Team overview of the West Division
West Division: Who will come out on top?
The 2014-15 season is shaping up to be an exciting one in the QMJHL. A handful of teams may end up battling it out for the top spot, making predicting which one will rise up that much trickier. The action will be fierce and all teams will be looking to fly out of the gate to get a leg up on their rivals and pile up the early points that could make the difference at the end of the year.
“I’m expecting this to be a battle with all the teams in the division,” predicts Drummonville head coach Martin Raymond. “I think it’s anyone’s guess which team will finish first. Every team will be competitive.”
Raymond isn’t alone in his preseason assessment of the wild, wild west this season.
“I believe six teams have a lot of potential,” agrees Val-d’Or bench boss, Mario Durocher. “Our division is weaker than last season, but it will be much tighter overall. It will be a nice race for the division crown.”
Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
The Armada’s offence got quite a facelift this offseason. The team was forced to make a decision on their 20-year-old players and opted to cut ties with Christopher Clapperton, Samuel Hodhod and Marc-Olivier Roy. In their place will be three upstart 16-year-old forwards: Miguel Picard, Alexander Katerinakis and Tyler Holland who were the team’s top three picks at this year’s QMJHL Draft. All signs point to them getting the necessary ice time to develop their skills.
“We have a lot of new players this year and we want to maintain the same philosophy,” says head coach, Joël Bouchard. “The goal is to individually improve through collective effort. That has always been the key for us.
“And we want to win,” he adds. “Whether it’s a preseason game or a playoff Game 7, we want to win.”
In its inaugural season back in 2011-12, the Armada was able to count on the likes of would-be star rookies Christopher Clapperton (17), Cédric Paquette (18) and Marc-Olivier Roy (17) who all wasted little time making a name for themselves. Heading into the new season, the Armada bench boss isn’t sure if his franchise will catch lightning in a bottle for the second time.
“Those players had so much maturity. You never know and it’s a long season,” recalls Bouchard. “A few guys had forced our hand.”
The Lower-Laurentians squad does still count a few veterans on the blue line. Now 20 himself, captain Daniel Walcott will lead the team with some help from Dominic Talbot-Tassi as well as Guillaume Beaudoin and Nathanael Halbert who will be in their sophomore seasons.
Between the pipes, the Armada will no longer be able to rely on Etienne Marcoux who has completed his time in the junior ranks. The reins will be handed to Samuel Montembeault who saw action in 15 games last year and he will be backed up by Marc-Antoine Turcotte who finally cracked the lineup in his third training camp.
“In Samuel’s case, it will be up to him to perform,” says Bouchard. “At practice we will work with both goalies equally.”
Drummondville Voltigeurs
Led by head coach Martin Raymond, the Voltigeurs will be looking to continue to develop the team identity that was put in place last season. With several new faces in the fold, Raymond is hoping his young players carry on with their growth in his second season behind the Drummondville bench.
“We have 10 new players this season. It’s a fresh start and a chance to continue what we tried to institute last year,” he explains. “We will be focusing on our young players.”
Rookies Alexandre Barré-Boulet, Mathieu Sévigny and Michael Carcone all looked good in preseason as did 19-year-old winger Marc-Antoine Bouillon, who has all of one QMJHL game under his belt. According to Raymond, patience will be a virtue in Drummondville this coming season.
“With so many new players who don’t know the league, it’s going to talk some time and patience,” warns Raymond. “The 16-20 year-old bracket is a young group which is early in the career of a player.”
With the return of solid veterans like Georgs Golovkovs, Christophe Lalancette, Joey Ratelle, Jérôme Verrier and defenceman Charles-David Beaudoin, their head coach is hoping to assemble better line combinations.
“The preseason is helpful as we learn more about our players. Like every year, we’re looking for the best chemistry and to determine which situations we can best put them in,” says Raymond. “We aim to put them in a position where they can enjoy the most success and build the most confidence. All players have strengths and weaknesses and you want to exploit their strengths.”
Raymond is hopeful his young lineup will be up to the task of limiting their opponents’ scoring chances this season and that his goalie tandem of Louis-Philip Guindon and Joe Fleschler will be able to slam the door.
“They will be reassuring to our young players and a real asset to us,” adds Raymond. “We think Joe will be able to become one of the better backup goaltender in the league after what we saw from him last season.”
Gatineau Olympiques
The Gatineau Olympiques were busy this offseason, adding a pair of President’s Cup champs to the mix with Benoit Groulx reaching out for Louick Marcotte and Phil Pietroniro from the Val-d’Or Foreurs. The two new arrivals will take up two of the three designated spots for 20-year-olds, with Mickaël Beauregard taking up the other.
On the other hand, Gatineau bid farewell to vets Taylor Burke and Vincent Dunn in exchange for draft picks. If you factor in the departures of Emile Poirier and Martin Reway, the Olympiques are now without their four top point-getters from a year ago. Louick Marcotte and Vaclav Karabacek will now be the ones expected to provide the offensive spark.
