Big man on the big stage
Maveric Lamoureux would stand out in a crowd no matter the circumstances. At 6’7”, the first shift he took in the QMJHL for the Drummondville Voltigeurs, the club who selected him 12th overall in 2020, made him one of the tallest players in league history.
But it his ability to play a game not generally associated with someone of his size that sets him apart.
“His stature is evident but what impressed me the most was his ability to skate at that size,” Voltigeurs’ Head Coach Sylvain Favreau points out. “His overall skills and abilities with the puck are very strong. He’s great at creating time and space for himself and creating separation. He can make that quick deception move.”
Favreau was certainly aware of the hulking rearguard, particularly after his selection by the Arizona Coyotes with the 29th pick of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. But being around him every day in his first year behind the bench in Drummondville has given the coach a whole new appreciation for what Lamoureux brings to the rink, both on ice and off.
“As a person, he always has a smile on his face,” Favreau says. “He’s ready to work and really, he’s just a good kid to be around. It’s great to see him take center stage at the [World Juniors] tournament.”
Photo : Matt Zambonin/IIHF
Indeed, from the moment the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship began on Boxing Day in Gothenburg, Sweden, it was a rare sight to see Lamoureux on a video screen without a grin seemingly as wide as his wingspan. And why not? Now that his adventures with Team Canada have concluded, he’ll slip back into another red, white and black sweater in Drummondvile, where the Voltigeurs have gone from turmoil last year to tremendous this season, challenging the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies for top spot in the Western Conference.
Lamoureux, who lost half a season to shoulder surgery in 2022-23, has progressed nicely over the past three seasons and has excelled in all three zones, posting 27 points in 25 games before taking flight for Europe.
Besides being a difference maker in both Drummondville and Gothenburg, Lamoureux represents something else in the wider hockey world – one of three blueliners from the QMJHL on this year’s edition of the Canadian U20 squad (an illness that befell for Gatineau rearguard Tristan Luneau prevented it from being four). Is there any secret behind this glut of ‘Q’ defensemen?
“It’s two-fold,” says Favreau, who also played a large hand in the development of Team Canada members Jake Furlong, Jordan Dumais and Mathis Rousseau from his time with the Halifax Mooseheads. “It’s not only the head coaches but the assistants that are working more with players positionally. It just shows the amount of work that goes into our league. I look at a guy like (Voltigeurs’ Assistant Coach) Mathieu Gravel, who has been with Maveric the last two years and a guy like Brad MacKenzie, who’s worked with Jake Furlong in Halifax, and it’s evident there’s a lot of good people working in this league.”
It’s a labour of love, to be sure. And it’s one that has helped put Maveric Lamoureux – the big guy with the big smile on the big stage – on the map.
Photo : Matt Zambonin/IIHF
