Riendeau and Després are Players of the Week

On Monday, Drummondville Voltigeurs forward Yannick Riendeau and Saint John Sea Dogs defenseman Simon Després were named the offensive and defensive players for the week ending November 16th. Riendeau scored three times, assisted on four others, and finished a +2 over a three game period with one of his goals being a game-winner. Friday was his best game as he scored twice and assisted on two others in Drummondville’s 8-3 win over Lewiston and was also named the first star of the game.
Also up for the award were Quebec’s Kelsey Tessier, Gatineau’s Paul Byron, and Saint John’s Payton Liske.

Després scored one goal and added five assists in three wins for Saint. He had two assists in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Gatineau; one goal and one assist in Friday’s 5-3 win in Val-d’Or; and another two assists in Sunday’s 6-5 win in Rouyn-Noranda. Over that period, he had a +3 rating. Drummondville’s Antoine Tardif, Gatineau’s Hugo Laporte, and Acadie-Bathurst’s Nicholas Champion were also nominated.

Riendeau is CHL Player of the Week

On Tuesday, Canadian Hockey League today announced that Yannick Riendeau of the Drummondville Voltigeurs is the Boston Pizza CHL Player 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 on Saturday, November 9th where Riendeau scored twice, with one of them being the game-winner, ties the franchise record for most goals scored in a road game. The next day he scored three times and added two assists as Drummondville gave Lewiston another shellacking, this time 7-1. This is Riendeau’s fifth QMJHL season and first with the Voltigeurs. Rouyn-Noranda drafted him ninth overall in the 2004 QMJHL entry draft, and he played with the team for four seasons.

ADT Canada-Russia Challenge Officiating

On Tuesday, the league announced that referees Nicolas Dutil and Guy Pellerin along with linesmen Mario Maillet and Matt MacPherson will officiate the November 17th game as the QMJHL All-Stars face the Russian All-Stars in game one of the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge in Sydney, NS. Referees Thane Arsenault and Brad Mills and linesmen David Rodrigue and Yannick Masse will officiate the November 19th game in Saint John.

Joseph and Clark to be Honorary Captains

On Wednesday, the CHL and QMJHL announced that Fabian Joseph and Gordie Clark will be the honorary captains for the two QMJHL games of the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge.
Joseph will serve as the honorary captain in Sydney on Monday with Clark doing the same honors on Wednesday in Saint John. Joseph is a Sydney native who played with the WHL’s Victoria Cougars from 1982-84 and scored 94 goals and 123 assists in 141 games.

The Toronto Maple Leafs selected Joseph in the sixth round of the 1984 NHL entry draft. He also played for his hometown Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Oilers from 1987-90 and was their team captain. Joseph played for Team Canada at the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics and was captain of the 1994 team. The teams won silver medals each time.

From 1997-99, he coached the IHL’s Milwaukee Admirals and worked with the Halifax Mooseheads when they hosted the Memorial Cup in 2000. He was the head coach of the Dalhousie Tigers men’s team from 2000-03 and was coach of the year in 2002 and 2004. He joined the Wildcats in 2007 and is enjoying an excellent start to this season’s success.

Clark was born in Glasgow, Scotland and was raised in Saint John where he played all his minor hockey. The Boston Bruins selected him in the seventh round of the 1972 NHL Draft. Clark played for the AHL’s Rochester Americans for nine seasons between 1974-83 and five for the Maine Mariners from 1978-79 to 1982-83. In between those years he played for the Springfield Indians, the WHA’s Cincinnati Stingers, and Riessersee SC of the German League. He scored 267 times while assisting on 332 others over 540 AHL games.

His coaching career began in 1987-88 through 1988-89 with the Mariners as an assistant and moved up to become the assistant coach of the Bruins from 1989-90 to 1991-92. He was also the Bruins’ scouting director for two of his four seasons. He also spent six seasons with the N.Y. Islanders with his most recent position being that of GM and Director of Player Personnel, where he was in charge of the NHL draft, selecting such players as Eric Brewer, Tim Connolly, Roberto Luongo, and Rick DiPietro. He is currently the N.Y. Rangers head amateur scout and was given the position of Director of Player Personnel in July 2007.

