Q hands down two suspensions

The disciplinary prefect of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has handed suspension to a player and a coach, the league announced today.

Gatineau Olympiques head coach Benoit Groulx has been suspended two games and fined $1,000.

The suspension and fine were handed out after Groulx's inappropriate behavior during a game against Blainville-Boisbriand on March 14, 2012.

Ian Saab of the Saint John Sea Dogs has been suspended eight games for a high sticking incident which occurred March 11, 2012 against the Shawinigan Cataractes.

Here is the rational that led to the decision:

-The player at fault (Saab) left his blue line and headed towards his opponent.
-The opponent raised his arm up to the plexus of the offending player.
-The offending player (Saab) then forcefully hit his opponent in the face with his stick and glove and hit him on the head a second time with his glove.
-It was not Saab's first offence
-The opponent was injured.

nolan@theqspot.ca

Hyka, Duclair and Marcoux named Telus three stars of the week

Tomas Hyka, Anthony Duclair and Etienne Marcoux were named the Telus three stars of the week, the QMJHL announced earlier today.

The week is the period spanning from Feb. 27 to March 4, 2012.

Tomas Hyka of the Gatineau Olympiques is the week's first star after potting a pair of goals and collecting nine points.

The 18-year-old Czech native was named third-star on Wednesday with a goal. On Friday he scored a goal and added a pair of assists in an overtime win over Drummondville. He was named second star of the game.

On Sunday, he collected four assists in an 8-2 win over Drummondville.

The week's second star is Quebec Remparts rookie Anthony Duclair. Duclair, 16, scored his 25th goal of the season on Wednesday in a 9-2 thumping over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. He tallied three points in the game to be named the game's first star.

On Sunday, the Montreal, Que. native collected a goal and a pair of assists in a 4-2 win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

Duclair has 60 points on the season.

The third star of the week belongs to Etienne Marcoux of the Blainville-Boisbrian Armada.

On Friday he made 29 saves in a 6-2 win over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar then posted a shutout the next night against Chicoutimi.

He posted a 1.00 goals-against average and a 0.959 save percentage.

nolan@theqspot.ca

Gatineau claim against Sea Dogs could prove costly for Saint John

Interesting news out of Saint John surfaced over the weekend.

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

Game Previews-February 3rd, 2012

Game of Interest:

Saint John (36-13-0-2) at Drummondville (21-25-2-4)- Something has to give. Both teams have winning streaks; Drummondville has a four game streak going, while Saint John is riding a five game streak. This is a definite game of interest.

Players to Watch

Jonathan Oligny (Drummondville) & Ian Saab (Saint John). Oligny and Saab are one and two respectively in penalty minutes and major penalties. Expect them to drop the gloves tonight.

Other games on the Q schedule tonight:
Moncton (23-23-3-2) at Halifax (27-16-2-3)

Cape Breton (20-28-0-2) at P.E.I. (16-31-2-2)

Rimouski (31-21-0-0) at Quebec (32-12-4-2)

Victoriaville (33-16-1-2) at Baie-Comeau (24-22-1-3)

Gatineau (19-23-4-4) at Blainville-Boisbriand (27-20-2-1)

Rouyn-Noranda (16-29-2-3) at Chicoutimi (26-16-3-6)

Val-d’Or (21-26-0-4) at Shawinigan (34-11-2-3)

Rimouski's Beauvillier wins fastest skater

Rimouski Oceanic forward Francis Beauvillier can add an accomplishment to his hockey resume being the CHL's fastest skater.

Beauvillier, 18, in his third QMJHL season and first with Rimouski, posted a time of 14.132 seconds, narrowly edging out Branden Troock of the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds.
Gatineau Olympiques forward Tomas Hyka placed fifth out of eight skaters with a time of 14.674 seconds.

Other QMJHL players in the skills competition were:

Late addition to the Top Prospects Game, Dillon Fournier of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies hit four targets in eight attempts, finishing fifth out of eight in the accuracy shooting.

Number two ranked player in the CSS, Mikhail Grigorenko of the Quebec Remparts, hit three of eight targets, finishing sixth, and Halifax Mooseheads forward Andrew Ryan finished eighth out of eight, only hitting one target in eight attempts.

