Inside the Numbers for Week 8

What a turnaround for the Chicoutimi Saguenéens: The club of the hour has 7 straight wins and is making their coach Yanick Jean one proud man. Undefeated in regulation time since September 12 for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, incredible! And let’s also have a look at the new way of playing overtime with a revealing chart.

3 on 3 Overtime

• October 30th –This week we compiled the data on games that had to go into overtime, being tied in score after 60 minutes of regulation play. This season overtime is being played 3 on 3 instead of the traditional 4 on 4 format that was in place for many seasons.
• The numbers tell the tale – It’s clear that games are ending more quickly now. Of the 27 matches so far this season that needed overtime, 70.4% have ended within the 5 minutes of 3 on 3. In 2014-2015 many more (57%) games went to the shootout, compared with this season’s 29.6%.

Overtime-Shootout
When are the games closing?
Season	Games	OT_Win	SO_Win
2015-16 (2015-10-30)	27	19	8
This season “3 vs 3”		70.40%	29.60%
2014-15	109	47	62
Last season “4 vs 4”		43,10%	56,90%

Nice way to turn it around!

• Chicoutimi (7-8-1) – By earning their 7th straight victory this Wednesday when they played Victoriaville, The Saguenéens have risen to 13th spot overall, with 15 points; this after starting their season with 9 consecutive losses. The Sags’ next adversaries will be the division-leading Shawinigan Cataractes (13-3-0), who boast the league’s best road record (6-1).
• A big difference! – During their recent success since the 10th of October, the Saguenéens have scored 39 goals while allowing only 9. Last week, they even had the luck of equalling their team record of 8 goals in one period.
• Garrett Johnston (Chicoutimi) – The 20-year-old veteran defenseman is worth his weight in gold to the young Chicoutimi team. Since his acquisition from Moncton in return for a 4th round pick, on October 5th, he has racked up 6 points in 7 games for a +/- of +13. Even more important, the Saguenéens have not lost a single game since his arrival. Johnston has the biggest differential in the league with +18, tied with Jean-Christophe Beaudin (ROU).
• Yanick Jean The Saguenéens’ experienced coach, just this Wednesday earned his 325th QMJHL win. He knows that he has to be patient with a team that has 12 rookies in the lineup. ‘The arrival of Johston has solidified us defensively. We also modified Louis-Philippe Simard’s role; a forward that we have developed into a defenseman’, declared the coach who will celebrate his 40th birthday on November 26th. Confidence is back too: ‘At the start of the season, we were creating some good offensive chances but we weren’t scoring. Veterans like Nicolas Roy (12 points in the recent streak) and Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau (10 points in his last 7 games) took things in hand – but also our goalie, Julio Billia stood out (6-0 | 1.48 | .957).’
• 11 straight? – That’s the team record for the most consecutive wins. The Sags are only 4 away from that marker. The record is an old one, set 28 years ago, dating back to the 1987-1988 season. That was the era of Patrice Tremblay, Daniel Maurice and of the goalie duo of Jimmy Waite/Denis Desbiens.

PERFORMANCES

• Rouyn-Noranda – With their victory yesterday against Charlottetown, the Huskies have been able to earn at least one point in each of their last 16 games (12-0-3-1).They are still 1st overall in the QMJHL standings with 30 points, 4 ahead of Shawinigan. Gilles Bouchard’s team will continue their 3 game journey in the Maritimes tonight, disembarking at Harbour Station in Saint John, and Sunday, they will visit the Screaming Eagles in Cape Breton.
• Philippe Myers (Rouyn-Noranda) – Surprisingly, finds himself the defenseman in the league with the most goals, with 6. He has outscored Jérémy Roy (SHE), Loïk Léveillé (CAP), Cavan Fitzgerald (HAL) and Frédéric Allard (CHI) who each have 5.
• Nicholas Welsh (Shawinigan) – The Halifax Native defenseman is earning more and more confidence from the Cataractes and is being used in all situations. He is also an excellent passer, having helped out on 9 goals in his teams’ last 7 games (+2). He also had his best offensive game last Sunday against the Tigres, when he added his name 3 times to the score sheet.
• Jonathan Bourcier (Chicoutimi) – A magic night of 6 points like he had last weekend is something out of the ordinary. The last time a Q player enjoyed such a performance in a road game, we have to look way back in our notes to last fall to find the name Nikolaj Ehlers. Former Moosehead, Ehlers has been playing with the Winnipeg Jets this season where he has a nice record of 7 points in his first 9 games.
• Maxime Comtois (Victoriaville) – The young 16-year-old again impressed the fans last Friday with a 4-point performance. He became the 5th rookie this year to have such a night, joining Abramov (Gatineau), Kevin Klima (Moncton), Abbandonato and Dzierkals (Rouyn-Noranda).
• Filip Chlapik (Charlottetown) – 11 points of his 17 points were recorded in his last 7 games and has a rating of +5. He is getting things done in the absence of Daniel Sprong who is still with the Pittsburgh Penguins. In his first 8 NHL games, Sprong has 1 goal.