ADT Canada-Russia Challenge Roster Changes

Four new players were added to Team QMJHL’s roster for the 2008 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge on Saturday due to injuries. Rimouski’s Jordan Caron and Philippe Cornet were injured in their game versus Victoriaville on Friday and were replaced by Cape Breton Michael Stinziani and Shawinigan’s Nicolas Petersen for Monday’s game in Cape Breton. Stinziani’s nomination was short-lived as he was injured in the game against Baie-Comeau and will be replaced by Nick MacNeil. Drummondville’s Mike Hoffman, and Rouyn-Noranda’s Maxime Macenauer will play in Saint John.

Moncton Tops CHL Rankings, Shawinigan and Quebec in Top 10

Moncton takes over first place for the first time this season moving up from second last week, while Shawinigan remains fourth and Quebec drops one place to seventh.

Top 10 Rankings

1. Moncton Wildcats - (17-0-2-0)
2. Windsor Spitfires - (19-2-0-0)
3. Vancouver Giants - (14-0-0-3)
4. Shawinigan Cataractes - (19-4-0-0)
5. Calgary Hitmen - (17-4-0-1)
6. London Knights - (14-5-0-1)
7. Quebec Remparts - (15-4-0-1)
8. Tri-City Americans - (14-5-0-2)
9. Brampton Battalion - (13-6-0-0)
10. Spokane Chiefs - (12-4-0-3)

Old Dutch and CHL Have New Partnership

On Friday, the CHL announced that Old Dutch Foods will be their new corporate partner. Old Dutch started in Winnipeg in 1954 and has grown from a small chip company into a high quality leader in the industry with products sold in retail outlets all across Canada

"On behalf of the Canadian Hockey League, we are very pleased to announce our new relationship with Old Dutch Foods," said CHL President David Branch. "It is always exciting to partner with a proven leader, especially one as progressive and innovative as Old Dutch Foods."

"We are very excited about this great new partnership with the Canadian Hockey League. This partnership allows Old Dutch Foods to extend our community support on a National level and helps to entrench Old Dutch Foods in 60 communities across Canada," said Scott Kelemen, National Director of Marketing for Old Dutch Foods.

Games This Week

The week kicked off with four games on Wednesday as Nicholas Champion made 39 saves and was the game’s second star in Acadie-Bathurst’s 4-0 shutout of Montreal despite only having 12 shots on net; Quebec’s Mikhail Stefanovich and Cape Breton’s Robert Slaney scored two goals each as Quebec doubled Cape Breton 4-2; Alexei Dostoinov scored the game-winner with 3:49 left as Saint John nipped Gatineau 3-2; and Sebastien Piche led the way with one goal and one assist as Rimouski skated to a 4-2 win over Halifax.

There was a full slate of games on Friday as Matt Eagles netted the game-winner in the shootout as Moncton nipped Quebec 4-3; Maxime Ouimet scored 3:09 into overtime as Baie-Comeau edged Halifax 5-4; Joey Haddad’s third period hat trick led Cape Breton past Chicoutimi 3-1; Yannick Riendeau scored twice and assisted on two others, Dany Massed added a goal and two assists, Mike Hoffman added two goals and one assist, and Dmitry Kulikov added three assists as Drummondville demolished Lewiston 8-3.

Pat O’Keefe’s goal 2:39 into the third period was the only goal of the game as Montreal shutout PEI 1-0; Patrice Cormier had three goals as Rimouski skated past Victoriaville 5-3; Jeff Desjardins and Sergey Ostapchuk beat Frederic Piche in the shootout as Rouyn-Noranda nipped Acadie-Bathurst 6-5; Cedric Lalonde-McNicholl, Philippe Paradis, Pierre-Alexandre Vandall, and Ashton Bernard all scored for Shawinigan in their 4-1 win over Gatineau; and Ryan Sparling’s two goals led Saint John past Val-d’Or 5-3.

