It’s been an up-and-down season for goaltender François Brassard since returning to the QMJHL from Buffalo Sabres training camp in September. On Saturday, he had what may turn out to be the highlight of his season, as he became the fourth goalie in the QMJHL to score a goal. The Screaming Eagles beating the Québec Remparts 7-5 and Quebec had its goalie pulled while on the power play late in the third. The Remparts dumped the puck behind the net, where Brassard stopped it in the trapezoid before banking it off the glass. It bounced past Remparts forward Adam Erne and continued all the way into the open cage. It was a busy night for Brassard as he faced 38 shots from the Remparts, turning away 33.
He’s the first goalie to score a goal since Dec. 6, 2008 when Peter Delmas of the Lewiston Maineiacs and Maxime Gougeon of the Rimouski Océanic happened to score goals on the same day. The first goalie to score was Antoine Lafleur for the P.E.I. Rocket on Sept. 25, 2005.
Brassard, now in his fourth Q season, was acquired from Québec by Cape Breton in the off-season. He was originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the sixth-round in 2012. He never signed with the team and was invited to Buffalo Sabres camp this past fall. After three seasons with a winning record, Brassard has six wins and 14 losses in 22 games this season. His GAA of 3.76 and save percentage of .873 are also career-worst numbers.
With players headed to the world junior championship and the trade period approaching, there has been lots of activity in the QMJHL. Here’s what you need to know from around the league this week:
Maritimes Division
Timo Meier led the Halifax Mooseheads to four points this week with Nikolaj Ehlers (Denmark) and goalie Zachary Fucale (Canada) already gone for the world juniors. Defencemen Matt Murphy scored two goals late in the third period to level the score in a game against Québec. Meier scored the only goal in the shootout, completing the comeback. Two nights later, Meier scored the overtime winner against Acadie-Bathurst in a 5-4 win. Meier will leave for Swiss world junior camp this week.
There’s a good chance Matt Murphy and other Mooseheads will be moved this week as the trade period opens. He was a healthy scratch against Acadie-Bathurst.
Moncton Wildcats sophomore Will Smith was suspended for five games for a kneeing incident. The left-winger has nine goals and eight assists on the season.
East Division
Daniel Frechette is the new GM of the the Victoriaville Tigres, replacing Yannick Jean who recently left the team for a head coaching job with division rival Chicoutimi. Frechette previously was the team’s goaltending coach and has been with the franchise since 2008-09.
The Saguenéens have been a completely different team since cleaning house and bringing in Jean as coach, winning six games in a row. Goals have been few and far between this season for Chicoutimi, but they were bountiful this week as they beat Charlottetown 8-5 and Victoriaville, Jean’s former team, 7-2. The team has now won six games in a row. Two players had Gordie Howe hat tricks against Charlottetown. Alexandre Ranger had four goals, an assist and dropped the mitts. Defenceman Brian Lovell also dropped the gloves and scored his second and third goals of the season. In his previous two seasons, Lovell only scored two goals in 81 games.
It was a rough road swing through the Maritimes for the Québec Remparts last week. In their only East Coast trip this season, the Remparts lost all three games, only picking up one of a possible six points. First they were blanked by Moncton 4-0. Next, they lost 4-3 in a shootout against Halifax after leading the game 3-1 late in the third period. Finally, they were on the receiving end of Cape Breton’s highest scoring game of the season, losing 8-5. The recently acquired Vladimir Tkachev had two goals and two assists against Cape Breton, his third game since being picked up from Moncton last week.
Frédérik Gauthier had a goal and an assist while Samuel Morin had an assist in Rimouski’s 7-2 win over Sherbrooke on Wednesday. It was the two players’ last game before heading to the world juniors for Team Canada. Rimouski won 6-3 against Gatineau then lost 5-2 against Charlottetown in their absence.
