All Habs Headlines: Monday October 3, 2011
Happy Birthday! NHL’er Bruno Gervais (27), Hall of Famers Jean Ratelle (71) and Glenn Hall (80):
►Quebec pre-season tour a success (for the Bulldogs, too!): After a 4-1 win over the Binghamton Senators in Victoriaville, the Hamilton Bulldogs entertained once again at Drummondville’s Centre Marcel Dionne with a thriller of a game that saw Brian Willsie score the winner with 18.9 seconds left in regulation, bringing the score to 4-3. Also scoring for the ‘Dogs was Philip DeSimone, Josh McFadden and Gabriel Dumont, who collected first-star honours in front of his former junior home crowd. Hamilton’s first regular season game is this Saturday October 8th, as they host the Rochester Americans at 7 p.m.
Read more: Bulldogs Down Senators 4-3 in Final Pre-Season Game
►Bournival, Archambault’s strong returns: Keeping in mind he’s only played in four Cataractes’ games thus far, Michaël Bournival scored his 8th and 9th goals of the season and added an assist in a 4-3 shootout win over the Quebec Remparts on Sunday afternoon. His first game back from Canadiens’ camp was immediately after being cut on Friday, where he only arrived moments before the game and led Shawinigan to a 7-2 win over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Meanwhile, Drummondville Voltigeurs’ forward Olivier Archambault was credited with the only goal in a 6-1 loss to the Rimouski Oceanic on Sunday. It was his second of the season, his first having also been on Friday in a 4-2 loss to the Memorial Cup champion Saint John Sea Dogs.
►Quailer suspended: Northeastern University forward and Canadiens’ prospect Steve Quailer will be absent for the Huskies’ season opener this Friday, having violated team rules last season under former coach Greg Cronin. He and teammate Cody Ferriero were both not in action Sunday afternoon for a pre-season matchup against St. Francis Xavier, and it is undetermined how long their suspensions will last. Northeastern faces the UMass Rivermen on Friday night at 7 p.m.
Read more: Northeastern suspends Ferriero, Quailer
►Blue Mountain retreat: The Montreal Canadiens travelled to Collingwood, Ontario on Sunday flying out of Quebec City and boarding a motor coach from Toronto to take them to the Blue Mountain resort. They will practise at the Eddie Bush arena and participate in team bonding sessions completing the final leg of training camp. For fans in the area, while practise sessions are not open to the public, an area outside the arena has been set aside for autograph-signing.
For a peek at where your Habs are staying the resort does feature webcams that refresh occasionally during the off-season.
►Lines from practise:
The Canadiens practised using the following alignments on Monday morning.
Forwards
Andrei Kostitsyn – Tomas Plekanec – Mike Cammalleri
Michael Bournival – Scott Gomez – Brian Gionta
Mathieu Darche – David Desharnais – Erik Cole
Yannick Weber – Andreas Engqvist – Aaron Palushaj
Defenseman
Hal Gill – P.K. Subban
Chris Campoli – Josh Gorges
Jaroslav Spacek – Raphael Diaz
Goaltenders
Carey Price
Peter Budaj
►Injury update:
Lars Eller is scheduled to meet with a doctor later this week in Toronto. It is unlikely that he will be ready for the season opener but he has not been ruled out at this point.
There has been no significant improvement in Ryan White‘s groin injury. He will miss the season opener.
Jacques Martin reports that Andrei Markov is progressing on schedule. The coach didn’t reveal the timetable for Markov’s return.
Chris Campoli practised with his teammates on Monday morning after receiving a headshot from Tampa Bay’s Ryan Malone in Saturday’s game. Coach Martin announced that Campoli was not experiencing concussion symptoms. It is surprising that the coach does not yet understand that symptoms may not appear until several days following the event.
►Business as usual at NHL: Reports suggest that NHL sheriff Brendan Shanahan will not levy any supplementary discipline for Ryan Malone‘s headshot that knocked Chris Campoli out of the game on Saturday night. Campoli, a member of the NHL Competition Committee is baffled and disappointed by the decision.