QUEBEC CITY P.Q.— While the NHL is about to kick off next week their regular season action. The QMJHL has already seen two weeks worth of action. Three teams cumulated eight points. The Drummondville Voltigeurs were in first in the overall standings due to the number of goals scored (22) and allowing only five against, followed by the Gatineau Olympique and Saint John Sea Dogs. The Quebec Remparts (3w-0L- 1OTL) and Lewiston MAINEiacs (3W-1L-0OTL) had seven points each while the Halifax Mooseheads are still waiting on their first victory of the season. On September 21st, the Drummondville Voltigeurs and the Prince Edward Island Rockets made an important trade. The Rockets acquired veteran goaltender Marco Cousineau from Drummondville in return the Voltigeurs received a first round pick in 2011. The veteran netminder played a key role in helping Drummondville win the President’s Trophy last year with a record of 13-3 with a 2.44 GAA and a .910 save percentage. He also earned the Memorial Hap Emms Trophy as the 2009 Master Card Memorial Cup Tournament’s most outstanding goaltender. Today we take a look at the goings on in the Telus Western Division Gatineau Olympiques: Alexandre Quesnel and Joshua Domingues will have the tough task of showing leadership on and off the ice. Besides both right wingers, Gatineau head coach Jerome Dupont should be able to count on six players age 19, four of them are forwards Ty McGinn, Nicolas Boyer, Thomas Middup and Alexandre Touchette. Steven Delisle and Hugo Laporte will provide help on the blueline. Tye McGinn is the top points leader for Jerome Dupont’s team with seven points (3g-4a) in four games. Olympiques goaltender Maxime Clermont earned the distinction of being nominated the best defensive player-of-the-week in the QMJHL. Gatineau won both of their two games on the road defeating Rouyn-Noranda 3-2 and Val d’Or 3-0. Montreal Junior: The team ended the week with a .500 record (two wins two loses) after four games. Trevor Parkes (5g-1a) and Nicolas Chouinard (2g-3a) are the teams scoring leaders. As of this article, Montreal played without their number one netminder, Jake Allen, who is still in camp with the St. Louis Blues. Etienne Marcoux and Jean-Francois Berube have split time in net. Guillaume Asselin, the Montreal Junior 2008 first round pick, will certainly be a player to watch. Last year with the team he ended the season with 37 points in 67 games. Defensively Pascal Vincent’s team will have to count on Hubert Genest and Alex Wall. Montreal’s 2009 first round pick, 14th overall, Xavier Ouellet earned a spot on defense and already has four points (4a) as a 16-year old. It will be interesting to see the young defenseman’s progression. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies: The team has already played five games (2W-3L) and rank third in their division. Philippe Cornet, a former member of the Rimouski Oceanic, is the teams scoring leader with six points (4g-2a) in only three games. He recently returned from the Edmonton Oilers training camp. Edmonton’s fifth round selection in 2008 will be an important part of the Huskies offensive puzzle. Gabriel Levesque, Jeff Desjardins, and Michael Beaudry will also play an important role offensively. On defense, Nicolas Deslauriers, the third round selection of the Los Angeles Kings in 2009, will be the go to guy on offense from the blueline. Between the pipes, Michael Audette and Jessy Lecours will be in charge of preventing the puck from crossing the red line. Val d’Or Foreurs: One of two teams excluded from last year’s playoff run, the teams new head coach, Marc-Andre Dumont, will have a tough task ahead of him in trying to replace former General Manager and head coach Eric Lavigne. Some new additions to the team are Mario Carriere and Simon Lacroix on defense. Both will certainly be counted on heavily. To be successful in 2009-10, goaltender Rafaele D’orso will have to be strong in net. Offensively, the Foreurs are led by Jonathan Hazen, Samuel Morneau, Keven Guerette-Charland and Maxime Sauve who did very well at the Boston Bruins training camp. Fans around the league will certainly keep their eyes on two young 16-year olds: Olivier Archambault and Jean-Francois Leblanc. It will be interesting to follow the progression of Foreurs’ top two Europeans players, Jakub Slahar and Aliaksandr Famin, who respectively had four and three points after first five games. Contact serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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