QMJHL Thread 2018-19 - Page 3

Acajack · #41 Posted **Nov 13, 2018, 3:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHikka

Ouais. It feels like it hasn't been updated in decades. I love older arenas for their aesthetic and atmosphere...new buildings simply can't match an older, low-ceiling, boxtight seating arrangement, along with the individuality that older buildings have.

I'll be sad to see it go but the new building is badly needed.

The charms of an old arena, which I agree about, have started to wear thin. It only works for a time and within reason, and that rink has long passed all of that I'd say.

BTW the cement footing/foundation for the new arena is now in place.

Philbilly · #42 Posted **Nov 15, 2018, 1:56 AM**

A video of a CTV segment on the wildcat new dressing room

https://www.facebook.com/34729775074...6946497460742/

theshark · #43 Posted **Nov 15, 2018, 7:04 AM**

Mario Durocher was named as the new head coach for the Titan, he brings along a lot of experience and wants to turn the team around. He is not a stranger, he was head coach for the Titan from 2004-2006.

Hopefully this will bring a fresh start for the Titan.

lirette · #44 Posted **Nov 15, 2018, 5:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by theshark

Mario Durocher was named as the new head coach for the Titan, he brings along a lot of experience and wants to turn the team around. He is not a stranger, he was head coach for the Titan from 2004-2006.

Hopefully this will bring a fresh start for the Titan.

I wouldn't expect much this year, the Titan likely get worse after Christmas as they will lose MacIssac, Dobson and possibly Crossman. It won't be pretty. They are already getting blown out most games and will lose their top 2 defenseman

Durocher has had some success with Valdor recently so its a pretty low risk hire at this point in the season. I think he's at his best with highly offensive teams. It will be hard for him to make a mark this year with what he has to work with. The players might work harder for him out of the gate, but in junior hockey if you don't have the skill theres only so much hard work can do. These years are hard for fans but given the result last year should be worth it.

The worry would be that the fanbase can't support 2-3 losing seasons in a row waiting for success again. Hopefully they saved the profits from last years playoff run. I believe they also get some development cash for Dobson being a 1st round NHL pick.

MonctonRad · #45 Posted **Nov 17, 2018, 5:04 AM**

Here are the Maritime players currently on the watch list for NHL Central Scouting, and their expected rank:

Halifax

- Raphaël Lavoie, 18-year-old forward (first round)
- Marcel Barinka, 17-year-old forward (4th - 7th round)
- Xavier Parent, 17-year-old forward (4th - 7th round)

Moncton

- Jakob Pelletier, 17-year-old forward (2nd - 3rd round)
- Jorden Spence, 17-year-old defenceman (4th - 7th round)

Charlottetown

- Nikita Alexandrov, 18-year-old forward (2nd - 3rd round)
- Brett Budgell, 17-year-old forward (4th - 7th round)
- Alexander Dersch, 18-year-old defenceman (4th - 7th round)

Saint John

- Maxim Cajkovic, 17-year-old forward (2nd - 3rd round)
- Nathan Larose, 18-year-old defenceman (4th - 7th round)
- Filip Prikryl, 17-year-old forward (4th - 7th round)

Cape Breton

- Brooklyn Kalmikov, 17-year-old forward (4th - 7th round)
- Noah Laaouan, 17-year-old defenceman (4th - 7th round)

Bathurst

none

MonctonRad · #46 Posted **Nov 18, 2018, 4:59 AM**

Huge win on the road this evening by the Wildcats (#2, 17/4/2/0) over the Baie Comeau Drakkar (#3, 17/6/0/1). Final score was 5-4. Jakob Pelletier led the way with two goals.

The Wildcats team this year is for real! Unfortunately with the playoff setup this year, there won't be any crossover series until the third round, and the eastern conference is stronger than the western conference. The playoff schedule therefore will be harder than in previous years. This just means that every game counts in the regular season so that you get the best seed possible going into the playoffs.

I'm growing more and more confident in the team every game.

MonctonianSentinel01 · #47 Posted **Nov 18, 2018, 3:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Huge win on the road this evening by the Wildcats (#2, 17/4/2/0) over the Baie Comeau Drakkar (#3, 17/6/0/1). Final score was 5-4. Jakob Pelletier led the way with two goals.

The Wildcats team this year is for real! Unfortunately with the playoff setup this year, there won't be any crossover series until the third round, and the eastern conference is stronger than the western conference. The playoff schedule therefore will be harder than in previous years. This just means that every game counts in the regular season so that you get the best seed possible going into the playoffs.

