The Gatineau Olympiques are claiming that Saint John Sea Dogs forward Maxime Villemaire had played against them Jan. 4 without signing a playing contract.
Villemaire was acquired from Drummondville the day before and was apparently supposed to sign some sort of document to play with his new club. According to Gatineau, this did not happen until Jan. 6.
If Gatineau's claim proves true, the two points Saint John got in the win would be rescinded. This could be a huge blow for them, as they are challenging for first-overall in the league.
Possibly the most interesting part of this story is the timing. The claim surfaced about a month after the game. Why would this be brought up now?
He did not want to join the Sea Dogs, but for some reason played in the game against Gatineau. Afterwards, he opted to go to Longeueil of the Quebec Junior AAA.
The Sea Dogs then somehow convinced him to come back to Saint John, after he had already left and was on his way to join Longeueuil, to sign his player card.
Villemaire apparently didn't know that by signing this, he wouldn't be able to suit up for Longueuil where he wanted to play after being dealt. Pierre Petroni, general manager of Longueuil says Saint John tricked Villemaire by making him come back to sign his card and not explaining to him that he was signing a contract committing him to Saint John.
The problem I have with this claim is that Villemaire should know this. At the very least, his agent should have known about this rule.
So how did this get the league's attention?
When Villemaire and Longueuil were trying to get Villemaire released, Petroni showed Marcel Patenaude, vice-president of the QMJHL a text message dated Jan. 6, from someone in the Sea Dogs organization. This message apparently told Villemaire to come back to sign his player card. QMJHL Commissioner Gilles Courteau apparently also saw the text but allegedly did not take any action at the time.
It seems then that Villemaire and Petroni brought this up to the folks in Gatineau, knowing that a claim from a QMJHL team would get them the end result they wanted.
Now, before the Saint John fans blame Villemaire or Petroni, keep in mind that none of this would have occurred had Saint John not rushed to get Villemaire into the line-up. Had they followed proper procedures, this mess would not have occurred.
What will be the final outcome in regards to the game played with an illegal player? One would have to believe that something like this will happen.
In this instance, Drummondville had won the game but because they dressed three over aged players instead of the maximum two, the two points for the win were taken away. With a 3-0 win, one would wonder if they would have lost if they had dressed one less over aged. All scoring remained the same, so the players’ stats were not affected.
While not the same scenario, both players could be considered "illegal or ineligible" players, therefore, expect the end result of this case to be similar.
So, some crafty work by Villemaire and Petroni to get him to Longeuil could have a profound impact on the Sea Dogs playoff positioning. Currently, they have a comfortable 17-point lead on Halifax in their division, but only three points up on Shawinigan for first overall in the QMJHL, which could turn into one point if and when the two points are taken away.
All in all, it's hard to believe that a player of Villemaire's caliber could play such a pivotal role in playoff seeding.
Lesson to be learned: Cross your T's and dot your I's before you act.
jonathan@theqspot.ca
