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 Saguenéens – Dominic Jalbert
Drummondville Voltigeurs – Dany Massé
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)

Everyone loves a poindexter

Every year teams in the QMJHL select one player from their roster whom they believe to display exemplary academic standards. These are the candidates for the Marcel-Robert Trophy. They are basically saying to me, hey Q, if you were to crush out a boy from this team then I think you should pick:

Acadie-Bathurst Titan – Nicholas Champion
Baie-Comeau Drakkar – Guillaume Goulet
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles – Chris Culligan
Chicoutimi Saguenéens – Dominic Jalbert
Drummondville Voltigeurs – Dany Massé
Gatineau Olympiques – Jean-Philip Chabot
Halifax Mooseheads – Ben MacAskill
Lewiston MAINEiacs – Éric Gélinas
Moncton Wilcats – Nicola Riopel
Montreal Juniors – Philippe Fontaine
P.E.I. Rocket – Bobby Nadeau
Quebec Remparts – Hubert Genest
Rimouski Océanic – Emmanuel Boudreau
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies – Pier-Luc Giguère
Saint John Sea Dogs – Payton Liske
Shawinigan Cataractes – Pierre-Alexandre Vandall
Val-d’Or Foreurs – Jean-François Caron
Victoriaville Tigres – Joël Chouinard

Wow, look at all those goalies...and Ben...again. What a total smarty pants. Wait, where is Slaney? Can you not win the award twice or has he been drinking tar ponds water?

Just news links

With the first round of the playoffs done there is not much for me to swoon about for the next few days except a Carey Price shutout (Superswoon), the fact the Montreal is tied for first in the East (Go away Pittsburgh- I hate you), the possibility that Pascal Leclaire will be Canada's goalie for the IIHFs (Swoon of he leaves his mask on), and the very possibility that NJ can win a game against a team in their division that was not Philly (marginal Swoon).

In the Q:
Samuel Richard is a Marcel-Robert Trophy Nominee playing for the Val d'Or Foreurs. His interview is now available at the Q website. mmmmm defense. Look at him with his 48 points - 12 goals and 36 assists. I assume that there is nothing else to do in Val d'Or besides play hockey, study, drink or practice your baby making skills. I would guess that Richard spends his time playing hockey, studying and fighting off girls who want to use him to practice their baby making...which is made much easier by years of playing defense.

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QMJHL Eastern Division News links (some is Monday's and Tuesday's news):

MAINEiacs:
MAINIACS to bid fans goodbye
Daneau, Giliati, Bernier all bid Lewiston adieu
MAINEiacs nullified
I told you Bernier would cry

Sea Dogs:
Opposites Attract
Ex-Sea Dog ready to face his old mates
Schedule: Game on

Travis Fullerton: Have I told you lately that I miss you? Oh don't look so shocked. You know how I feel. I wish I could be with you this upcoming weekend, but I will be with my own team in our own barn. I will be watching Yetman and Roy play but I 'll be thinking of you. I know it sounds skanky, to be with two goalies while thinking of another, but what can I say - I'm a skank.

Titan:
QMJHL Playoffs: Fighting through adversity
Titan rally to win series
Titan's Blanchard turns heads

Fog Devils:
Fog Devils Finis

Rocket:
Start, Stop, Sputter

Screaming Eagles:
Eagles need OT to oust MAINEiacs

Mooseheads:
Collision Course
Rivalry heats up for real
Drama ahead in East series

Marc-André Dorion is a smarty pants

Marc-André Dorion of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar is another nominee for the Marcel-Robert Trophy. An interview with Marc-André can now be found at the QMJHL website


I was this close to Dorion and yet I did not manage to suck any of the power out of his brains. He needs that power to pull his team out of a rut and outplay the Oceanic, who are currently destroying his number two ranked Drakkar 3 games to 1. Ouch. Oh and did I mention that Dorion is awesome at hockey, and he has the added bonus of being a defenseman, and next to goalies, defensemen are so very rowrrrr. He finished this season second in the league (for defensemen) in points with 59 pts, 16 goals + 43 assists. However, what makes him more excellently defensey than the #1 defenseman Jason Demers, is that Dorion finished the season a +23 while Demers was a -6.

I needed his brain power to finish my graduate work so I can get the hell outta dodge, maybe move to Mannheim and start to love the Mannheim Eagles. Their goalie is also a Pelletier, and during the NHL lockout they had HueT playing in their nets. Last I heard Mannheim had lost two games in their playoffs and one of those losses came after 6 overtimes, the game went until 2am or some crazy shit like that. I think Cologne have already put them in the ground. I hope the Moose do not suffer a similar fate just as quickly.

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In QMJHL news the Gatineau Olympiques have eliminated the Shawinigan Cataractes and their toy goalie Kevin Maletto (he is small- like a toy poodle) and thus Squirrels and friends get to move on in the playoffs to meet an as of yet undecided contender.

The MAINEiacs are still in it. They defeated the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 5-2. The Eagles were invigorated by a late goal but then the MAINEiacs had to go and get an empty net goal in the final minutes of the game to cement the win and Crush the spirit of the Eagles. The Spirit crushing is the most important part of any hockey game.

The Acadia-Bathurst Titan also managed to crush the St. John's Fog Devils in what was likely the Devils final game in St. John's EVER. Poor, poor Devils fans. Tomy Joly had 4 goals. His parents must be so proud. I bet his dad has an " I fathered Tomy Joly" T-shirt. Who wants an " I fathered Tomy Joly" shirt? I would wear one - I like his Joker smile. Final Decision 7-2. Ouch.

Last but not least Quebec faced off against Chicoutimi in Chicoutimi and the Sagueneens won 7-1. Every game but the first game in this series has been a blowout. It is crazy. The Sags started Lévesque in nets for this game. There was an interview with Bobby Nadeau on TSN (or maybe it was sportsnet) this morning. He basically said that he has not been watching TV to avoid seeing himself being beaten up, and he gave his side of the story. There is an interview with RDS - good old RDS covers everything. Why doesn't English media cover Q hockey - damn them. See the video in the section Hockey/LHJMQ titled "Nadeau est ébranlé". He is so 'lover not a fighter" material. Rowwrrrr. I hope the Sags take this series, then Bobby can get over it and start to play some good ol' puck stopping games again. He needs to clear his head. I should sit him down for milk, cookies and a good talk. I hope he can speak English because my French sucks. This is why I need to make friends with French goalies- to improve my conversational French. Yeah, that's it.