I'm growing more and more confident in the team every game.

That's great! Did those western teams lose to us to many times and playoffs had to be changed?

MonctonRad · #48 Posted **Nov 18, 2018, 3:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonianSentinel01

That's great! Did those western teams lose to us to many times and playoffs had to be changed?

Maybe.

To be serious, the change in the playoff format was made to decrease travel expenses. A lot of QMJHL teams are in relatively small markets, and travel costs at playoff time can be a real financial burden.

MonctonianSentinel01 · #49 Posted **Nov 18, 2018, 3:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Maybe.

To be serious, the change in the playoff format was made to decrease travel expenses. A lot of QMJHL teams are in relatively small markets, and travel costs at playoff time can be a real financial burden.

Yeah, that actually makes sense.

CodiacCanuck · #50 Posted **Nov 18, 2018, 5:02 PM**

The new realignment will help greatly with travel expenses. For example, Rouyn-Noranda to Cape Breton is a 2,000 km trip. Whether it's by air or bus, I don't think either team would want to make that trip very often.

JHikka · #51 Posted **Nov 18, 2018, 5:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonianSentinel01

That's great! Did those western teams lose to us to many times and playoffs had to be changed?

It had to do with travel. Only Moncton and Quebec voted against the playoff changes (Moncton routinely flies during the playoffs...). It wasn't out of place to have a Maritime team have to play Gatineau in the first round, then Val-d'Or, then Blainville or Rouyn-Noranda. It's exceptional travel in the span of a month and a half or so.

The old playoff format (before the 1v16 format) was similar to what is being implemented again...they would try to pair off Quebec teams against other Quebec teams and Maritime teams against each other.

MonctonianSentinel01 · #52 Posted **Nov 18, 2018, 6:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHikka

It had to do with travel. Only Moncton and Quebec voted against the playoff changes (Moncton routinely flies during the playoffs...). It wasn't out of place to have a Maritime team have to play Gatineau in the first round, then Val-d'Or, then Blainville or Rouyn-Noranda. It's exceptional travel in the span of a month and a half or so.

The old playoff format (before the 1v16 format) was similar to what is being implemented again...they would try to pair off Quebec teams against other Quebec teams and Maritime teams against each other.

Yup. Makes sense to me, thanks for the info.

MonctonRad · #53 Posted **Nov 19, 2018, 12:01 AM**

Another big road win for the Wildcats, 8-4 over Chicoutimi.

Chicoutimi isn't a bad team (average), and anytime you can score eight goals in somebody else's barn, that's pretty special.

We used Charles-Antoine Lavallée (our 16 year old back-up goalie) in the game. No offence to him (he's doing pretty good for a rookie), but if Felix LeClerc had been in goal, I betcha the score would have been more like 8-2.

The trade period is coming up, and big decisions will have to be made. Will Irving decide to go "all in" and take a run for the cup this year, or will he wait for next year. Our 19 year olds are McKenna, Seitz, Capannelii, Cyr, Aspirot and Le Coultre. These are amongst our heavy hitters and we will lose some of them next year as we can only have three 20 year olds on the roster. Also, we won't have LeClerc next year (he is a 20 year old).

I'm sure Irving will be tempted to go for it this year, but will the penalty be too high? There certainly would be a price to pay in terms of draft picks, prospects and some of our younger players in development. Our current team also has chemistry. Will we lose this if we move too many of our players around?

If we stand pat, we could still have McKenna, Cyr & Aspirot as our 20 year olds next year, and still have proven performers like Pelletier, Khovanov, McDonald, Spence and Hudson in the line-up. That's pretty powerful, and if we wanted to buy, I'm sure the Bathurst first round pick that we own would likely be the price. I'm not sure I want to give that up.

The only question mark for the team next year as far as I'm concerned would be goaltending. Lavallee still would only be 17 years old and probably not quite ready for prime time. If we could stabilize our goaltending situation for the long term, I would be tempted to hold tight.......

lirette · #54 Posted **Nov 19, 2018, 1:33 AM**

Based on the article in the Acadie Nouvelle a few weeks ago I'd be suprised if they went all in with every asset they have.

My hope is that they upgrade the defense by aquiring a 20 year old. They would lose a quality player in Pataki but in terms of dealing a position of strength it just makes sense. There should be enough guys on on the market to aquire one without a major asset going the other way.

