QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Besides the QMJHL pre-season schedule that will end today with a game between the Moncton Wildcats and the Saint John Sea Dogs, there is other news to consider from around the league.
In his last pre-season game before opening their regular season (September 9th against Victoriaville Tigres), the Quebec Remparts went to Ottawa to face the 67’s in the only QMJHL- OHL confrontation.
Quebec came out on the losing end 3- 2 in what was a great exhibition game. What was supposed to be a friendly confrontation between the two teams became a battle between two leagues. Friendship didn’t last long on the ice.
Fans in the stand, 4609, had the chance to see, great checks, goals, and saves by both goaltenders and fights. At the end, the Ottawa fans saw their favorites coming on top in what looked like a game that had nothing to do with “exhibition”.
Quebec has had first great scoring chance in the game, but thanks to 67’s goaltender Ptr Mrazek who made key saves against Michael McNamee and Frederick Roy. On the other side, Ottawa won the battles along the boards.
Quebec scored the only goal of the middle frame breaking the ice during a power play. Russian right winger Michael Grigorenko scored his first of the night at 9:36 of the period..
After seeing their opponent take 26 shots and trailing by one after forty minutes, Ottawa replied, scoring the next three goals, taking a 3-1 lead in the first 7:00 of the third period.
Dalton Smith (1:16), Taylor Fielding (2:44) and Sean Monahan (6:07) scored their first of the OHL pre-season schedule. Grigorenko ended Quebec offensive for the night also with a man advantage at 11:14.
Elsewhere in the QMJHL, Jordan Kennedy has been the latest forward to get the bad news from the Gatineau Olympiques general manager and head coach Benoit Groulx on September 5th. Drafted in fourth round in 2011 from the Maritime Midget AAA, Kennedy will play for the Harrington College in the Junior AAA league.
If some player got the bad news from their coaches, it wasn’t the same for everyone. Chris Clarke, the new backup goaltender, received good news from Gatineau on August 23rd.
In an article published on Gatineau website, the young Halifax, Nova Scotia-native surprised the Olympiques coaching staff enough to earn a backup role to Francois Lacerte who will act as Gatineau number one netminder. Arriving in Gatineau as the odd-man out to compete against other candidates like Antoine Bibeau, Dylan Brind’Amour and Jason Puciarelli, Clarke earned his place on the team performing well when he had to.
Being unknown when he arrived at the Gatineau training camp seemed to help him, especially in his battle with what became his arch rival at the end, Bibeau.
“This factor helped me a little bit when I arrived, he start to admit. It was fun to know that there is no pressure on me. However, I put some on myself. I had to do it if I wanted to have a chance to make the team. It paid off,” Clarke said on the team web site.
Working extra hard and with lots of intensity, Clarke performed very well in his two games against the Blainville Boisbriand Armada on August 20th and 21st, making 18 saves out of 19 shots in a 2-0 loss on Saturday. On Sunday, Clarke came back with 15 saves on 16 shots in 30:01 minutes of play in a 4-3 win.
“I do not know if these two games made a difference, but I think they were a factor as to whether I had the skills to play at this level. I think it went well, despite my lack of experience,” Clarke said in the article that was also available on the QMJHL website.
In other news, the Halifax Mosseheads will begin their season without left winger Andrew Ryan for the next four to six weeks. That’s what the Mossheads’ general manager Cam Russell announced on September 1. The St-Johns Newfoundland-native injured his ankle (broken ankle) after he fell awkwardly on the ice of the Cole Harbour Place in a practice the day before.
The QMJHL hammered out a deal with new local sport channel that will be launch on September 12. In a QMJHL press release dated August 26th, TVA sports channel was proud to announce the signing of a major new agreement that is sure to please Canada’s hockey fans: an exclusive three year French language broadcast deal starting this fall with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), which also will include the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
According to the press release, viewers can expect an impressive programming roster since TVA sports has acquired the rights to all national CHL games played in Canada on Friday nights, including approximately five games featuring QMJHL teams.
TVA has also secured exclusive broadcast rights for the Mater Card Memorial Cup Tournament as well as the home Hardware CHL/NHL top prospects game. The station will air several Master Card Memorial Cup games, including the semi-final and the final. The Master Card Memorial Cup Tournament will be held in Shawinigan on May 18 to 27, 2012, while the Home Hardware CHL/NHL prospects game will be played in Kelowna British Columbia on February 1, 2012.
TVA sports will also present two games from the SUBWAYS super series pitting the QMJHL all-star team against an all-star roster from Russia. This will be the 9th edition of the series which will take place at le Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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