West Division
For the second time this season, the Sherbrooke Phoenix have acquired a 20-year-old from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Cameron Darcy, the Cape Breton’s leading scorer last season, couldn’t get his game going this year and was pushed off the roster last week when the Screaming Eagles acquired 20-year-old Marcus Hind. The Phoenix acquired Darcy for a fourth-round pick in 2017. Earlier this season, Charles-Eric Lagare was traded to Sherbrooke for a 2015 third-round pick and a 2016 sixth-round pick. The Phoenix now have four 20-year-olds meaning one will be moved or will be a healthy scratch.
Phoenix center Daniel Audette, a fifth-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, was suspended two games for pulling the hair of Simon Bourque during a fight in a 7-2 loss to Rimouski. Audette is third in team scoring with 36 points. He has served the suspension and will return to the lineup Thursday. The team will need his scoring prowess as its top two players, Kay Schweri and Tim Wieser, will be gone to the world juniors with Switzerland.
Rookie Gean-Christophe Beaudin had an impressive week, picking up a goal in both of Rouyn-Noranda Huskies’ wins. He added two assists for three points in a 5-1 win over Saint John. The 6-foot-1, 181-lb. centre was a fourth-round pick by the Huskies in the 2013 draft. For the season he has six goals and 27 points in 34 games.
Three Stars
Alexandre Ranger, RW, Chicoutimi Saguenéens Ranger did a little bit of everything this week. Against Charlottetown, he picked up four goals and a Gordie Howe hat trick in an 8-5 win. The next night he had another two assists in a 7-2 win. The 5-foot-9, 184-lb. winger missed the first half of November and finished the month with two assists. Through five games in December, he has six goals and five assists.
Alexandre Bélanger, G, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies The Minnesota Wild prospect was on the winning end of two games against division-leading teams this week. First, he turned aside 30 of 31 shots from the Maritimes Division-leading Saint John Sea Dogs. The next night, he had 27 saves in a 3-2 shootout win against division leaders Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.
Conor Garland, RW, Moncton Wildcats For the past few weeks, Conor Garland and Rimouski forward Alexis Loiseau have been putting up similar points and once again head into the week tied for tops in the QMJHL with 58. Last week, Garland had two goals and six points. One of those goals was a shorthanded goal with less than a minute to play to tie up Moncton’s game against Acadie-Bathurst. He then picked up an assist on Ivan Barbashev’s overtime winner and opened up the scoring in a 4-0 shutout of Québec.
2015 World Junior Championship Watch
Québec Remparts forward Anthony Duclair made the New York Rangers out of training camp and has yet to play in the QMJHL this season. He was loaned by the Rangers to team Canada for the world juniors. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to him after the tournament. He has been a healthy scratch for the Rangers in recent games but the NHL club may hold onto him if they run into injuries or don’t think a return to the QMJHL will help his development.
It was a rough week for the Filip Chlapik-less Charlottetown Islanders as they dropped their first two games without their leading scorer who will play for the Czech Republic. They did pick up a win Sunday against the Rimouski Océanic, who are missing Team Canada players Samuel Morin and Frédérick Gauthier.
2015 NHL Draft Watch
Daniel Sprong, RW, Charlottetown Islanders Potential first-rounder Daniel Sprong scored two goals against Rimouski on Sunday. It capped off a week in which he scored three goals and added two assists in three games. The 6-foot, 192-lb. winger has 38 points in 35 games.
Bradley Lalonde, D, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles The 6-foot, 196-lb. defenceman scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season this week. Now in his second campaign in the league, Lalonde has matched his goal total from last season and has passed his rookie total of 15 points as he has 18 points in 33 games. He’s a potential late-round pick in the upcoming draft.
Yakov Trenin, LW, Gatineau Olympiques Has missed all of of December after breaking a finger while blocking a shot. He’s still fifth in rookie scoring with nine goals and 23 assists for 32 points in 28 games. The 6-foot-2, 179-lb. Russian forward was selected in the first round of the European import draft in 2014. He’s a potential second-round draft pick in the upcoming NHL draft. The broken finger has severely damaged his chances of making the Russian world junior squad.