INSIDE HOCKEY

Voracek and Desfossés Win Weekly Honors

On Monday, the league announced that Halifax Mooseheads forward Jakub Voracek and Quebec Remparts goaltender Kevin Desfossés are the offensive and defensive players for the week ending October 21st, 2007. Voracek netted a game-winning goal, added six helpers, and was involved in 58 percent (seven of 12)of the Mooseheads goals last week. His best game came last Thursday versus the St. John’s Fog Devils as he got the game-winner, added two assists, and was the first star of the game. He has played eight games since returning from the Columbus Bluejackets and has 22 points for fourth in League scoring. PEI Rocket Chris Doyle (4G-1A), Lewiston MAINEiac Stefano Giliati (3G-3A, and Gatineau Olympique Claude Giroux (4G-2A) were also nominated.

Over the course of two road games last week, Desfossés went 2-0, had a 1.44 goals-against-average and .956 save percentage. On Thursday, he stopped 34 shots as Quebec beat the Chicoutimi Sagueneens 3-1 win over archrival Chicoutimi. He followed that up Saturday night as he turned away 31 shots in regulation as well as three of the four skaters he faced in the shootout when Quebec beat the Baie-Comeau Drakkar 3-2. He has a 2.46 goals-against-average this season. Lewiston rearguard Kevin Marshall (2G-1A with a +1 rating), Rouyn-Noranda Huskie defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy (2G-1A with an even 0 rating), and PEI defenseman Benoit Gervais (1A with a whopping +6 rating) were also nominated.

Jean and Rocket Part Ways, Chinouard is New Bench Boss

On Monday, the PEI Rocket President and General Manager Serge Savard Jr. announced that head coach Yanick Jean has been relieved of his duties with the club effective immediately. He has been with the team since 2005 and has an overall record of 72-88-1 over the course of 161 games. Under his guidance, the Rocket have also been bounced from the first round of the playoffs the past two years. The Rocket have struggled at times this season and are currently 7-7-1-0 with 15 points and are in fifth place in the Eastern Division. He has been replaced by former NHLer Guy Chouinard, who has a long and storied history with the QMJHL that culminated with his induction into the league Hall of Fame in April 2005.

Chouinard began his QMJHL career as a player with Quebec where he played from 1971-72 to 1973-74. He was a second round draft pick of the Atlanta Flames 28th overall in the 1974 NHL entry draft and played 578 games for the Atlanta/Calgary Flames and the St. Louis Blues where he netted 205 goals and 370 assists. He also spent one season each playing for the Omaha Knights in the Central Hockey League and the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in the American Hockey League.

After his retirement, he began what was to be a 16-year QMJHL coaching career that began in the 1985-86 season when he coached the Longueuil Chevaliers. He coached the team for two seasons.

He went on to coach the Victoriaville Tigres (1987-88, 1989-90), the Verdun Junior Canadiens (1988-89), Trois–Rivieres Draveurs (1991-92), the Sherbrooke Faucons, who are now the Lewiston MAINEiacs (1992-93 to 1995-96), the Laval (now Acadie-Bathurst) Titan (1996-97), and Quebec (1997-98 to 2001-02).

His 27 games coached in the playoffs is the most ever by a league coach; he has a 144-78 playoff record. He won one President’s Cup as a head coach with Longueuil in 1986-87. His teams were regular season champions on three other occasions (Victoriaville 1989-90, Trois Rivieres 1991-92, and Sherbrooke 1992-93).

Chouinard is a three time QMJHL Coach of the Year (Sherbrooke 1992-93, Quebec 1997-98 and 1998-99). He made the QMJHL All-Star team on five different occasions (Longueuil 1986-87, Victoriaville 1989-90, Sherbrooke 1992-93, and Quebec 1997-98 and 1998-99 and made the second team once (Victoriaville 1987-88).

His record of 988 regular season games coached stood for five and one half years until St. John’s Fog Devils head coach Real Paiemont passed the mark earlier this season. Over the course of the 988 games, Chouinard’s record was 515-406-67 for 1108 points and an 0.555 winning percentage.

Bid Process Open For IIHF World Junior Championships

On Monday, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League made the announcement that they have opened the bid process to see who will host the 2010 and 2012 IIHF World Junior Championships. There will be a conference call in November 2007 for anyone interested in placing a bid. Letters of intent must be received by February 1st, 2008 for both 2010 and 2012. It will end sometime in the summer of 2008 when the selection committee will inform the Hockey Canada Board of Directors of their recommendations.

The Committee for the 2010 and 2012 is made up of Hockey Canada CEO and President Bob Nicholson, President and CEO of Hockey Canada; CHL President David Branch; Hockey Canada Chairman of the Board Allan Morris; Hockey Canada Chief Operating Officer Scott Smith; and Hockey Canada’s Director of Marketing, Services, and Events Scott Farley.

The 2010 and 2012 championships will be ninth and tenth times the World Junior tournament has been held in Canada. The others are: 2009 (Ottawa), 2006 (Vancouver/Kelowna/Kamloops, BC), 2003 (Halifax/Sydney, NS), 1999 (Winnipeg, MB), 1995 (Red Deer, AB), 1991 (Saskatoon, SK), 1986 (Hamilton, ON) and 1978 (Montreal, QC).

