Habs in Waiting: Eye on the ‘Q’

Kathy K

14 years ago

MONTREAL, Q.C.–With all the excitement centred around the NHL Faceoff (and coming with it, of course, the NHL Centre Ice free preview enjoyed by many of your resident All Habs bloggers, which is no doubt my favourite part of the weekend), the AHL season kicked off as well. However, disappointment ensued with the realization that the Hamilton Bulldogs are only slated to play their first game this Friday, October 15th.

The good news for you guys is there’s another little league I follow that’s right here in Quebec, and with that, here’s just a little look at the weekend enjoyed by some of the Habs-to-be :

Philippe Lefebvre and Louis Leblanc celebrate a goal with captain Nicolas Chouinard. Photo credit: 24h

The Montreal Juniors went on their yearly Atlantic roadtrip this weekend, featured in three back-to-back games against the Halifax Mooseheads, Moncton Wildcats and Saint John Sea Dogs respectively. They came away with three out of a possible six points, winning 5-3 in Halifax (where they did not face Peter Delmas, who is at last check still away at Bulldogs’ camp) while coming out on the wrong end of a shootout, 3-2, the following day against the Cats. They concluded their weekend with a 5-2 loss against a tough opponent in the Sea Dogs, who had to have been extra-motivated coming off their own loss at the Verdun Auditorium a couple of weeks prior to the rematch.

A certain Habs’ first round pick of 2009 did open the scoring in that game, however, pouncing on a rebound for his fourth goal this season. Louis Leblanc was assisted on that goal by Philippe Lefebvre, who had an interesting start to his weekend in recording a Gordie Howe hat trick, of all things, against the Mooseheads (for someone that’s seen Lefebvre play since his exit from Midget AAA, one of those three elements is more than a little hard to imagine!). Lefebvre, for his part, finished with two goals and three assists for his share of the Juniors’ roadtrip. Leblanc picked up a goal and an assist, adding 5 hits and a +2 rating.

A couple of faces seen over the summer at Brossard also fared well in their contests, with Voltigeur Jonathan Brunelle grabbing an assist en route to a 3-1 win at Chicoutimi’s expense, while goaltender Nicolas Champion of Lewiston made 16 of 18 stops in a 7-2 MAINEiacs’ win over Victoriaville.

The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles had two games over the weekend, a 3-2 shootout loss against the Val d’Or Foreurs and a 4-2 loss against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Captain and Habs’ prospect Morgan Ellis tallied a goal in the first game and an assist in the second. On tab for them this upcoming week is a head-to-head against those same Huskies on Thursday (this time at Centre 200), the Rimouski Oceanic on Friday, wrapping up with an afternoon contest featuring the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday.

Anyone wanting to check out some Voltigeurs’ action can do so this Friday against Val d’Or and Sunday featuring Gatineau. Meanwhile, Lewiston faces off at home against Chicoutimi Sagueneens this Wednesday night before heading off to Baie Comeau for two back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday. For their part, the Juniors play the Sagueneens on Friday and Val d’Or on Sunday. Both games will be at the Verdun Auditorium, at 7:05 and 3:05 respectively.