In the shootout competition, Baie-Comeau's Raphael Bussieres finished tied for fourth out of 12, and Halifax's Martin Frk finished eighth.

There has been no word yet whether Frk's agent Alan Walsh has scheduled a press conference to discuss Frk's poor showing.

36 QMJHL players listed in midterm rankings

Quebec Remparts forward Mikhail Grigorenko tops the NHL Central Scouting's midterm rankings for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Yesterday, the Canadian Hockey League announced that 145 CHL players appear on the list.

The domestic rankings list a total of 210 North American skaters including 120 from the CHL, also listing and additional 36 North American goaltenders which includes 25 that currently compete in the CHL.

The QMJHL has 36 representatives on the rankings, with Grigorenko at spot number two, below Nail Yakupov of the Sarnia Sting who is number one.

The highest ranked goaltender for the QMJHL is Victoriaville's Brandon Whitney at number three.

Here is the list of QMJHL players that made the rankings
NORTH AMERICAN SKATERS
RK Name Team
2 Mikhail Grigorenko, Quebec Remparts
25 Martin Frk Halifax, Mooseheads
59 Matej Beran, P.E.I. Rocket
62 Francis Beauvillier, Rimouski Oceanic
64 Andrew Ryan, Halifax Mooseheads
65 Tomas Hyka, Gatineau Olympiques
87 Vladislav Shalimov, Val-d'Or Foreurs
89 Ryan Culkin, Quebec Remparts
93 James Melindy, Moncton Wildcats
96 Charles Hudon, Chicoutimi Sagueneens
102 Liam O'Brien, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
116 Justin Hache, Shawinigan Cataractes
126 Tomas Pavelka, P.E.I. Rocket
128 Anton Zlobin, Shawinigan Cataractes
130 Taylor Burke, Gatineau Olympiques
138 Dillon Fournier, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
168 Loic Leduc, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
173 Tomas Filippi, Baie-Comeau Drakkar
177 Raphael Corriveau, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
186 Sven Andrighetto, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
190 Alexandre Leclerc, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
193 Jeremie Fraser, Acadie-Bathurst Titan
196 Luca Ciampini, Halifax Mooseheads
207 Domenic Poulin, Chicoutimi Sagueneens

NORTH AMERICAN GOALTENDERS
RK Name Team
3 Brandon Whitney, Victoriaville Tigres
6 Francois Tremblay, Val-d'Or Foreurs
13 Etienne Marcoux, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
16 Francois Brassard, Quebec Remparts
18 Maxime Lagace, P.E.I. Rocket
25 Jacob Brennan, Acadie-Bathurst Titan
30 Roman Will, Moncton Wildcats
33 Philippe Trudeau, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles

Full list can be viewed here.

nolan@theqspot.ca

Reid on the Rocket: Gatineau snaps Rocket's winning streak

The winning streak for the P.E.I. Rocket had to end sometime, and that it did in a 5-1 loss to the Gatineau Olympiques Saturday night at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.

The loss drops to the Rocket to a 12-26-2-2 season record.

Matt Bursey, who scored the lone goal for the Rocket, said it's not a great feeling for the the four game winning streak to come to an end.

"Just to make it five would be great but it's a long season and every team's going to go through ups and downs so we got to bounce back and get another win."

Bursey's goal came late in the first period to the tie the game at one on an empty net goal, where Gatineau goaltender Francois Lacerte coughed up the puck behind the net to Yan Pavel Laplante who found Bursey for the goal.

Adam Janosik opened the scoring for Gatineau at 9:14.

In the second period, Alexandros Soumakis and Anthony Cortese had goals 2:06 apart to give Gatineau the 3-1 lead.

Breakdowns for the Rocket ended up crucial, said Bursey.

"The game didn't turn out our way."

Taylor Burke and Tomas Hyka rounded out the scoring in the third period for the Olympiques.

Rocket goaltender Maxime Lagace made 24 saves in the loss, as Lacerte made 25 save to pick up the win.

The Rocket are back in action Friday Jan. 14 when they host Morgan Ellis, Brandon Gormley and the Shawinigan Cataractes at 7 p.m.

