Mahbod and Riopel are Players of the Week

Drummondville Voltigeurs forward Samson Mahbod and Moncton Wildcats goaltender Nicola Riopel are offensive and defensive players for the week ending September 14th. Mahbod scored four goals, assisted on two others, and was a +5 over two road game this past week. He scored three goals and added an assist in Drummondville’s 6-3 win over Chicoutimi in their season opener on Saturday and was also the first star of the game. On Sunday, he netted another goal and added another assist as Drummondville demolished Baie-Comeau 9-4. Shawinigan’s Dave Labrecque, Moncton’s Ted Stephens, and Montreal’s Nick Layton were also nominated.

Riopel went 2-0 with a 1.50 GAA, and 0.949 SAV% in a two game period. In Moncton’s 8-2 rout of PEI on Friday, he made 24 saves and made another 32 on Saturday as Moncton beat Saint John 3-1. Riopel was named the second star of that game. Also considered for the honors were Shawinigan’s Gabriel Lemieux, Rimouski’s Ryan Kavanagh, and Acadie-Bathurst’s Nicolas Champion.

CHL Pre-Season Top 10

When the CHL Top 10 pre-season rankings were announced on Thursday, four Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams managed to crack the top 10.

Top 10 Rankings – pre-season

1. Windsor Spitfires
2. Spokane Chiefs
3. London Knights
4. Rimouski Océanic
5. Belleville Bulls
6. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
7. Kelowna Rockets
8. Brandon Wheat Kings
9. Chicoutimi Saguenéens
10. Shawinigan Cataractes

DiDomenico and Thomas Suspended

On Thursday, the league announced that Saint John Sea Dogs forwards Chris DiDomenico and Mike Thomas have been suspended two games and the Sea Dogs’ organization fined $250 for their actions in the Sunday, September 7th game against Acadie-Bathurst in which DiDomenico used offensive language against an official, and Thomas delivered a dangerous body check. Both missed the Sea Dogs’ two weekend games.

Regular Season Gets Underway

The season kicked off with one game on Thursday night as Hugo Laporte, Jean-Philip Chabot, and Alexandre Touchette scored once each as Gatineau defeated Victoriaville 3-1 as they also raised their QMJHL 2007-08 championship banner to the rafters of the Centre Robert-Guertin.

Seven games kicked off weekend play on Friday night with two of them going to overtime before deciding the outcome.

In the Atlantic Division, Keven Guérette-Charland’s overtime winner 1:28 into the extra frame gave Saint John a 3-2 win, while over in the Telus Conference, Billy Lacasse gave Lewiston a 6-5 win over Baie-Comeau with 3:56 left in overtime.

In the other Atlantic Division tilts, Vincent Lavigueur scored the game-winner 1:35 into the third to give Cape Breton a 4-3 win over Halifax; and Scott Brannan’s two goals helped Moncton to an 8-2 thrashing of PEI.

Quebec welcomed the relocated St. John’s Fog Devils to Montreal with a 5-1 whipping in Quebec City as Benjamin Breault beat Jean-Francois Berube twice; Drummondville doubled Chicoutimi 6-3 with Samson Mahbod leading the way with three goals and one assist; and Pier-Luc Giguère’s goal with 17:32 left in regulation gave Rimouski a 3-2 win over Rouyn-Noranda.

Gabriel Dumont’s two goals and one assist helped Drummondville demolish Baie-Comeau 9-4; Olivier Painchaud, Louis-Felix Laporte, and Nicolas Therrien scored once and added an assist each as Chicoutimi skated all over Lewiston 6-1; Nicholas Peterson scored twice and assisted on one other as Shawinigan welcomed Val-d’Or with an 8-2 thrashing; Scott Brannan’s two goals helped Moncton get past New Brunswick rivals Saint John 3-1; and Ryan Kavanagh’s game-winner 3:29 into overtime gave Rimouski a 4-3 win over Rouyn-Noranda.

On Sunday five games took place but only four were completed. The game between Val-d’Or and Gatineau had to be stopped after the first period due to fog in the arena. Val-d’Or was leading the game 2-0. The game will be made up in its entirety on October 8th.

In the other four games, Andrej Nestrasil, Dave Nolin, Travis McIsaac, and Maxime Gravel all added one goal apiece in Victoriaville’s 4-0 shutout of Quebec; Jonathan Lessard’s goal with 2:57 left in the first period was the game-winner for Acadie-Bathurst as they edged Halifax 2-1; Michael Stinziani scored the game-winner 2:34 into the third as Cape Breton nipped PEI also 2-1; and Layton’s four points (1G, 3A) was instrumental in leading Montreal past Shawinigan 6-4.

The Leaders

This season the QMJHL is made up of four divisions. Gatineau sits atop the Telus West division with their 1-0-0 record and two points, while Rimouski is 2-0-0 in the Telus East, Drummondville (2-0-0) tops the Telus Central, and and Moncton (2-0-0) is in first in the Atlantic.

Drummondville right winger Samson Mahbod (2G, 4A) is the top point getter followed by Shawinigan center Dave Labreque (2G, 4A), and Moncton center Ted Stephens (4G, 1A).

Among freshman there is a three way tie with Drummondville rearguard Dmitry Kulikov, Moncton right winger Sasha Famin, and Rimouski defenseman Ryan Kavanagh having one goal and two assists each.

Between the pipes, Victoriaville’s Loic Boivin 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SAV%), Gatineau’s Maxime Clermont (1.00 GAA, 0.970 SAV%), and Chicoutimi’s Sean Coulton (1.00 GAA, 0.952 SAV%) all have 1-0-0 records.

Boivin and Holden are also the number one and two rookie netminders respectively with Cape Breton’s Christopher Holden (1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, 0.955 SAV%).

The Coming Week

Play resumes again Wednesday night with a couple of games as Cape Breton hosts Val-d’Or, and Gatineau is at home to Chicoutimi.

Six games take place on Friday night with Lewiston hosting Telus Central rival Shawinigan for a two game series that will end on Saturday night; and Telus East foes Rimouski and Quebec face each other in Quebec City, while three inter-division games will see Telus East’s Val-d’Or travel to Atlantic Division’s Halifax; Telus West’s Gatineau takes on Telus Central’s Drummondville in Drummondville; and Telus East’s Chicoutimi travels to Telus Central foe Victoriaville.

The lone Atlantic Division game will see PEI hosting Acadie-Bathurst.

The remaining six match-ups on Saturday night has Telus East cellar dweller Baie-Comeau facing division rivals Chicoutimi in Chicoutimi; Telus West’s Rouyn-Noranda in Drummondville; a pair of Atlantic Division match-ups with Halifax hosting Cape Breton and Moncton in PEI; a Telus East-Atlantic Division game that will see Saint John at home to Val-d’Or; and Quebec in Verdun to face Telus West’s Montreal.

On Sunday, Rimouski is in Acadie-Bathurst; Moncton hosts Val-d’Or; Cape Breton travels to Saint John; Baie-Comeau travels to Victoriaville; and Montreal hosts Rouyn-Noranda.