Wildcats Set League Record

With their win over Halifax on Saturday night, Moncton has set a new league record of consecutive wins on the road to start the season with nine. They beat the old record of eight set in 1976-77 by the Cornwall Royals.

Riendeau and Pielmeier are Players of the Week

Drummondville Voltigeurs forward Yannick Riendeau and Shawinigan Cataractes netminder Timo Pielmeier are the offensive and defensive players for the week ending November 9th. Riendeau scored twice, added five assists, and finished a +4 over two games. The team’s 13-4 win over Lewiston this past weekend ties the franchise record for most goals scored in a road game. They have won seven of their last 10 games. PEI center Chris Doyle, Halifax Mooseheads forward Tomas Knotek, and Baie-Comeau forward Guillaume Goulet were also nominated.

In the two games that he played in this week, Pielmeier went 2-0, posted a 1.00 GAA, and 0.960 SAV%. He is second among goalies in GAA (2.09) and tied for second in wins with 12. Shawinigan has won 12 straight with the franchise record being 13. Also receiving consideration were Pielmeier’s former St. John’s Fog Devils teammate and Montreal goalie Jake Allen (Juniors), PEI defenseman Jordon Southorn, and Rouyn-Noranda rearguard Marc-André Bourdon.

Lalonde-McNicoll, Riopel and Ostapchuk Players of the Month

Last Monday, the league announced that Shawinigan forward Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll, Moncton goalie Nicola Riopel, and Rouyn-Noranda forward Sergey Ostapchuk are the offensive, defensive, and rookie players of the month for October. Over the 13 games that he has played in, Lalonde-McNicoll scored nine times with three of them being game winners, added 20 assists, and finished a +18. His best game was October 17th as he scored once and assisted on four others as Shawinigan beat Quebec 8-3. The Cataractes have won their past 10 games. Teammate Matthew Pistilli, PEI’s Mathieu Tousignant, and Moncton’s Matt Eagles also received consideration.

Riopel went 8-0-1-0 in October with a 1.42 GAA, and 0.952 SAV%. He also had two shutouts allowing three goals once over a nine game period. The Wildcats have not lost in regulation this season. Others given consideration were Shawinigan teammates Simon Lacroix and Timo Pielmeier and Moncton’s Mark Barberio.

Ostapchuk netted five goals (two game-winners) and added nine assists in a 10 game period. He was also involved in 42 percent of Rouyn-Noranda’s goals in that period as well. Ostapchuk had at least one point in eight of 10 games, and the team has won seven of their last 10 games to move into first place in the Telus Western Division standings. Moncton’s Brandon Gormley, Quebec’s Dmitri Kugryshev, and PEI’s Jean-Philippe Mathieu were also nominated.

Inductees into the QMJHL Hall of Fame

On Tuesday, Commissioner Giles Courteau announced that Lucien Deblois, Marc Fortier, Jean Gagnon, and Richard Trottier will be inducted into the QMJHL Hall of Fame on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009. Deblois played with the Sorel Éperviers from 1973-74 to 1976-77 scoring 188 times and assisting on 221 others over 270 games. The team won the Jean-Rougeau Trophy as they regular season champions with 58 wins and 117 points in the 1973-74 season. That team still holds the QMJHL record for most goals in a single season with 620.

He made the All-Star teams in 1975-76 and 1976-77 and won the Michel-Briere Trophy awarded to the QMJHL MVP in 1976-77. Deblois was a player/coach in his final season and was selected by the New York Rangers eighth overall in the 1977 NHL entry draft.
Deblois won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1986. Over a 15 year NHL career, he scored 249 goals and added 276 assists in 993 games with the New York Rangers, the Colorado Rockies, the Winnipeg Jets, the Montreal Canadiens, the Quebec Nordiques and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Fortier played with Chicoutimi from 1983-84 to 1986-87, totaling 478 points (164G, 314A, 271 GP). He made the First Team All-Star team in 1986-87 and was the Jean-Beliveau Trophy winner awarded to the league’s top scorer as he finished that same season with 201 points. Fortier registered at least one assist in every game that Chicoutimi played between December 14th, 1986-March 22nd, 1987.

His record of 40 assists in 19 games in his final year still stands. Fortier played with Quebec, Ottawa, and Los Angeles in the NHL tallying 42 goals and adding 60 assists in 212 games. Chicoutimi made him the sixth former player to have their jersey retired by the team on February 2nd, 2008.

From 1973-74 to 1975-76, Gagnon was member of the Quebec Remparts scoring 34 times and adding 131 assists in 208 games. Quebec won the President Cup, their fourth title in five years in 1974. He was a first team all-star in his final season and won the Emile Bouchard Trophy as the League’s top rearguard. Quebec also won the President’s Cup title that season, and Gagnon was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star Team.

