Paradis and Nadeau are Players of the Week

On Monday, Shawinigan Cataractes forward Philippe Paradis and P.E.I. Rocket netminder Bobby Nadeau were named the offensive and defensive players for the week ending November 2nd. Paradis assisted on seven goals and finished a +4 over four games last week. His best game came on Tuesday against Acadie-Bathurst as he assisted on the game tying and game winning goals. Lewiston’s Danick Paquette, Quebec’s Mikhail Stefanovich, and PEI’s Chris Doyle were also nominated.

Nadeau went 2-0 this past week allowing only six goals on 112 shots with a 1.95 GAA, and 0.949 save percentage. Also considered were Shawinigan teammates, goalie Timo Pielmeier and defenseman Charles-Olivier Roussel, and Moncton rearguard David Savard,

Riopel is ADT CHL Goaltender of the Week

On Wednesday, the CHL announced that in addition to winning the QMJHL Defensive Player of the Week Award, Nicola Riopel of the Moncton Wildcats is the ADT CHL Goaltender for the week ending October 26th. Riopel went 3-0 with one shutout with a 1.00 GAA, and 0.971 SAV%. Over that time frame he allowed only three goals.

Four Teams Make CHL Top 10

When the Canadian Hockey League announced their top 10 rankings last Wednesday, Moncton, Quebec, Shawinigan, and Drummondville made the cut. Moncton moved from third to second, Quebec dropped from second to fifth, Shawinigan moved from ninth to seventh, and Drummondville finished tenth.

Top 10 Rankings

1. Windsor Spitfires - (15-1-0-0)
2. Moncton Wildcats - (14-0-2-0)
3. Calgary Hitmen - (13-3-0-0)
4. Vancouver Giants - (10-0-0-3)
5. Quebec Remparts - (12-2-0-1)
6. London Knights - (10-3-0-1)
7. Shawinigan Cataractes - (13-4-0-0)
8. Spokane Chiefs - (9-2-0-3)
9. Guelph Storm - (10-5-0-1)
10. Drummondville Voltigeurs - (12-3-0-2)

Hains Receives Three-Game Suspension

On Tuesday, November 4th, the league handed Baie-Comeau's assistant coach, Stephane Hains, a three-game suspension for throwing a water bottle at an on-ice official. In addition, the team has been fined $1000.

Martel Joins 100th Game Club

On Sunday, Chicoutimi's Richard Martel became the third head coach in league history to coach 1000 games as Chicoutimi hosted Victoriaville. He joins PEI head coach Guy Chouinard and Real Paiement, who reached the milestone in the 2007-08 season.

Martel began his coaching career with the St-Hyacinthe Laser in 1993-94 and finished with a 35-30-7 record. He also earned the Ron Lapointe Trophy awarded to the Coach of the Year and won the award again in the 2004-05 season in Chicoutimi. In 2002-03, he guided Baie-Comeau to a 108 point season as the team earned the Jean-Rougeau Trophy for winning the regular season championship.

The Games This Week

One game was featured on Tuesday as Philippe Paradis led the way for Shawinigan with two assists and the first star of the game award as they doubled Acadie-Bathurst 4-2.
Nicolas Therrien scored twice as Chicoutimi skated past Rimouski 5-2 on Wednesday.

On Thursday, three games took place with Halifax doubling Saint John 6-3 with Alexis Piette scoring twice; Randy Cameron’s heroics in the shootout helping Moncton to tie the QMJHL record for most games undefeated as they needed a shootout to get past PEI 3-2; and Shawinigan nipping Victoriaville also 3-2 with Maxime Legault scoring the game winner 5:28 into the third.

Friday night’s action saw Jonathan Lessard’s two gaols gave him the game’s first star honors as Acadie-Bathurst skating to a 5-3 win over Gatineau; Gleason Fournier, Philippe Cornet, Oliver Fortier, and Felix Lefrancois scored for Rimouski as they blanked Baie-Comeau 4-0; first star of the game Marc-Andre Bourdon added one assist as Rouyn-Noranda got past Quebec 3-1; Maxime Sauve added two goals for Val-d’Or in their 6-2 win over Montreal; and Pierre-Alexandre Vandell scored twice while assisting on one other as Shawinigan beat Victoriaville 4-1.

On Saturday, 16 teams saw action as Keven Veilleux and Félix Lefrançois beat Marco Cousineau in the shootout as Rimouski squeaked past Baie-Comeau 4-3; Matthew Pistilli scored twice as Shawinigan beat Drummondville 5-2; Danick Paquette’s hat trick helped Lewiston beat Acadie-Bathurst 5-3; Chris Culligan had two assists, and Robert Slaney and Joey Haddad scored in the shootout as Cape Breton nipped Saint John 4-3.

