September 23, 2008 @ 6:49 PM ET

Stinziani and Champion are Players of the Week

On Monday, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles forward Michael Stinziani and Acadie-Bathurst Titan goaltender Nicolas Champion today were named offensive and defensive players for the week ending September 21st. Over a three game period, Stinziani scored twice and added four assists in three wins versus the Val-d’Or Foreurs, the Halifax Mooseheads, and the Saint John Sea Dogs. His teammate Jérémy Gouchie, Halifax’s Linden Bahm, and Gatineau Olympiques Jean-Philip Chabot also received consideration.

Champion went 2-0-0-0 with a 1.50 GAA, and 0.955 SAV% as he faced 33 shots per game. He has been the starter in all four of Acadie-Bathurst’s games this season and is 3-1-0-0. Also up for the award were Drummondville Voltigeur Dmitry Kulikov and Cape Breton teammates Jan Piscacek and Olivier Roy.

NHL Training Camps

This month, 74 QMJHLers will take part in NHL training camps. Of that number, 50 are NHL draft picks, while the remaining 24 have been invited as free agents. The players represent 17 of the 18 QMJHL teams with the Shawinigan Cataractes and the Quebec Remparts leading the way with seven each. The Lewiston MAINEiacs, Rimouski Océanic, Saint John Sea Dogs and Val-d’Or Foreurs have six each. The only team that doesn’t have a player attending an NHL camp is the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Here is a list of the players that will be attending the camps.

Baie-Comeau Drakkar

Marco Cousineau, Anaheim

Cape Breton Screaming Eagles

Joey Haddad, Pittsburgh
Chris Culligan, Minnesota (Culligan has since returned to Cape Breton)
Mathieu Brodeur, Phoenix
Robert Slaney, Carolina

Chicoutimi Saguenéens

Jacob Lagacé, Buffalo
Nicolas Deschamps, Anaheim
Charles-Antoine Messier, Vancouver
Joël Champagne, Toronto
Antoine Roussel, Columbus

Drummondville Voltigeurs

Mike Hoffman, Philadelphia

Gatineau Olympiques

Steven Delisle, Columbus
Paul Byron, Buffalo

Halifax Mooseheads

Logan MacMillan, Anaheim
Tomas Knotek, Minnesota (Knotek has since returned to the Mooseheads but is injured)
Yuri Cheremetiev, Boston
Jakub Voracek, Columbus

Lewiston MAINEiacs

Peter Delmas, Colorado
Patrick Cusack, Atlanta
Danick Paquette, Atlanta
Michael Ward, Tampa, Bay
Maxime Gratchev, New York Islanders
Denis Reul, Boston

Moncton Wildcats

Mark Barberio, Tampa Bay (Barberio is now back with the Wildcats)
Randy Cameron, Detroit
Nicola Riopel, Montreal—Riopel returned to the Wildcats this week

Montreal Juniors

Matt Fillier, Los Angeles
Jake Allen, St. Louis
T.J. Brennan, Buffalo
Luke Adam, Buffalo
Angelo Esposito, Atlanta

P.E.I. Rocket

Chris Doyle, New York Rangers
Mathieu Tousignant, San Jose
Jordan Southorn, Buffalo

Quebec Remparts

Kelsey Tessier, Colorado
Mikhail Stefanovich, Toronto
Kevin Marshall, Philadelphia
Dmitri Kugryshev, Washington
Jean-Simon Allard, Buffalo—Allard is now back with Quebec
Samuel Groulx, San Jose
Guillaume Monast, Dallas

Rimouski Océanic

Philippe Cornet, Edmonton
Olivier Fortier, Montreal
Keven Veilleux, Pittsburgh
Luca Cunti, Tampa Bay
Patrice Cormier, New Jersey
Alexandre Néron, Minnesota

Rouyn-Noranda Huskies

Marc-André Bourdon, Philadelphia
Jean-Sébastien Bérubé, New Jersey
Maxime Macenauer, Anaheim

Saint John Sea Dogs

Pascal Amyot, Columbus
Yann Sauvé, Vancouver
Alex Grant, Pittsburgh
Chris DiDomenico, Toronto
David Stich, New York Rangers
Robert Mayer, Montreal

Shawinigan Cataractes

Timo Pielmeier, San Jose
Simon Lacroix, New York Islanders
Michaël Dubuc, Washington
Matthew Pistilli, San Jose
Adam Leblanc-Bourque, San Jose
Pierre-Alexandre Vandall, Dallas
Cédric Lalonde-McNicoll, Pittsburgh

Val-d’Or Foreurs

Marco Scandella, Minnesota
Samuel Morneau, Carolina
Maxime Sauvé, Boston
Alexandre Monahan, Montreal
Jason Legault, Pittsburgh
Shawn Morton-Boutin, Vancouver

Victoriaville Tigres

Kevin Poulin, New York Islanders
Jason Demers, San Jose
Maxime Tanguay, Chicago
Joël Chouinard, Colorado
Jonathan Bonneau, San Jose

Remparts Acquire Pomerleau

On Saturday, Quebec acquired yet another former St. John’s Fog Devil when they acquired 20-year-old defenseman Maxime Pomerleau from Halifax for a 2009 QMJHL entry draft seventh round pick. Pomerleau broke into the League in the 2006-07 season with Acadie-Bathurst and was traded to St. John’s at the end of that season. Over the past two years that he has spent in the QMJHL, Pomerleau has scored 17 times, assisted on 50 others, and added 96 minutes in penalties. In 18 playoff games for Acadie-Bathurst and St. John’s he has added seven goals and four assists while adding 11 penalty minutes.