Trottier becomes the third QMJHL on-ice official to be inducted. He was a referee for seven seasons and a linesman for six working 380 games with 86 of them coming in the post season (nine of them in the finals). He officiated at the Memorial Cup in 1979 in Trois-Rivieres as a linesman and 1985 in Drummondville, and 1988 in Chicoutimi as a referee.

Trottier officiated at the Canada Games in Chicoutimi in 1983, the International Seminary in Germany in 1985 and the Canadian University Championship in Edmonton in 1986. He also officiated at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Finland in 1985 and Czechoslovakia in 1987. Over 13 seasons, he officiated in 550 NHL regular season games and 10 post season ones. He officiated at the 2001 NHL All-Star game in Denver.

QMJHL Teams to Participate in Veterans Week

On Wednesday, Courteau announced that the league will participate in Veterans Week with celebrations in several rinks from November 5th-11th.

Saturday, November 1: Centre Henry-Léonard in Baie-Comeau; Aréna Jacques-Plante in Shawinigan; Moncton Coliseum.

Thursday, November 6: Halifax Metro Centre.

Friday, November 7: Centre Robert-Guertin in Gatineau; Colisée Desjardins in Victoriaville; K.C. Irving Regional Centre in Acadie-Bathurst.

Saturday, November 8: Colisée in Rimouski; Auditorium in Verdun.

Sunday, November 9: Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City; Charlottetown Civic Centre; Harbour Station in Saint John; Androscoggin Bank Colisée in Lewiston.

Friday, November 14: Centre air Creebec in Val-d’Or.

Moncton, Shawinigan, and Quebec Make Top 10

When the CHL Top 10 was announced last week Moncton, Shawinigan, and Quebec made the cut. Moncton stays at second, Shawinigan moves from seventh to fourth, and Quebec drops from fifth to sixth.

CHL Top 10 Rankings

1. Windsor Spitfires - (17-1-0-0)
2. Moncton Wildcats - (16-0-2-0)
3. Vancouver Giants - (12-0-0-3)
4. Shawinigan Cataractes - (17-4-0-0)
5. Calgary Hitmen - (15-4-0-1)
6. Quebec Remparts - (13-3-0-1)
7. London Knights - (11-5-0-1)
8. Swift Current Broncos - (13-5-0-0)
9. Spokane Chiefs - (10-3-0-3)
10. Guelph Storm - (11-6-1-1)

Eleven Teams See Attendance Rise

The latest attendance figures were out on Thursday and showed that 11 teams have seen their attendance rise with the most notable hikes in Drummondville (+18.4 %), Gatineau (+11.3 %), Moncton (+9.6 %) and Rimouski (+7.0 %). Overall there was a slight drop of one percent of 33 fans per game. The league is averaging 3,285 fans per game with 160 games played so far this season.

If this pace keeps up, the league will see 2,000,000 plus fans pass through the turnstiles for the fourth consecutive year. In 2005-06, attendance reached 2,279,744 fans, which is the league record. Forty million fans have seen a QMJHL game since play began in 1969.

Paquette to Replace MacMillan at 2008 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge

On Thursday, it was announced that Lewiston forward Danick Paquette will replace Halifax Mooseheads forward Logan MacMillan at the 2008 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge as MacMillan is unable to compete due to an injury. The Cape Breton organization will host game one of the competition on Monday, November 17th with game two played the following Wednesday at Harbour Station in Saint John.

Games This Week

Alexei Dostoinov scored twice and added two assists as Saint John skated past PEI 6-2; Maxime Macenaue’s game-winner 2:27 into the third saw Rouyn-Noranda nip Acadie-Bathurst 5-4; Angelo Esposito netted the game’s lone goal with 5:13 left in the first to give Montreal a 1-0 win over Val-d’Or; and Benjamin Breault scored once and assisted on one other as Quebec edged Rimouski 3-2 when play resumed on Wednesday.

The two games on Thursday had Cape Breton skating to a 5-2 win over Halifax with Nick MacNeil adding two goals and assisting on one other; and Alexander Beaton beating Francois Levesque in the shootout to give Lewiston a 4-3 win over Chicoutimi.

Kelsey Tessier’s hat trick and two assists and Dmitri Kugryshev’s two goals and one assist led Quebec past Baie-Comeau 8-6; Cameron Critchlow’s goal 17:58 into the second saw Acadie-Bathurst nip Rouyn-Noranda 2-1; MacNeil’s goal 34 seconds into overtime gave Cape Breton a 4-3 win over PEI; and Montreal doubled Gatineau 6-3 with Angelo Esposito adding a hat trick and one assist on Friday night.