Simon Jodin was the first star of the game with a goal and two assists as Moncton skated past Halifax 6-2; Benjamin Cassavant’s two goals led PEI to a 5-3 win over Gatineau; Marc-Olivier Vallerand’s hat trick gave Quebec a 6-2 win over Val-d’Or; and Rouyn-Noranda scored a pair of goals in the third from Maxime Macenauer and Pier-Luc Champagne to get past Montreal 2-1.

Four games took place on Sunday with Tomas Knotek adding a goal and an assist to lead Halifax past Gatineau 4-2; Saint John and Cape Breton once again needed extra time to decide their game as Christopher DiDomenico netted the game-winner 58 seconds into overtime to give the Sea Dogs a 4-3 win; Chicoutimi celebrated head coach Richard Martel’s 1000th behind the bench with a 4-1 win over Victoriaville with Antoine Roussel and Michael Belanger adding a goal and assist apiece; and Ben Duffy’s goal and assist led PEI past Lewiston 3-1.

The Leaders

With their 0.889 win percentage, Moncton is first in the Atlantic and overall standings with their 16-0-2-0 record and 34 points. Following closely behind them is Telus Central leaders Shawinigan, who are 17-4-0-0 and also 34 points. Third place overall and Telus Eastern leaders Quebec have 13 wins, three losses, zero overtime losses, and one shutout loss for 27 points, while Rouyn-Noranda leads the Telus Western Division with their 10-6-2-0 record and 22 points.

There is no change in the top two in scoring this week as Shawinigan center Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll continues to lead the scoring race with 13 goals and 26 assists in 19 games with his teammate right winger Nicholas Petersen once again in second as he has scored 11 times and added 22 assists in 21 games played, and teammate and right winger Matthew Pistilli (19G, 11A, 16 GP) rounds out the top three.

Rouyn-Noranda right winger Sergey Ostapchuk (6G, 14A, 16 GP) is the top rookie scorer once again this week with PEI center Ben Duffy (9G, 9A, 20 GP) once again finishing second, and Victoriaville left winger Andrej Nestrasil (7G, 9A, 22 GP) rounding out the top three.

In the net, Moncton’s Nicola Riopel is the top dog as he has 14 wins against one loss with a GAA of 1.45 and 0.948 SAV%. Backstopping his way into second place is Shawinigan’s Timo Pielmeier is second as he is 10-2 with a 2.27 GAA, and 0.934 SAV% with Rimouski’s Maxim Gougeon (11-4, 2.55 GAA, 0.895 SAV%) finishes out the top three.

Among freshmen with a minimum of five games played, Cape Breton’s Christopher Holden has two wins against three losses, a 2.73 GAA, and 0.891 SAV%. Finishing second is Victoriaville’s Loic Boivin (2-3, 2.94 GAA, 0.865 SAV%) with Chicoutimi’s Sean Coulton’s 3-5 record, 3.18 GAA, and 0.874 SAV% coming in third.

The Games This Week

Eight teams will see action on Wednesday as Acadie-Bathurst is at home to Rouyn-Noranda for a two game series that will end on Friday, Val-d’Or travels to Verdun to face Montreal, PEI makes their way across the provincial boarder to Saint John, and Quebec faces Rimouski in Rimouski.

On Thursday, Halifax hosts Cape Breton, and Lewiston takes on Chicoutimi in Lewiston.
Five other games are on the card on Friday with PEI hosting Cape Breton in the lone Atlantic contest. The Battle of Quebec takes place in four arenas as Quebec hosts Baie-Comeau, Montreal faces Gatineau in Gatineau, Val-d’Or makes their way into Rimouski, and Chicoutimi travels to Victoriaville.

Shawinigan faces Montreal in Verdun, Rimouski is at home to Val-d’Or, and Baie-Comeau is in Victoriaville in the All-Quebec contests on Saturday with Halifax hosting Moncton in the Atlantic Division match, the Telus Central game has Lewiston hosting Drummondville, and Saint John at home to Rouyn-Noranda in the Atlantic-Telus contest.

Five games will finish out the weekend play on Sunday as Chicoutimi is at home to Baie-Comeau, Drummondville finishes up their trip to Lewiston, PEI takes on Rouyn-Noranda in Charlottetown, Quebec faces Shawinigan in Quebec City, and Acadie-Bathurst travels the Trans Canada Highway to face New Brunswick foes Saint John.