The 2008 Championship will take place in Pardubice and Leberac, CZE from December 26, 2007—to January 5, 2008.

League Names Scholastic Players for September

On Thursday, the league announced their scholastic players of the month for September. They are:

Acadie-Bathurst Titan - Éric Faille
Baie-Comeau Drakkar - Francis Lanctôt
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles - Jonathan Laberge
Chicoutimi Sagueneens - Maxime Provencher
Drummondville Voltigeurs - Stephen Valente
Halifax Mooseheads - Travis Randall
Lewiston MAINEiacs - Tom Michalik
Moncton Wildcats - Chris Morehouse
PEI Rocket - Matthew Lachaine
Quebec Remparts - Kevin Desfossés
Rimouski Océanic - Philippe Cornet
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies - Pier-Luc Giguère
Saint John Sea Dogs - Simon Bellavance-Després.
Shawinigan Cataractes - Brad Yetman
St. John’s Fog Devils - Pier-Antoine Dion
Victoriaville Tigres - Jean-Christophe Blanchard

Richer Returns to Gatineau

The Gatineau Olympiques announced on Tuesday that assistant coach Marc-André Dumont resigned after last Sunday’s game and that Mario Richer has returned to the team following his stint with Harrington College in the America East Hockey League. Richer will join the team during the current road trip. He was last with Gatineau as an assistant coach from 2004-06. Prior to that period, he was with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles organization.

Games This Week

When league played resumed on Tuesday night, Lewiston edged Acadie-Bathurst 3-2, Rouyn-Noranda nipped Val-d’Or also by a 3-2 score, and Baie-Comeau nipped Victoriaville 2-1.

Wednesday’s action saw Cape Breton beat Gatineau 5-2, PEI edge St. John’s 4-3 in a shootout, and Victoriaville nip Chicoutimi 2-1.

In the lone game on Thursday Quebec beat Chicoutimi 3-1.

On Friday, Halifax edged Gatineau 5-4, Cape Breton beat Moncton 6-2, PEI beat Rimouski 5-2, Chicoutimi doubled Baie-Comeau 4-2, Val-d’Or nipped Drummondville 3-2, Lewiston trounced Rouyn-Noranda 6-1, Victoriaville edged Shawinigan 3-2 in a shootout, and St. John’s beat Acadie-Bathurst 6-2.

Quebec edged Baie-Comeau 3-2, Halifax doubled St. John’s 4-2, Moncton nipped Rimouski 3-2, Gatineau got by Saint John 5-4, and Rouyn-Noranda doubled Drummondville 6-3 on Saturday night.

In Sundays' games, Gatineau doubled Moncton 4-2, Acadie-Bathurst needed a shootout to beat Halifax 4-3, Val-d’Or needed overtime to nip Lewiston 3-2, PEI bested Cape Breton 6-2, Saint John shutout Rimouski 1-0, and Shawinigan got by Victoriaville 6-4.

Leaders of the Pack

On the strength of their 12-3-1-0 record and 25 points, Cape Breton leads the Eastern Division and the overall QMJHL standings; while Gatineau, who is 11-7-0-1 with 23 points, leads the Telus Division and is second overall.

Among skaters, Cape Breton left winger Dean Ouellet is one reason they are in first place with his 11 goals and 15 assists in 16 games played. In second place this week is PEI center Brett Morrison, who has nine goals and 15 assists in 15 games played; while Gatineau right winger Claude Giroux stands third with 10 goals and 12 assists over a 14 game period.

For the first time this season, Quebec right winger Mikhail Stefanovich is not the top rookie scorer as Halifax center Tomas Knotek now takes over the top spot with seven goals and eight assists in 14 games played. Stefanovich is second with five goals and 10 assists over 15 games played. In third place this week is Cape Breton defenseman Kyle Mariani with his four goals and eight assists in 15 games.

In the net, based on a minimum of 10 games played, Baie-Comeau’s Marco Cousineau leads the way with his 8-5 record, 2.05 GAA, and 0.927 SAV %. Finishing second this week is Chicoutimi’s Bobby Nadeau who is 4-6 with a 2.08 GAA, and a 0.916 SAV %. In third place this week is Cape Breton’s Olivier Bellavance-Roy who has a record of eight wins and two losses to go along with a 2.33 GAA, and a 0.912 SAV %.

For his efforts Bellavance-Roy also leads all rookie netminders with Saint John’s Robert Mayer, who is 5-1 with a 2.50 GAA, and a 0.899 SAV %. A 4-0 record, 2.53 GAA, and 0.919 SAV% gives PEI’s Marc-Antoine Gelinas third place.

Coming Up

Games resume on Tuesday as Quebec travels to Drummondville, Baie-Comeau host Shawinigan, and Rouyn-Noranda is home to Victoriaville.

On Wednesday, Guy Chinouard returns behind the bench to coach in his 989th QMJHL game when PEI hosts Cape Breton.