Brandon Hynes’ two goals and one assist and Maxime Tanguay’s goal and assist led Victoriaville to a 5-3 win over Baie-Comeau; Brad Yetman’s first of the year 4:29 into the second decided that the game between Shawinigan and Montreal would end in the Cataractes’ favor by a 2-1 score; Rimouski got two assists apiece from Gleason Fournier and Frank Grzeszczak to go along with goals from Patrick Delisle-Houda.

Pierre-Alexandre Joncas, Mathieu Asselin, and Guillaume Pelletier to beat Val-d’Or 6-4; Matt Eagles led Moncton with two goals in a 7-4 win over Halifax; Mike Hoffman’s two goals and one assist and Marc-Olivier Vachon’s goal and assist helped Drummondville demolish Lewiston 13-4; and Jeff Desjardins and Pier-Luc Giguere’s two goals each led Rouyn-Noranda as they skated past Saint John 6-1in Saturday’s action.

On Sunday, Sebastien Piche scored twice as Rimouski nipped Val-d’Or 5-4; Nicolas Deschamps and Olivier Painchaud scored once and added an assist each as Chicoutimi got past Baie-Comeau 4-3; Yannick Riendeau had the hat trick and two assists, and Hoffman had a goal and two assists as Drummondville once again romped all over Lewiston 7-1; Matthew Lachaine added two goals in PEI’s 8-2 win over Rimouski; Matthew Pistilli, Maxime Legault, and Dave Labreque all beat Charles Lavigne in Shawinigan’s 3-1 win over Quebec; and Alex Grant and Michael Kirkpatrick beat Frederic Piche in the shootout as Saint John nipped Acadie-Bathurst 4-3.

The Leaders

There is a new number one in the overall standings this week as Telus Central Division leaders Shawinigan (19-4-0-0, 38 points) take over the top spot from Atlantic Division leaders Moncton (17-0-2-0, 36 points).

Quebec leads the Telus Eastern Division as they are 15-4-0-1 giving them 31 points, while Rouyn-Noranda (12-8-2-0, 26 points) is four ahead of Montreal to lead the Telus Western Division.

Among skaters, Lalonde-McNicoll (14G, 28A, 21 GP) and his teammate right winger Nicholas Petersen (11G, 26A, 23 GP) continue to occupy the one and two positions from last week, while PEI center Chris Doyle joins them in the top three as he has scored 12 times while assisting on 22 others over the 21 games that he has played in.

Rouyn-Noranda right winger Sergey Ostapchuk and PEI center Ben Duffy continue to be the one–two punch among rookie scorers as Ostapchuk has netted 22 points (6G, 16A) in 20 games played, while Duffy has 19 (10G, 9A) over 23 games played. Joining the duo in the top three this week is Quebec right winger Dmitri Kugryshev as he has scored 12 times while adding six assists over a 16 games.

Based on a minimum of 300 minutes played, Riopel continues to stymie the opposition as he has a 15-1 record to compliment his 1.60 GAA, and 0.943 SAV%. Backstopping his way into second place for another week is Shawinigan’s Timo Pielmeier (12-2, 2.09 GAA, 0.937 SAV%), while Quebec’s Jonathan Roy (6-1, 2.42 GAA, 0.915 SAV%) round out the top three.

Among rookies again based on 300 minutes played, Cape Breton’s Christopher Holden continues to hold the top spot for another week as he has won three games, lost three, posted a 2.77 GAA, and 0.895 SAV%. Chicoutimi’s Sean Coulton with his record of four wins and five losses, goals against average of 3.03, and 0.888 SAV% moves from third to second this week, while Saint John’s Karel St-Laurent moves up to third as he is 2-3 with a 3.36 GAA, and 0.890 SAV%.

The Coming Week

A pair of games kicks off play when it resumes Wednesday as Gatineau hosts Saint John, and Halifax makes their way to Rimouski.

All 18 teams will see action on Friday as Quebec hosts Moncton, Halifax continues their swing through La Belle Provence with a stop in Baie-Comeau as does Cape Breton as they visit Chicoutimi; Drummondville hosts Lewiston; Montreal welcomes PEI; Victoriaville makes their way to Rimouski; Rouyn-Noranda hosts Acadie-Bathurst; Gatineau is in Shawinigan; and Saint John takes on Val-d’Or in Val-d’Or.

On Saturday night Cape Breton, Halifax, PEI, Acadie-Bathurst, Moncton and Saint John continue their Quebec trips with stops in Baie-Comeau, Chicoutimi, Shawinigan, Val-d’Or, Drummondville, and Rouyn-Noranda respectively. The all-Quebec tilt will see Gatineau at home to Montreal.

Weekend action will clue up on Sunday with five games as PEI is in Gatineau; Quebec hosts Halifax; and Moncton makes their way to Verdun to face Montreal in the Atlantic-Telus contests. The all-Telus affairs will see Lewiston traveling to Rimouski, and Victoriaville hosting Drummondville.