Games This Week

When play resumed on Wednesday night, Jeremy Gouchie and Bret McCarron led the way for Cape Breton with a goal and an assist each in their 6-3 win over Val-d’Or; while Alexandre Quesnel’s goal and two assists led Gatineau to a 5-3 win over Chicoutimi.

Six games kicked off the weekend on Friday as Linden Bahm (2G, 2A), Charles Bety (1G, 2A), and Justin Pender (2G) led Halifax to a 6-3 win over Val-d’Or. Cedrick Lalonde-McNicholl and Pierre-Alexandre McNicholl’s goal and assist apiece was instrumental in helping Shawinigan to a 4-1 win over Lewiston while Acadie-Bathurst beat PEI 5-2 on the strength of Tomy Joly’s two goals and Taylor Lambke’s goal and assist.

Marc-Olivier Vallerand’s game-winner 6:31 into the second gave Quebec a 4-3 win over Rimouski and Samson Mahod’s two goals and one assist and Yannick Riendeau’s three helpers gave Drummondville a 5-2 win over Gatineau. Alexandre Lavoie’s goal 6:39 into the third was Chicoutimi’s game-winner as they edged Victoriaville 3-2.

Saturday’s action saw three all-Quebec match-ups with Baie-Comeau doubling Chicoutimi with Gabriel Bourque adding a goal and two assists in one game, while captain Marc-Olivier Vachon scored once and added an assist as Drummondville skated past Rouyn-Noranda 5-3; and former St. John’s Fog Devil Jean-Simon Allard was named the first star of the game for Quebec as he added one goal and assisted on another as the Remparts nipped his newly reincarnated old team Montreal 3-2.

Matt Bourdear, Marc Bourgeios, Billy Lacasse, and Michael Chaput scored for Lewiston as they got past Shawinigan 4-1 in the other Telus Conference game.

Karel St. Laurent stopped 26 of the 26 shots that he faced as Saint John blanked visiting Val-d’Or 5-0 in the Atlantic-Telus tilt.

Two all-Atlantic Division games had Chris Culligan making his return to Cape Breton by scoring twice in the Screaming Eagles’ 4-2 win over Halifax; and Ted Stephens and Matthew Bissonnette beating Bobby Nadeau in the shootout as Moncton nipped PEI 3-2.

First star of the game Brandon Hynes had one goal and one assist as Victoriaville clobbered Baie-Comeau 8-1; captain Spencer Jezegou and Radnek Vlasanek had a goal and assist apiece as Acadie-Bathurst skated to a 5-1 win over visiting Rimouski; Mat Eagles (2G, 2A), Sasha Famin (2G, 1A), and Ted Stephens (1G, 2A) led Moncton to a 7-2 demolishing of Val-d’Or; and Chris Culligan, Nicolas Chouinard, and Jeremy Gouchie with one goal and one assist each gave Cape Breton a 5-2 win over Saint John in Sunday’s action.

Leaders of the Pack

With their 2-1-0-0 record, Gatineau leads the Telus Western Division, while Drummondville (4-0-0-0) leads the Telus Central, and Quebec (3-1-0-0) tops the Telus Eastern Division.

Cape Breton leads both the Atlantic Division and overall title as they have posted a perfect record through the first five games of the year as they are 5-0-0-0.

Among skaters, a pair of right wingers and a center are among the top three with Drummondville right winger Samson Mahod the top gun with six goals and four assists in four games, while his counterpart in Moncton, Scott Brannon, skates into second place with five goals and three assists over a four game period. Moncton center Ted Stephens (5G, 3A, 4 GP) rounds out the top three.

Drummondville defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (2G, 5A, 4 GP) is the top rookie, followed by Moncton right winger Sasha Famin who has three goals and two assists in four games, and Halifax center Charles Bety who has scored twice and assisted on three others in the four games that he has played in.

Between the pipes based on a minimum of three games played, Victoriaville’s Loic Boivin leads the way as he is 2-1-0-0 with a 1.34 GAA, and 0.917 SAV%. Moncton’s Nicola Riopel (4-0-0-0, 1.71 GAA, 0.938 SAV%) follows him into second place with Acadie-Bathursts’ Nicolas Champion (3-1-0-0, 1.74 GAA, 0.939 SAV%) rounding out the top three.

Among rookies again based on a minimum of three games played, Boivin leads the way followed by Montreal’s Jean-Francois Berube (1-3-0-0, 4.02 GAA, 0.878 SAV%) coming in second, and Lewiston’s Jonathan Connelly (1-2-0-0, 4370 GAA, 0.808 SAV%) finishing third.

The Coming Week

When play resumes on Tuesday night, Shawinigan will host Victoriaville, while Halifax travels to Bathurst to face the Titan on Wednesday evening and Shawinigan is at home to Rouyn-Noranda on Thursday.

Fourteen teams will see action on Friday as Cape Breton hosts Acadie-Bathurst, Lewiston is at home to Moncton, Halifax makes their way to PEI, Chicoutimi is in Baie-Comeau, Quebec is at Drummondville, Gatineau will host Rouyn-Noranda; and the tale of expansion cousins will take place in a new city and venue in Verdun as Saint John faces Montreal.

On Saturday, the Battle of Quebec will take place on a couple of fronts as Rimouski is in Baie-Comeau, and Quebec travels to Gatineau.

In the Atlantic Division, Cape Breton concludes their series with Acadie-Bathurst; while Saint John continues their swing through Quebec with a stop on Victoriaville.

On Sunday afternoon, Halifax host Moncton in the lone Atlantic Division match while Chicoutimi travels to Drummondville; Lewiston hosts Victoriaville, Val-d’Or is in Rouyn-Noranda, and Montreal hosts Gatineau in the Telus Division.

Saint John concludes their Quebec trip with a visit to Shawinigan in the lone Atlantic-Telus Division tilt.