olympiques - (37-17-4-2)

Sixty-Eight Game Schedule For 2008-09 Season

At the semiannual assembly of the Board of Governors and General Managers on Tuesday, there were a few issues on the table with Governors voting to make changes to existing regulations which will come into effect for the 2008-09 season. Teams will play a total of 68 games next season, down from the current 70.

There will also be some changes to the playoff format as well. For the first and second rounds, if teams have to travel 800 Km or more, 2-3-2 will be the game format. For the teams that will have to travel less than that, the format is 2-2-1-1-1. The semifinal and final rounds will remain at 2-2-1-1-1 no matter how great the distance.

Last on the agenda, the Governors decided that the Commissioner has the right to determine the start and end of the following three trading periods: QMJHL entry draft, August trade period, and he Christmas Holidays trade period.

Commissioner Gilles Courteau stated that the makeup of the 2008-09 regular season and playoff formats, and who will play in what division will be announced in the next few weeks.

The division change is a result of the sale and impending move of the St. John’s Fog Devils to Montreal businessman Farrel Miller. The teams will be moving to the Telus Division next season thus creating an uneven number of teams in the 10 team division.

Fourteen Teams Lock Up Playoff Spots

Fourteen of the 16 teams that will qualify for the playoffs have locked up spots. In the Eastern Division, Saint John, Halifax, Cape Breton, Acadie-Bathurst, and Lewiston have their spots assured. The Telus division will see Rouyn-Noranda, Baie-Comeau, Gatineau, Quebec, Chicoutimi, Shawinigan, Victoriaville, Val-d’Or, and Rimouski in the playoffs. If the playoffs were to start today, Rimouski, who is in the playoffs for the first time since Sidney Crosby left to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins, would be the Telus team to move over to the Eastern Division for the playoffs as they are ninth.

Games This Week

Play got underway on Wednesday as Samuel Morneau’s two goals and two assists helped Baie-Comeau clobber Quebec 7-1, Halifax got two goals and two assists from Brad Marchand to beat PEI 5-1, Andrew Eastman’s game-winner 2:11 into overtime saw Moncton nip Saint John 2-1, and Michael Frolik gave Rimouski a 2-1 victory over Chicoutimi with his 19th of the year 3:08 into the extra frame.

On Thursday, Olivier Roy made 36 saves, while Alex Lamontagne and Chris Culligan had a goal and an assist to lead Cape Breton to a 5-1 win over Halifax; Drew Paris was the fifth shooter for Acadie-Bathurst and beat Timo Pielmeier for the lone shootout marker as his team edged St. John’s 3-2; and Ivan Vishnevsky’s game-winner with 3:11 left in regulation gave Rouyn-Noranda a 3-2 victory over Shawinigan.

Robert Slaney led the way for Cape Breton with two assists, and Olivier Roy broke two league records in their 4-0 shutout of PEI. Roy set a new record for wins by a 16-year-old with 24, breaking Lewiston’s Peter Delmas’ record of 23 set last season. Three other players shared the record with one of them being current Philadelphia Flyers netminder Martin Biron, who had three in the 1994-95 season with the Beauport Harfangs.

In the other games on Friday, Stefan Chaput beat Nicola Riopel when he was the third shooter in the shootout as Lewiston edged Moncton 3-2, Maxime Frenette netted his first of the season in overtime as Drummondville won just their 10th game of the season by edging Gatineau 3-2, Maxime Tanguay and Alexandre Monahan had two goals apiece in Victoriaville’s 5-2 win over Rimouski, Thomas Svoboda and Dany Masse also scored two each as Acadie-Bathurst continued on their winning ways with a 7-1 thrashing of Saint John, Olivier Donas led Shawinigan to a 6-2 win over Val-d’Or with two assists, and Maxime Macenauer was the fourth shooter for Rouyn-Noranda, and he beat Bobby Nadeau as the Huskies nipped Chicoutimi 5-4.

On Saturday, Jan Kana led PEI to a 4-3 victory over Cape Breton with two goals and one assist, Chicoutimi beat Val-d’Or 5-3 on the strength of Francis Pare’s couple of goals, Matt Filler’s second period goal with 3:29 left in the second period saw St. John’s nip Drummondville 2-1, and Baie-Comeau doubled Quebec 6-3 with Benjamin Breault adding one goal and two assists.