QUIZ QUESTION

• Against Cape-Breton… – What current QMJHL player has already amassed more than 40 career points against the Screaming Eagles?
• The all-time leader – With 55 points, Ben Duffy of the PEI Rocket is the all-time leader against the Eagles.
• Conor Garland (Moncton) – That’s the name you’re looking for! Believe it or not, since his debut in the league, he has earned 18% of his points (42/231) against a Cape-Breton goalie. Garland has just taken over the #1 spot among scorers (31 points) passing Anthony Beauregard (VDO | 30) by adding points in each of his 13 games this season.

Best lifetime scorers against the Screaming Eagles
Player	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
Duffy, Ben	38	18	37	55
O`Brien, Zach	22	27	22	49
Laliberté, Simon	28	16	28	44
Saulnier, Allain	31	19	25	44
Garland, Conor   *	23	18	24	42
Saulnier, Alex	29	20	21	41
Abid, Ramzi	16	16	23	39

*= Still active

Milestone

• Daniel Audette (Sherbrooke) – Gifted with an undeniable offensive creativity, he has just surpassed the 200-point mark since his debut in the QMJHL. He will pass another milestone in the first games of November, as he is only 4 games away from 200 league-games played. With his 17 assists this season, The Phoenix’ star forward has risen among the top 10 in that category. His 11 points in his last 6 games have helped him close to within 6 points of the league’s top scorer, Conor Garland (MON | 31).

QMJHL Leaders – The most assists in 2015-16
Rank	Name	Team	Pos	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-
1	Conor Garland	Mon	AD	13	11	20	31	15
2	Samuel Girard	Sha	D	16	2	20	22	5
3	Anthony Beauregard	VdO	C	18	10	20	30	6
4	Jérémy Lauzon	Rou	D	13	3	18	21	13
5	Alexis D’Aoust	Sha	AD	16	8	18	26	16
6	Daniel Audette	She	C	15	8	17	25	1
7	Alex Barré-Boulet	Dru	C	18	12	17	29	8
8	Kay Schweri	She	AD	11	0	15	15	1
9	Samuel Blais	Vic	AG	13	8	15	23	0
10	Dmytro Timashov	Que	AG	13	5	15	20	4

RECORD

• Jérémy Lauzon (Rouyn-Noranda) – he never stops contributing to his team’s success. Yesterday, he broke the team record for the longest streak of games for a defenseman with at least one point (12). He passes Jonathan Gauthier (11 | 2000-01). In the 2010s in the QMJHL, only David Savard (16 | MON | 2009-10) and Jérôme Gauthier-Leduc (12 | RIM | 2011-12) generated similar streaks. The league record for a defensemen is 25, held by current assistant coach with the Sea Dogs, Paul Boutillier.