Game summary.

nolan@theqspot.ca

Gormley traded to Shawinigan; Pageau to Sags

Today Moncton Wildcats Head Coach and General manager Danny Flynn announced that defenseman Brandon Gormley has been traded to the Shawinigan Cataractes for Micheal Matheson and six draft picks.

Draft picks included in the deal are:

Fifth-round of 2012(Shawinigan)

Fifth-round of 2012(Lewiston)

Third-round of 2013(Shawinigan)

Fifth-round of 2013(Shawinigan)

First-round euro pick of 2013(Shawinigan)

2nd round of2014(Shawinigan)

"This is a very difficult trade for our organization andfor me personally but we think long term this is the best move for the Moncton Wildcats at this time," said Flynn. "This move is in the best interest of the Wildcatslong term future. We want to congratulate Gorms on a tremendous World Junior Tournament and a great career here with Moncton. We wish him the best of luck as Shawinigan prepares to host the Memorial Cup."

According to the Wildcats website, Flynn will be available to speak to the media after tonight's gameagainst the Screaming Eagles at the Coliseum. Game starts at 7 p.m.

PAGEAU TRADED

The Gatineau Olympiques have traded captain Jean-Gabriel Pageau and a third-round pick in 2013 to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens for goaltender Alexandre Michaud, two second-round picks(BLB in 2013 and CHI in 2014) and a second-round pick in 2014.

DOUBLE DEBUT

Both Charlie Coyle and newly acquired defenseman Brandon Gormley are expected to make their debuts for the Saint John Sea Dogs and Shawinigan Cataractes, respectively, on Thursday at Harbour Station.

Sagueneens acquire Gagnon and Ouellet

The Chicoutimi Sagueneens have acquired defenceman Mathieu Gagnon and forward Christian Ouellet from the Gatineau Olympiques.

In return, Chicoutimi sends 17-year-old forward Mickael Beauregard, Armada's third-round pick in 2012, Cape Breton's fourth-round pick in 2012, a first-round pick in 2013 and a second-round pick in 2013.

Gagnon, 19, has six goals and 40 points in as many games this season with the Olympiques. He was a third-round pick in 2008 by Gatineau.

Ouellet, 20, has 15 goals and 40 points in as many games with the Olympiques this season.

Beauregard had a goal and two points in 19 games with Chicoutimi this season.

Sagueneens General Manager Marc Fortier said the team was very happy to land experienced players, in a press release.

"It certainly helped in our decision to make the move, and we haven't touched any of our core players in the deal. We gave up some picks, but we have been selecting in the top three rounds the past few and we are at a point where we wanted players."

nolan@theqspot.ca

WJC Today - Day 2 Preview

There are only 2 games on the World Junior Championships schedule today. Game one has Denmark taking on Czech Republic. The second and final game of the day will be Saint John Sea Dogs forward Tomas Jurco and the Slovaks against Latvia.

Both Slovakia and Czech Republic have yet to play a game in this years tournament, while Denmark and Latvia both suffered blowout losses in yesterdays opening day action. See our recap of all the opening day action here.

Along with Jurco, Baie-Comeau forward Lukás Cingel and Gatineau Defenseman Adam Janosik will play for Slovakia.


The Czech also have a huge quantity of Q' players on there team. These five players are: 
Jakub Culek - Rimouski
Petr Straka - Rimouski
Tomas Filippi - Baie-Comeau
Tomas Hyka - Gatineau
Lukas Sedlak - Chicoutimi

Check back later for a full recap of today's action from our newest writer/reporter Bradey Williston.

Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/TQS_Blog for more WJC coverage throughout the tournament.

Busy weekend heading into Christmas break

There are quite a few games slated for this weekend as we enter the final week of action before the league breaks for Christmas.

Tonight, there are eight games in action tonight, combining for 16 of the the league's 17 teams.

First on tonight's schedule are the mighty Saint John Sea Dogs (26-10-0-1) visiting the struggling Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (14-20-0-1) at 7 p.m.

Second on tonight's schedule is the Halifax Mooseheads (21-10-1-2) visiting the Moncton Wildcats (17-16-2-0) at 7 p.m.

