Veteran report to Quebec training camp

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Back from a rookie round-robin tournament involving Baie-Comeau, Chicoutimi and Rimouski, the organization welcomed veteran players on Sunday.

Quebec Remparts rookie center and first round pick (17 white) Andrew Coxhead photo by Serge Poulin

Coming back to Quebec after playing three exhibition games in the tournament between last Thursday and Saturday, veteran players stepped on the ice for the first time Sunday joining their rookie teammates.

Mixing rookie players with veteran in a traditional Red against White game the final score wasn’t really important, but for Quebec head coach Philippe Boucher he seemed to like what he saw from several rookies.

Playing for G.C.K Zurish Lions in the Elite Junior A last year, the 6’2”, 17-2 pound center Philipp Kurashev played a solid game on Sunday afternoon with his two linemates Igor Larionov and Louis-Philip Cote.

“He played well,” Boucher said. “I like the way he sees the game, his comprehension of the game. Defensively, I don’t think it will be a challenge for him. I told you briefly earlier, his comprehension and his defensive game won’t be a problem for him. I like the way he does on the face-off, his positioning on the ice is good.”

Quebec Remparts left winger Matthew Pietroniro (13 white) photo by Serge Poulin

“He set up several players today for scoring opportunities, continued Boucher talking about Kurashev. I don’t want to compare him to Timashov who has been really good for us, but as you know Timashov had the ability to make other player around him better. I think he get the same kind of ability.

Another rookie who seemed to get the attention of Quebec head coach was Michael Kesselring. Coming from New Hampton School the 6’2”, 155-pound defenseman is supposed to be at the Quebec training camp for 48 hours to keep his college eligibility. But as Remparts head coach Boucher said, “I talked with his dad already and we will talk again today, but yes he did pretty well too.”

Quebec came back from the tounament with a 1-3 record.

Quebec Remparts center rokkie Justin Ducharme (19 red) scores two goals in Red against whyte game on Sunday afternoon exhibition game

Opening the tournament on August 18 playing Baie-Comeau, Quebec had a 4-1 lead in the game but needed the shootout before signing 7-6 win after seeing the Drakkar rookie coming back in last five minutes of the game playing three against three in last five minutes of the game as the tournament rule specified.

On Friday Quebec faced-off against Rimouski losing in overtime 1-0. On Saturday, Quebec played against Chicoutimi losing 4-2, after allowing three goals in three minutes on the first three shots.

Back to Quebec the Remparts head coach Philippe Boucher announced first players who got the bad news on leaving training camp; forwards Jeremy Gauthier, Ismael Prudent, Marc-Olivier Lantin, Guillaume St-Pierre and Alexandre Larose. Defensemen Alec Richer and Dakotah Woods got the same news.