Brad Marchand’s two goals, with one being the game-winner 1:38 into the third, gave Halifax a 6-2 win over Acadie-Bathurst; Gatineau also beat Chicoutimi 6-2 with Paul Byron leading his team with two goals; Moncton put another dent in PEI’s plans to make the postseason as Chris Morehouse added three assists, including one on Zach Sill’s game-winner 6:52 into the third, to give the Wildcats a 5-3 win over the Rocket; Rimouski also skated past Drummondville 5-3 with David Skokan scoring twice and assisting on two others; Michael Dubuc’s game-winning goal 1:14 into overtime saw Rouyn-Noranda edge Val-d’Or 4-3; Olivier Donais beat Jake Allen in the fifth round of the shootout as Shawinigan nipped St. John’s 3-2; and Saint John got past Lewiston 2-1 when Ryan Sparling potted the game winner 40 seconds into the third period.

The Leaders

Rouyn-Noranda continues to lead both the Telus division and overall standings with their 42-18-2-1 record and 87 points with seven games left to play. Right behind them with 86 points (40-16-2-4) is Baie-Comeau while Gatineau (38-18-4-2, 82 points) sits third. Baie-Comeau and Gatineau are second and third in the overall standings as well.

Over in the Eastern Division, four points separate the top three with Saint John (37-18-3-3, 80 points) first, Halifax (37-19-0-5, 79 points) second, and Cape Breton (35-22-3-3, 76 points) third.

On the ice, Acadie-Bathurst center Mathieu Perreault leads the way with 30 goals and 63 assists over a 56 game period, while Cape Breton center Dean Ouellet skates into second as he has played 63 games and has 41 goals and 50 assists. Rounding out the top three is Halifax right winger Jakub Voracek with 29 goals and 62 assists in the 45 games that he has played in.

Among freshman, Chicoutimi center Nicolas Deschamps takes over the top spot from Halifax center Tomas Knotek with 22 goals and 36 assists over 62 games. Knotek finishes second this week with 19 goals and 39 assists in 60 games. Quebec right winger Mikhail Stefanovich is third with 27 goals and 28 assists in the 54 games that he has suited up for.

In the nets, based on 10 games played, Baie-Comeau’s Marco Cousineau’s GAA of 2.71 and 0.906 SAV % puts him into first place for this week. Coming in second is Chicoutimi’s Bobby Nadeau; he is 17-19 with a GAA of 2.74 and 0.895 SAV %. Gatineau’s Ryan Mior finishes third with his 26 wins against 18 losses, 2.76 GAA, and 0.902 SAV %.

Twenty-wins against 14 losses, a 2.77 GAA, and 0.899 SAV % gives Cape Breton’s Olivier Roy first place in the rookie goalie category. Baie-Comeau’s Mathieu Leclair (11-5, 2.81 GAA, 0.900 SAV %) is second followed by Gatineau’s Maxime Clermont with his 12-6 record, 2.85 GAA, and 0.896 SAV %.

Games This Week

On Monday night, Maxime Pomerleau’s game-winner with 2:17 left in regulation gave St. John’s a 2-1 win over Quebec. Tuesday’s action saw Halifax beat Lewiston 3-1 with Jakub Voracek leading the way with a goal and an assist.

Wednesday will be a busy night in the league with six games taking place as Halifax finishes up their visit to Lewiston, PEI hosts Moncton, Drummondville travels to Quebec, Val-d’Or is at home to Rouyn-Noranda, Rimouski is in Chicoutimi, and Shawinigan takes on Baie-Comeau in Baie-Comeau.

On Thursday, Acadie-Bathurst travels to Val-d’Or, Shawinigan is in Chicoutimi, and Gatineau hosts Saint John.

On Friday, six teams will leap into March with a victory as PEI is at home to Lewiston, Cape Breton makes their way into St. John’s, Baie-Comeau hosts Drummondville, Victoriaville travels to Rimouski, Acadie-Bathurst continues their Quebec swing with a game in Rouyn-Noranda, and Gatineau travels to Shawinigan.

Four games on Saturday has Moncton in Halifax, St. John’s hosting Cape Breton, Quebec is at home to Victoriaville, and Saint John travels to Rouyn-Noranda.

The week will finish up with six games on Sunday as Victoriaville hosts Quebec, Chicoutimi is in Baie-Comeau, Acadie-Bathurst makes another stop in Quebec with a game in Gatineau, Lewiston is at home to Shawinigan, Halifax makes their way into PEI, and Saint John wraps up their Quebec trip with a game in Val-d’Or.