The P.E.I. Rocket, the other Maritime Division team in action tonight, are in Quebec to take on Patrick Roy and Mikhail Grigorenko's Remparts. The Rocket are in last place with an 8-22-2-2 record, as the Remparts are in first with an impressive 26-6-2-1 record. Gametime is 8 p.m.

Other Quebec teams in action tonight consist of the Gatineau Olympiques (16-14-2-3) visiting the Drummondville Voltigeurs (13-17-2-3) at 8 p.m, Baie-Comeau Drakkar (17-15-1-1) at Victoriaville Tigres (21-11-0-2), Chicoutimi Sagueneens (16-10-3-5) visiting the Rimouski Oceanic (20-17-0-0), Blainville-Boisbriand Armada(18-14-2-0) at Rouyn-Noranada Huskies (12-23-1-1) and the Shawinigan Cataractes (23-9-2-2) visit the Val-d'Or Foreurs (15-17-0-4).

The schedule loosens up on Saturday with only five games on the board.

The P.E.I. Rocket travel to Rimouski to battle the Oceanic, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (17-17-2-2) travel to Victoriaville, the Olympiques host the Drakkar, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies host Shawnigan and the Armada visit the Foreurs.

On Sunday, only three games are on the schedule with Bathurst visiting Quebec, Halifax in Cape Breton, and Saint John visiting arch-rival Moncton Wildcats.

The trading period opens up on Monday Dec. 19.

In other news, it has been reported that Charlie Coyle will be reporting to the Saint John Sea Dogs. Coyle has left Boston University and is likely to sign with the Sea Dogs. Coyle's departure is due to academic issues.

Coyle, an East Weymouth, M.A., native had three goals and 14 points in 16 games with Boston University this season. The 19-year-old was selected 28th overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. His rights were traded to the Minnesota Wild.

Saturday night results

Quick recap of the scores from last night.

All home teams were victorious last night, opposite of what happened on Friday night.

Baie-Comeau were 5-1 winners over the Shawinigan Cataractes. Lukas Cingel (2-0), Raphael Bussieres (2-0), Tomas Filippi (0-2) and Felix Girard (0-2) all had two points in the Drakkar win. Yannick Veilleux had the lone goal for Shawinigan.

The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles had a big 9-4 win at home over the Rouyn-Noranada Huskies. Morgan Ellis had two goals and two assists. David Rose (1-2), Kyle Farrell (0-3), Logan Shaw (1-1), Denis Kindl (2-1) and William Carrier (1-2) also had multiple points on the night.

In Moncton, the Wildcats were 4-3 winners over the Victoriaville Tigres. Teams were tied 3-3 after the first period until Allain Saulnier scored a powerplay goal for the Wildcats and they would hold on to win.

In Gatineau, the Olympiques came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 4-3 in overtime. Mathieu Gagnon (1-1) had the overtime winner for Gatineau.

Lastly, the Quebec Remparts thumped the Halifax Mooseheads 6-1. Mikhail Grigorenko had a goal and an assist for the Remparts, as Nathan MacKinnon had an assist for the Mooseheads.

Saturday night preview

There are five games on the schedule tonight for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The first game on the schedule is the Shawinigan Cataractes (17-7-1-2) at the Baie-Comeau Drakkar (12-11-0-0) at 5 p.m. AST.

Anton Zlobin leads the Cataractes in scoring with 22 goals and 32 points in 25 games.

Leading scorers for the Drakkar are Carl Gelinas and Alexandre Durette with 24 points each in 23 games.

Shawinigan is 1-0 against the Drakkar so far this season with a 3-2 win back on Oct. 27.

The second game on the scoreboard is the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (7-17-1-1) visiting the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (10-13-0-1) at 7 p.m.

Leading the way for Huskies is Zurich, Switzerland native, Sven Andrighetto with 12 goals and 27 points in 25 games.

Jonathan Brunelle leads the Screaming Eagles in scoring with eight goals and 27 points in 24 games.

This is the first time these two teams have met this season and will also play again tomorrow night.

Third on the scoreboard is the Victoriaville Tigres (17-8-0-1) visiting the Moncton Wildcats (14-11-1-0) at 7 p.m.

