Summer Spotlight
By Bill Keefe
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Bay State natives and Moncton Wildcats teammates Keith Yandle and Adam Pineault prepare for Canada’s Memorial Cup, junior hockey’s crown jewel.
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Combine the Frozen Four with the Super Bowl and that’s the Memorial Cup in Canada.
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Yes, the Frozen Four is televised nationally by ESPN, but the Memorial Cup – the championship of Canadian major junior hockey – is watched nationally. Things come to a halt in Canada for the Memorial Cup, like they do in the States for the Super Bowl.
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This year, the QMJHL President’s Cup champion Moncton Wildcats are the hosts and they have their logo on the Bud Light cans to prove it. The tournament starts Friday, May 19, and runs through Saturday, May 27.
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In the midst of the hoopla will be at two Massachusetts natives in Keith Yandle (Milton) and Adam Pineault (Holyoke), teammates on the Wildcats, who gain automatic entry in the four-team tournament as the host. The other three teams are the champions of the Western Hockey League (Vancouver Giants) and Ontario Hockey League (Peterborough Petes), and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League runner-up Quebec.
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The Remparts, who lost a six-game series to Moncton for the President’s Cup, also have a Bay State flavor. Joey Ryan (Milton, Mass.), Jordan LaVallee (Westboro, Mass.), Andrew Andricopoulos (Beverly, Mass.) and Todd Chinova (Stratford, Conn.) all skate for Patrick Roy’s club.
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Adding another tie to the region, Boston Bruins 2004 draft pick Martins Karsums (the Guy Lafleur Award winner as MVP of the President’s Cup series) is a key component for Moncton.
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After finishing at Cushing last spring, Yandle was the subject of much speculation. Was he going to UNH, Maine or Moncton?
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“That was my main goal, to play with my brother (Brian at UNH), but I couldn’t dwell on that,” said Yandle, the Phoenix Coyotes’ fourth-round selection in 2005. “I kind of kept on going. I knew something was going to happen.”
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He ultimately decided on Moncton and his choice couldn’t have worked out better.
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Yandle was named a first-team league all-star and earned both the top defenseman award and the defensive player of the year award for his gaudy line of 25 goals and 59 assists for 84 points (most among all defenseman) and a plus-50 rating (sixth-best among all players). All of Yandle’s offensive numbers were team records for a defenseman.
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Asked which number meant more, his point total or plus/minus, Yandle said, “Maybe my plus-minus. People might have thought of me as a defensive liability. They knew I could play the offensive role and now they see my plus/minus and they might realize I’m more of a two-way defenseman.”
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Led by former NHL Coach of the Year Ted Nolan, the Wildcats have prepped for the Memorial Cup all year. They’ve been able to scout more than other teams because of both resources and their automatic berth. And the entire city has been preparing as well for the fan fest, family fest, awards banquet, celebrity golf tournaments and numerous other activities.
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“I didn’t really know much about the Memorial Cup about how big it is,” Yandle said. “It’s like playing in the Frozen Four for kids in the U.S.; that’s what Canadian kids dream about. It’s going to be a great opportunity with tons of people and lots of scouts.”
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Yandle could’ve returned to Moncton as a 20-yea-old next year, but he signed a pro contract with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes and should be ready to take the next step. The scenario is exactly the same for Pineault, whom the Columbus Blue Jackets chose in the second round of the 2004 draft and signed to a contract last fall. This season he posted 29-30-59 in 55 for Moncton, which enjoyed its best season in its 10-year history with 52 wins, average attendance of 5,800.
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Pineault credited both the leadership among the players and by Nolan for much of the success.
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“He’s a coach that knows a lot,” said Pineault. “You listen to him and feed off him. He’s a great role model and coach to look up to. He’s intense, but he has his ways about it. Everything he does has us focused on being a better team. He does nothing to hurt us, just to improve us. You make a mistake, he looks at it as a learning experience and kind of moves on.”
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rBill Keefe can be reached at [email protected].