Our 18 | THREE QUESTIONS ON THE ROUYN-NORANDA HUSKIES
- Where will last year’s high octane offence land?
One of two teams to surpass the 300-goal mark in 2023-24, the Huskies now deal with the inevitable roster turnover that is part of the major junior cycle. But they’ll be doing so with last year’s scoring champion, Antonin Verreault, leading the charge. One of the players who should best benefit from Verreault’s puck distribution skills is electrifying third-year winger Bill Zonnon. He joins center Thomas Verdon and winger Benjamin Brunelle as returning forwards who will be relied upon to be difference makers on a Huskies squad that features a reduction in depth but some impressive parts at the top of the lineup nonetheless. Winger Lars Steiner comes to Rouyn-Noranda from Switzerland, where he was regarded as a driver on offense at all levels, mostly spent within the HC Davos program.
- What will the first full year of the Steve Hartley era bring?
This isn’t Hartley’s first rodeo. In fact, it’s more like his 11th after spending parts of ten campaigns with the Halifax Mooseheads and Drummondville Voltigeurs. A Memorial Cup Champion as an Assistant Coach with the 2013 Mooseheads and an accomplished Head Coach with the Voltigeurs, Hartley, who arrived in Rouyn-Noranda as a mid-season replacement behind the bench last season, has already developed a reputation for maximizing the potential of the teams he has led, most notably a Voltigeurs squad which stunned the league with a seventh-place finish in 2019-20, a season which was supposed to usher in a rebuild in Drummondville. This year’s Huskies pose a similar challenge. And with a relatively level playing field in the Western Conference, all bets should be off regarding what this group might be capable of with Hartley behind the bench.
- How will this team perform without the puck?
This might be not only the most intriguing question surrounding the Huskies, but the one that most greatly decides their final placement in the standings come March. With four newcomers on the backend, the focus will shift to a pair of returnees in Ty Higgins and Alex Carr to both stabilize matters in their own zone while launching the counterattack once in possession of the puck. Among those making their debuts on the blue line are Antoine St-Laurent, a reliable presence with last year’s Telus Cup Champion Magog Cantonniers and Harijs Cjunskis, a Latvian-born blueliner with offensive touch and leadership abilities who has spent the past five seasons developing in Switzerland with the Lugano program. Behind this crew is returnee Kyle Hagen, who takes over starting goaltender duties from William Rousseau. He’ll be backed up by 2023 second-rounder Samuel Meloche.
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2023-2024 Stats:
Team Record | 47-15-1-5 — 100 Pts |
Division Ranking | 1st West |
Overall Ranking | 3rd |
Goals For | 301 (2nd) |
Goals Against | 192 (4th) |
PP (Overall) | 25.0% (6th) |
PK (Overall) | 76.6% (11th) |
Leading Rookie (PTS) | Lemire (0-14-14) |
Leading Scorers (PTS) | Verreault (36-71-107) |
Loshko (28-39-67) | |
Langlois (17-45-62) | |
Bourash (24-35-59) | |
Zonnon (18-40-58) |