Yanni Gourde leads the Tigres in scoring with an impressive 14 goals and 43 points in 26 games.

Moncton is led by Alex Saulnier with 16 goals and 39 points in 26 games.

Victoriaville and Moncton have not met yet this season.

The next game on the schedule is the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (12-12-1-0)visiting the Gatineau Olympiques (12-10-1-1) at 8 p.m.

Armada rookie Christopher Clapperton leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and 27 points in 25 games, along with Jess Tanguy who has eight goals and 27 points in 24 games.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau leads the 'Piques with 18 goals and 31 points in 17 games.

Both teams have met each other twice so far this season and each team has won a game.

Past results: Sept. 16, GAT 0 @ BLB 7, Sept. 23, BLB 2 @ GAT 6.

The last game on the night is the the Halifax Mooseheads (14-6-1-1) visiting the Quebec Remparts (18-4-2-1) tonight at 8 p.m.

League superstars Nathan MacKinnon, Halifax, and Mikhail Grigorenko, Quebec, will go head-to-head.

MacKinnon leads the Mooseheads in scoring with 12 goals and 34 points in 22 games.

Grigorenko leads the Remparts with 18 goals and 39 points in 25 games.

Halifax won the last meeting between the two clubs on Oct. 22 in Halifax in 4-3 overtime win.

The Q Review for Friday Nov. 18

A busy night was on hand for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Friday night with six games on the schedule.

It was an interesting night as all visiting teams were victorious.

The Saint John Sea Dogs continued their winning ways with a 2-1 win over the struggling P.E.I. Rocket.

Tomas Jurco and Danick Gauthier scored powerplay goals for the Sea Dogs as Matej Beran had the lone goal for P.E.I.

In goal for the Rocket was Maxime Lagace making 32 saves in the loss. Sea Dogs goaltender Mathieu Corbeil made 28 saves to earn first star honours in the win.

The second game on the schedule was the Victoriaville Tigres coming back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 6-4.

Yannick Dube (1-1), Philippe Halley (1-1), Phillip Dannault (1-1), Yanni Gourde, Stefan Fournier and Carl-Antoine Delisle had goals for the Tigres.

Scoring for Bathurst were Matthew Bissonnette (2-1), Christophe Losier, and Zach O'Brien (1-2). Sebastien Trudeau chipped in with assists on all four Titan goals.

David Honzik made 23 saves for Victoriaville in the win as Jacob Brennan took the loss for Bathurst with 37 saves.

In the third game of the night, it was the Halifax Mooseheads being 2-1 winners over the Drummondville Voltigeurs.

Luca Ciampini and Mathew Boudreau scored for the Mooseheads. Nathan MacKinnon chipped in with two assists.

Jonathan Oligny had the lone goal for the Voltigeurs.

Zachery Fucale, Halifax, made 19 saves. Domenic Graham, Drummondville, made 23 saves in the loss.

The first game to see extra action Friday night was the Val-d'Or Foreurs edging the Gatineau Olympiques 3-2 in a shootout.

Michael Beaudry and Benjamin Casavant scored in regulation for the Foreurs. Christian Ouellet had both goals for the Olympiques, and added the shootout winner.

Francois Tremblay made 23 saves in the win as Francois Lacerte took the loss with 31 saves.

The second game to see extra action was the Shawinigan Cataractes beating the Chicoutimi Sagueneens 4-3 in overtime.

Michael Bournival (2-0) scored 28 seconds into the extra frame to give the Cataractes the extra point. Also scoring for Shawinigan were Kirill Kabanov and Anton Zlobin. Scoring for Chicoutimi were Charles Hudon (1-2), Guillaume Asselin(1-1) and Mikael Beauregard.

Alex Dubeau made 31 saves for Shawinigan and Christopher Gibson stopped 24.

The last game on the night was the Quebec Remparts beating the Rimouski Oceanic 4-3.

Remparts had goals from Mikhail Grigorenko (1-1), Alexandre Comtois, Owen Werthner and Vincent Montreuil. Louis Domingue made 36 saves.

Rimouski had goals from Jakub Culek (1-2), Francis Beauvillier and Alexis Loiseau. Jacob Gervais-Chouinard made 20 saves.