The sad girl post

I have not been feeling well this week...in my brain. Sad even, very sad, irrationally bursting into tears while grinding pepper into my supper kind of sad. Drinking alone kind of sad. Hence my slack-ass-ed-ness when it comes to posting. Here is what has been going on in Moose country this week:

Moose lose to the Screaming Eagles 5-2:
Yeti looked pretty good in the first period, being pounded by 19 shots and allowing only one goal to start. Then the second period happened. He stopped 34 pucks in the loss. Holden gets the win for Cape Breton. Nick Chouinard got a hat trick for Cape Breton after he potted an empty netter in the last 30 seconds of play.

The rest of the Moose were hobos to start the game. They had to wait until the end for Cape Breton to let up a bit before they could get their game on. Knotek and Bernard had goals for Halifax, both in the third period and both on the Power Play, thus breaking that little PP rut we were in. It was nice to see Knotek off the point and in closer to the net, that is where a guy with soft hands belongs. Ben MacAskill looked really good. Every time something nice would happen I would say to myself "hey who did that?" - and it was Ben. So kudos to Ben.

News coverage of the game:
Willy Palov - Eagles hand Moose 7th straight loss


In other Moose news:
The team is giving Ontario free agent, and 18 year old defenceman, Jeremy Dunn a tryout. Dunn was in practice with the herd all week but apparently that was not enough time to evaluate him, so now he is on the road with the team as they do Cape Brenton and Saint John.

Rookie Forward Gabriel Desjardins has made the Quebec under 17 team. Congrats to Gabriel and good luck with all that. Moncton's baby goalie LBD also made the team.

GM Marcel Patenaude talks to the media and Matthew Wuest shows us how we are the second oldest team in the league, with an average age of 18.24, second to only the Remparts. I pointed out way back in October that we were the oldest team in our division.
According to Wuest's article on the Oldness of our team:

They’re also tied for the league lead with eight 19-year-olds, at least five of whom won’t be on the roster next season.

So with the Mooseheads second-to-last in the QMJHL standings with seven wins in 25 games, what gives?

Turns out, it’s no picnic digging out from a failed run at a Memorial Cup, particularly when a handful of draft picks went out the door in a trade for Brad Marchand.

“It’s not the best situation,” one rival general manager said, “but it all comes down to the Marchand trade. They tried to please their fans and it was the right thing to do, but it didn’t work out. It’s something they have to live with.”

Some might call it an identity crisis, but it’s fair to say the Mooseheads are both old and rebuilding.

They’ve had to patch some holes with veterans, but they have yet to cut a younger player in favour of an older player. All of their top prospects — except for high draft pick Alex Lemieux, who left on his own volition — are on the roster.

The Mooseheads are also tied for second in the league with 10 rookies. All of them are aged 18 or younger. Mooseheads GM Marcel Patenaude is quick to stress he has “a good base of 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds” to build around.

Truth of the matter is that we actually have more than 10 rookies because we have 19 year old rookies (Snow, Earle) and Greer who played last year as well but he played so few games that he still qualifies as a rookie. Then the young players we did draft, who did make the roster, do not necessarily see ice time. In 26 games this season Ryan Matheson has only seen the ice 4 times. Richie Greer has only graced us with his presence 6 times.


There is praise all around for Jessyko Bernard:
Willy Palov has written two bits about Jessyko Bernard and the team youngsters. They even talk to Yeti and the way they quote him makes him seem all smart (literate) and nice.
Deft touch gets Bernard Promoted
Veterans impressed by youngsters

"I feel really good," said Bernard, who is tied with Cheremetiev for third place in team scoring with 14 points. "Our line is just starting to click right now. We scored a couple of goals up in Quebec and I just think it’s just going to keep getting better and better as time goes by."

At six-foot-two and 200 pounds, Bernard has the type of size NHL scouts covet. If he is able to make some improvement to his foot speed, his combination of skill and size could be enough to catch someone’s eye at the NHL draft in June.

"I try not to think about it," Bernard said. "It kind of throws you off if you do. But if I keep working hard maybe my name will get called in June’s draft. But there’s still a long way to go."