On Saturday, Vincent Lavigueur’s goal and two assists led Cape Breton past Baie-Comeau 4-1; Chicoutimi doubled Halifax 4-2 with Olivier Painchaud scoring twice; Nicolas Boyer’s game-winner 16:45 into the third saw Gatineau nip Montreal 3-2; Shawinigan set a franchise record of 14 straight wins as Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll scored twice as the Cataractes beat PEI 3-1; Moncton’s record of longest streak with at least one point ended at 20 games as Gabriel Dumont scored the game-winner in the Wildcats’ 3-2 loss to Drummondville; Jonathan Hazen, Alexandre Monahan, and Francois Gauthier beat Nicholas Champion in Val-d’Or’s 3-1 victory; and Saint John needed the extra frame and a goal from Keven Guérette-Charland 2:40 in to edge Rouyn-Noranda 6-5.

Marc-Olivier Vachon, Yannick Riendeau, and Mike Hoffman all scored for Drummondville in their 3-1 win over Victoriaville; Paul Byron and Alexandre Quesnel beat Bobby Nadeau in the shootout to give Gatineau a 5-4 win over PEI; Jean-Simon Allard added two goals as Quebec shut the door 5-0 on Halifax; Marc Bourgeios netted two goals and tacked on an assist in Lewiston’s 5-2 win over Rimouski; and Guillaume Asselin netted the game-winner 2:05 into the second in Montreal’s 3-2 win over Moncton in Sunday afternoon action.

The Leaders

Telus Central leaders Shawinigan have taken over the top spot from Moncton as they have a 21-4-0 record with 42 points, while Moncton leads the Atlantic with 18 wins, two losses, two overtime losses, and no shutout losses for 38 points. They are followed by Telus East leaders Quebec (17-4-0-2, 36P), and Rouyn-Noranda (13-8-3-0, 29P) as Telus East leaders.

Among skaters, Lalonde-McNicholl (17G, 29A, 23 GP) and Petersen (11G, 26A, 25 GP) continue to be the one-two punch with Baie-Comeau center Felix Petit replacing PEI’s Chris Doyle at third as he has nine goals and 28 assists in 23 games played.

Ostapchuk narrowly edged out Quebec right winger Dmitri Kugryshev for the top spot as Ostapchuk has 23 points (6G, 17A) in 22 games played to Kugryshev’s 22 (14G, 8A) in the 19 games that he has played in.

Between the pipes based on 300 minutes played, Moncton’s Nicola Riopel continues to lead with his 16-2 record 1.75 GAA, and 0.940 SAV% while Shawinigan’s Timo Pielmeier is second for another week as he has won 13 games while losing two, has a goals against average of 2.01 and 0.939 SAV%.

Among rookies again based on 300 minutes played, Cape Breton’s Christopher Holden has a 4-3 record, 2.42 GAA, and 0.901 SAV%, while Montreal’s Jean-Francois Berube’s record of two wins and four losses, 2.72 GAA, and 0.910 SAV% puts him second. Chicoutimi’s Sean Coulton rounds out the top three as he has won five and lost five, has a 2.92 GAA, and 0.890 SAV%.

Upcoming Games

When regular season play resumes on Thursday, Drummondville is at home to Quebec in the lone contest of the night.

Seven games kick off weekend action on Friday as Cape Breton hosts Halifax; the Battle of New Brunswick features Acadie-Bathurst at Moncton; Val-d’Or travels to PEI; Rouyn-Noranda is in Chicoutimi; Quebec travels to Verdun to face Montreal; Lewiston begins their swing through Quebec with a stop in Shawinigan; and Rimouski makes their way to Victoriaville.

On Saturday, Rouyn-Noranda and Baie-Comeau face each other in Baie-Comeau to write another chapter in one of two Battles of Quebec, while Rimouski travels to Chicoutimi in the other; Gatineau is at home to Lewiston; Val-d’Or continues their swing through Eastern Canada with a stop in Acadie-Bathurst; while Moncton and Saint John continue the Battle of New Brunswick in Saint John.

The weekend finishes out on Sunday with 12 teams in action as Baie-Comeau hosts Rouyn-Noranda; Val-d’Or completes their visit to Acadie-Bathurst; Cape Breton is at home to PEI; Victoriaville is in Drummondville; Rimouski travels to Quebec; and Saint John takes on Halifax at Harbour Station in Saint John.