My christmas shopping list for that dman would ranked

Gabriel Bilodeau (Gatineau). Big kid who plays physical is also putting up almost a point per game

Pascal Corbeil - (Blainville) Elite offensive defenseman who is currently injured but due back in december.

Dominic Cormier (Victoriaville) solid 2 way mobile defenseman whos from Moncton

Sam Dunn (quebec) /Ryan Dasilva (sherbrooke) These guys are "less sexy" than the other 3 since they came to the league as free agents and arent as known but may be cheaper in terms of cost & still solidify the defense. Da Silva has put together a real nice season so far.

MonctonRad · #55 Posted **Nov 19, 2018, 2:30 PM**

Maybe we could get one of your defencemen for Pataki, maybe a 3rd-4th round draft pick and a "player to be named later", in other words one of the 19 year olds we can't keep next year anyway, like Capannelli. That would be pretty painless, especially if Capannelli were allowed to play the rest of the season with us.

CodiacCanuck · #56 Posted **Nov 21, 2018, 12:30 AM**

Five of the teams currently ranked in the CHL Top 10 are from the Q... I can't remember the last time we were this well represented.

http://chl.ca/article/kia-chl-top-10...ngs-nov-142018

MonctonRad · #57 Posted **Nov 21, 2018, 3:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CodiacCanuck

Five of the teams currently ranked in the CHL Top 10 are from the Q... I can't remember the last time we were this well represented.

http://chl.ca/article/kia-chl-top-10...ngs-nov-142018

The OHL must really suck this year - only two teams in the top 10 listing.

And in other news, it's a clean sweep for the Cats on their Quebec road trip, taking out the Quebec Remparts tonight by a score of 6-3. Jeremy McKenna led the way with two goals and two assists.

Cats are now #1 in the league (19/4/2/0 for 40 pts), although the Rouyn Noranda Huskies have a slightly better winning percentage (fewer games played).

Jeremy McKenna has 18G, 26A for 44P, good for #2 in league scoring. He's on pace for a 120 pt season at present.

Four of the top 12 scorers in the league are Wildcats
- #2 McKenna 18 G 26 A 44 pts
- #5 Pelletier 15 G 20 A 35 pts
- #9 Khovanov 15 G 17 A 32 pts
- #12 Cyr 10 G 21 A 31 pts

All four of these players could be back with the team next year!!!

MonctonRad · #58 Posted **Nov 23, 2018, 6:29 PM**

I see Conor Garland currently has 15 pts in 15 games with the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL and is in first place in team scoring.

It's taken a few years, but I wonder if he isn't almost ready now for the "show"......

His former line mate Ivan Barbashev is in his third season with the St. Louis Blues (first season as a regular).

MonctonRad · #59 Posted **Nov 24, 2018, 2:20 AM**

Well the Cats, after a hugely successful Quebec road trip, were humbly brought back to Earth this evening in a game against the Sherbrooke Phoenix at the Avenir Centre.

A return to Earth, and it wasn't a gentle landing either - the heat shields were ripped off, the airframe collapsed and there was wreckage strewn along the entire length of the flight path!!!!!

Final score 9-2 for the Phoenix.

This was by far the worst game the Cats have played all season. Nobody showed up for the game. It was an entire team (lack of) effort. It was frankly embarrassing. I did not recognize this team at all. I think they may have been impostors.

If they didn't have another game tomorrow night, I would put the entire team through a hard post game practice session for punishment. At the very least, I expect them to have a strip taken off their back by the coach during the post game debrief........

BlackYear · #60 Posted **Nov 24, 2018, 3:11 AM**

That pretty much sums it up!

Although, there was a moment in the 1st period where they dominated Sherbrooke for about 5 minutes without a whistle within their zone, but just couldn't score.

I think you knew within the first 7 minutes of the game that is wasn't going to be a good day. And then it turn into a 4-0 after the 1st. Leclerc should had been pulled after the first period, IMO.

A bad bouncing puck off the boards caught LeClerc out of his net Sherbrooke scored in an empty net, but it was reversed after review, off side was called. End of the 2nd period with 0.0009 seconds left, Sherbrooke scored, then reversed, Start of the 3rd, they reviewed it and called it a goal.

Plus Sherbrooke scored 2 short handed goals just shows how bad things went.

Oh well, a catastrophic loss was bound to happen.