BMO CHL/NHL TOP PROSPECTS GAME
Times sure flies when you’re having fun. This year will already mark the 20th anniversary of the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game being played Thursday night in St. Catharines, ON.
Over the years, players representing the QMJHL have sparkled in this closely scrutinized game featuring the 40 best prospects from across the country ahead of the NHL Draft. In honour of this two decade edition of the event, here’s a look at the five biggest performances by our players on this big annual stage.
1996 – BRIÈRE SETS TWO RECORDS
Drummonville Voltigeurs star Daniel Brière wasted little time writing his name into this game’s record book by racking up four assists in the first-ever Top Prospects game back on Feb. 16, 1996. In that big 9-3 win by Team Cherry over Team Orr, Brière set the benchmark for most assists (4) and points (4) – two records that still stand to this day.
In that same game, Brière edged out the performance of François Methot (St-Hyacinthe Laser) who scored a goal and picked up a pair of assists and Jean-Pierre Dumont (Val-d’Or Foreurs) who potted a pair of goals.
Two of the markers set up by Brière came on the power-play, including the game’s opening goal by Chris Allen also assisted by Methot. Brière and Methot joined forces on Dumont’s first goal.
The eventual 24th overall pick by the Phoenix Coyotes at the 1996 NHL Draft, Brière also set up Dumont’s second goal a few minutes later, making them the two fastest goals scored by the same player (3:22) at the Top Prospect Game.
The centre from Gatineau ended his memorable 1995-96 season as the QMJHL’s top point-getter, was named Offensive player of the Year in addition to being tabbed the Humanitarian of the Year. Brière was then also named a second-team league all-star.
1997 – LUONGO STOPS THEM ALL
Roberto Luongo (VDO) enjoyed one of the greatest performances by a goalie in the history of the Top Prospects Game in the event’s second edition back in 1997 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. As the starter for Team Orr, Luongo faced goalie Pierre-Luc Therrien (DRU) at the other end of the rink, stopping 29 of 30 shots he faced to set an event record for most saves in a single game. Luongo then surrendered the crease to Jean-François Damphousse (Moncton Wildcats) who would also only allow a single goal in a 7-2 win for Team Orr.
A mere few months later, Luongo was picked fourth overall at the 1997 NHL Draft by the New York Islanders. That made Luongo the highest-chosen Quebec-born goalie at the Draft since Michel Plasse of the Drummondville Rangers was nabbed first overall by the Montreal Canadiens at the NHL’s Amateur Draft back in 1968.
1999 – OUELLET AS GOOD AS IT GETS
After allowing one goal midway through the second period and another early in the third, goalie Maxime Ouellet (Quebec Remparts) of Team Orr slammed the door on Team Cherry who fired 27 shots on him including 24 in the last frame alone. When the buzzer sounded, he had led his side to a 4-3 win at the Calgary Saddledome in February 1999.
In relief of starter Alex Auld, Ouellette ended up making the third-most saves in the event’s history. The Beauport, QC native then went on to lead the Remparts to their second Rougeau Trophy as regular season champs in 1998-99 before being drafted 22nd overall by the Philadelphia Flyers.
2002 – PIERRE-MARC BOUCHARD DOUBLES DOWN
As is so often the case at this explosive talent showcase, offence was on the menu in 2002 in Saskatoon with 11 goals being scored in 7-4 win for Team Tiger (Williams) over Team Hrudey.
Fireworks aside, the production was well spread out with Pierre-Marc Bouchard
(Chicoutimi Sagueneens) of Team Tiger emerging as the game’s top scorer with a pair of goals, tying him for that honour with opponent Joffrey Lupul who scored two of his own. Each of Bouchard’s goals broke the backs of the opposition, giving his team a two-goal cushion. His first put Team Tiger up 4-2 in the middle of the game, his other marker with just over two minutes to play put his side ahead to stay after Team Hrudey had pulled to within one goal early in the third period.
In June 2002, the Sherbrooke native went on to be chosen eighth overall by the Minnesota Wild at the NHL Draft.
2013 – DAUPHIN STEALS THE SHOW
In a game that featured a star-studded contingent from the QMJHL including the likes of Halifax’s Zachary Fucale, Jonathan Drouin and Nathan McKinnon, Samuel Morin and Frederik Gauthier of Rimouski, Anthony Mantha (VDO) as well as Quebec’s Anthony Duclair and Adam Erne, it was centreman Laurent Dauphin (CHI) who stood out in the lowest scoring Top Prospects game on record, a 3-0 Team Orr win over Team Cherry.
A first round pick of the Sags two years earlier, Dauphin wasn’t even named to the Top Prospects game initially and was only added a few days before the game when Medicine Hat’s Hunter Shinkaruk pulled up due to illness.
The Repentigny native made his presence felt from the start of the game, setting the table for Erne’s goal in the opening moments of the game. Dauphin then scored an unassisted goal in the second period that proved to be the insurance marker.
Selected as the game MVP on Team Orr thanks to his goal and assist, Dauphin would then go on to be a second round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes, 39th overall at the 2013 NHL Draft.
Other Top Prospect Game standouts from the QMJHL over the years also include Ruslan Bashkirov (QUE) who scored a pair of goals in 2007 in a 5-3 Burns-Bergeron win before his home fans at the Colisee Pepsi, David Gilbert (QUE) who also scored twice in 2009 in Oshawa in a 6-1 victory for Team Orr, and Jonathan Huberdeau (St. John Seadogs) who picked up a goal and an assist in a 7-1 Team Orr win at the the Air Canada Centre in 2011.
This year’s game will include no less than 14 players from the QMJHL and they will all get their chance to make their mark at the BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects game on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Puck drop at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, ON will be at 7:00 p.m. You can catch the action on Sportsnet or TVA Sports.