The Olympics will be able to count on the veteran presence of Mickaël Beauregard, Élie Bérubé, Alexandre Carrier and Marc-Olivier Crevier Mortin on their experienced blue line.
Gatineau fans at the Robert-Guertin Centre can also look forward to watching the progression of the team’s 2014 top picks Pascal Laberge and Matt Sartoris.
Anthony Brodeur will now get the chance to enjoy the team’s crease to himself after the 19-year-old shared duties with Robert Steeves last season.
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are a team built from the blue line out with such veterans as Redgie Bois, Allan Caron and Justin Guenette. The Huskies have also welcomed their latest top pick, Jacob Neveu and Russian import Danil Dolgushkin.
“We really have a good mix with three experienced defencemen to go along with some good young players,” says head coach Gilles Bouchard. “These are all talented players.”
Much of their success will hinge on goalie and Minnesota Wild prospect Alexandre Belanger who is entering his fourth season in junior and his third as the starter in Rouyn-Noranda.
“Our goalie will play an important role for us,” says his head coach. “Now at 19 years old, this is a big season for him.”
Bouchard has seen his team lose some serious firepower from last season, including Marcus Power, Jean-Sébastien Dea and Francis Beauvillier who combined for 215 points a season ago for the Huskies. It will now be up to Francis Perron and Julien Nantel to pick up the slack as Bouchard knows he’s lost some offence, but is looking to focus on team play this season.
“We know we are going to have to be patient. We can’t put too much pressure and we will need more depth than ever,” suggests Bouchard. “Last year, we would win games on talent, but not always with overall team play and effort.”
With eight players on the roster who are 17-year-olds, Bouchard and his staff have asked for one main thing from their team: to compete every day.
Sherbrooke Phoenix
Now in its third season of existence, the Phoenix is anxious to shed its tag as an expansion team. The pride of the Eastern Townships missed the playoffs last season and is looking forward to being in the thick of the playoff picture and reaching the postseason in 2014-15.
“We’re a much different team than a year ago. Today we’re aiming to be in the middle of the pack and taking things a game at a time from there,” says head coach Judes Vallée. “We’re going to make that our focus.”
Sherbrooke GM Patrick Charbonneau filled his summer time shopping cart with veterans, namely Aaron Hoyles, Raphaël Lafontaine and Liam O’Brien. Former Sags prospect David Storto was also acquired, with the 19-year-old coming off a two-year stint south of the border.
Head coach Judes Vallée’s lineup will also boast one of the province’s hottest prospects looking ahead to next year’s NHL Draft. Defenceman Jeremy Roy turned his share of heads as a 16-year-old last season and will aim to do more of the same this year. Despite his young age, his head coach already sees him as an emerging leader.
“He’s a young player who excels both offensively and defensively. It’s brilliant to watch out there,” describes his coach. “We have big plans for him and we hope he continues what he started last season. I’m convinced he will once again be very good because he has the right attitude.”
Rookies Thomas Grégoire and Mikaël Sabourin also managed to crack the Sherbrooke blue line corps.
Up front, Vallée expects to have four lines that are ready to compete and he wants his players to be alert and ready for anything.
“We have four balanced lines this year. That will help bring a little more energy to a player like Daniel Audette who I may have overplayed last year,” explains Vallée. “I don’t expect to really have a fourth line but more like a pair of third lines.”
Fresh from being acquired from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, goalie Alex Bureau will work in tandem with Evan Fitzpatrick, who was the Phoenix’s top pick at the last QMJHL Draft.
Val-d’Or Foreurs
The reigning President’s Cup champion Foreurs hardly lost any key players this offseason. A whopping total of 14 returning players from last year their combined experience will help make Val-d’Or once again a team to be reckoned with in 2014-15.
A year ago, head coach Mario Durocher was worried about where his team’s offence would come from and was hopeful his blue line would ship in on that front. In the end, Anthony Mantha, Louick Marcotte and Guillaume Gélinas led the way for the Foreurs who went on to lead the league in goals scored.
“This season, I’m much more comfortable with our offence and I think it’s instead going to be up to my forwards to help out our defence,” says Durocher who boasts a roster loaded with 18-year-olds. “Offensively I’m not very worried, but we’re quite young on defence.”
Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, Anthony Beauregard and Anthony Richard will make-up the team’s new top line for the Foreurs.
“Last year they were our second line and they did a great job together as a unit,” recalls Durocher. “Today, they’re hungry and looking forward to being the No. 1 line.”
The Foreurs’ bench boss expects to begin the season with eight defencemen and from those he will decide on his top four. Few 19 or 20 year olds will be among them but young vets like Olivier Galipeau and Kevin Larouche did learn a lot from their team’s deep playoff run last spring. They also now count among them Vincent Lanoue, who has a complete season with the Remparts under his belt.
After backing up Antoine Bibeau last season, Keven Bouchard is now the man in Val-d’Or. He will be spotted by rookie Etienne Monpetit, who won the Jimmy-Ferrari Cup with the Chateauguay Grenadiers.
