Thursday, February 26, 2009

Doin's a transpirin'

OK. I'm not dead. I've just been mommified - which is what happens when your mother drops by from out of town at a moment's notice.

Stuff has happened - like rookie defenceman Alex MacDonald was featured in an article in the Metro. Snazzy. You know copyright laws keep me from pasting the whole thing here, so just click the above link to read Matthew Wuest's full story. The theme of the story is that MacDonald is steady and unnoticeable... the telltale mark of a defenceman.
“I was really nervous coming into training camp, but right off the bat, I started playing a fair bit,” said MacDonald. “I got my chances and things got better from there.”

The six-foot-four 183-pounder has shown good mobility and logs occasional time on the power play. And while it might be easy to get burned on a team struggling as much as the Mooseheads, MacDonald has been safe and steady.

“Hopefully he can learn from a year like this and use that experience for the future of this organization,” said Mooseheads captain Graham Bona. “He’s got really good potential and he could be a top defenceman in this league.”

Other than that, Nicola Riopel - goaltender for the Moncton Wildcats, is using either blackmail or hypno-powers because he was awarded the Q's Defensive player of the week again, for the 5th time this season (the Q site lies and says 7... but writers can't count). Mikhail Stefanovich of the Quebec Remparts is the offensive player of the week, most likely due in part to his bajillion point game against the Moose last Sunday.


Speaking of hypno-goalies in the news, Cape Breton's Olivier Roy was the Sportsnet cold player of the week for last week. Expect him to come out this week with revenge on the mind.
The second-year starting goaltender had an uncharacteristically poor week. Through four games, Roy was beat nine times on 71 shots for a 0.873 save percentage, winning just one of his four starts. While his numbers aren't terrible, it is a drop from the consistent goaltending he is known to provide.


The five finalists for the Marcel-Robert Smarty Pants trophy (and financial bonus prize) were announced - and none of them are named Ben MacAskill or Bobby Nadeau. I am disappointed. None of them are even goalies. I guess goalies really aren't that smart. There is an unusually high proportion of forwards in the finalists when compared to the total origional 18 nominees. The five finalists are:
Baie-Comeau Drakkar – Guillaume Goulet
Chicoutimi Saguen̩ens РDominic Jalbert
Drummondville Voltigeurs РDany Mass̩
Saint John Sea Dogs – Payton Liske
Shawinigan Cataractes – Pierre-Alexandre Vandall



Last but not least, three Q teams have made the CHL Mosaic Mastercard top 10. Moncton are back in, Quebec Remparts are right out. It kinda doesn't make sense considering that both teams have played the same number of games, yet Quebec have a better win % and are only a point back from Moncton in the QMJHL league standings. Both appear to be better than Brampton, at least statistically.

1. Windsor Spitfires (52-6-0-1)
2. Calgary Hitmen (54-7-3-1)
3. Vancouver Giants (49-7-1-3)
4. Drummondville Voltigeurs (47-10-0-4)
5. Shawinigan Cataractes (47-12-2-0)
6. Belleville Bulls (41-15-2-2)
7. Saskatoon Blades (44-15-3-1)
8. Brandon Wheat Kings (42-16-3-1)
9. Moncton Wildcats (44-10-2-4)
10. Brampton Battalion (39-18-1-1)

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