Most consecutive games with at least one point by a Huskies defenseman
Rank	Player	Season	From	To	Record
1	Jérémy Lauzon *	2015-16	15-09-27	…	12
2	Jonathan Gauthier	Jan-00	01-02-10	01-03-06	11
3	Mathieu Brisebois	2012-13	13-02-02	13-02-26	10
4	Benoit Gervais	Sep-08	08-11-08	08-11-29	9

*= still active

Streaks

• Anthony Richard (Val-d’Or) – can rightly be described as remarkable and effective. The owner of 5 winning goals will attempt to contribute again tonight against Cape-Breton. He will be attempting to score a goal in his 9th consecutive game. It is possible he could outdo his personal best of 14 straight games with a point, an achievement he earned for the first time, last winter.
• Francis Perron (Rouyn-Noranda) – With his 13 goals of the season last night, he brings to 14 his sequence of games with at least one point.
• Evgeny Svechnikov (Cape-Breton) – Having found the back of the net 9 times in 12 games, can the first round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings said to be performing below expectations? Lately, he has scored at least one point in each of his last 5 games, collecting 8 points (6+2) and leading his team to 3 wins.

The 250 Club

• Nikolas Brouillard (Québec) – who was injured in the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp, this Wednesday in Drummondville racked up his first 3 points of the season. With 203 regular season points he is now 37th all-time among defensemen – Quite an achievement for a modern-day D-man. Of the 16 who have done it, note that since the year 2000, only one blue-liner has broken through the 250-point mark, that being Danny Groulx (332), the all-time record holder.

Most lifetime points by a defenseman in the QMJHL
Rank	Player	Team(s)	Seasons	Record
1	Danny Groulx	Val-d’Or-Acadie-Bathurst-Victoriaville	1997>>2002	332
2	Billy Campbell	Montréal-Verdun	1980>>1984	321
3	Pierre Sévigny	Chicoutimi-Trois-Rivières-Québec	1978>>1982	318
4	Robert Picard	Montréal	1973>>1977	313
5	Jean-Marc Richard	Chicoutimi	1983>>1987	301
6	Pierre Lacroix	Québec-Trois-Rivières	1975>>1979	298
7	Daniel Bock	Chicoutimi-Granby-Shawinigan	1985>>1989	283
8	Stéphane Julien	Trois-Rivières-Sherbrooke	1990>>1995	279
9	Gilbert Delorme	Chicoutimi	1978>>1981	277
10	Gaston Therrien	Québec	1977>>1980	264
11	Daniel Poulin	Chicoutimi	1973>>1977	258
	Patrice Brisebois	Laval-Drummondville	1987>>1991	258
13	<François Groleau	Shawinigan-St-Jean	1989>>1993	257
14	Steve Gosselin	Chicoutimi	1990>>1994	255
	Derrick Walser	Beauport-Rimouski	1994>>1998	255
16	Yves Racine	Longueuil-Victoriaville-St-Jean	1986>>1990	252
…
37	Nikolas Brouillard *	Drummondville-Québec	2011>>2016	203

*= still active

World Under 17 Championship

• November 1st – That’s when the challenge bringing the world’s best under 17 players kicks off. The tournament takes place in British Columbia this year, for the most part in Dawson Creek.
• 8 teams –Canada has put forward 3 formations and 66 players for the tournament (White/Black/Red). Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, as well as the United States will battle for the title. Find the line-ups and schedule here.
• The Q brigade – We will be closely following all the players from our league. Will Maxime Comtois (VIC | 10 goals and 21 points) be reunited on the same line with his good friend Antoine Morand (BAT | 14 points) with whom he developed in AAA, on the ‘Reds’ ? We’ll also keep an eye on Joseph Veleno (SNB | 10 points), as well as goalie Matthew Welsh (CHA | 3.33 | .898)
• Live – All the tournament games can been seen live on the web with FASTHockey at hockeycanada.ca/dm17.
• The Grand Finale on TSN/RDS– The Gold Medal game will be shown on Saturday, November 7th at 9:30 PM EST from Dawson Creek. Just like the Silver and Bronze medal games, this game will be shown by TSN and RDS, the official broadcasters of Hockey Canada. 

WHAT OUR WEB VISITORS ARE SAYING

• Rookie goalies – Last week’s poll question was: What rookie goalie has most impressed you since the start of the season?
• Mathieu Bellemare (Gatineau) – without much hesitation, 1247 of 3154 votes, around 40% went to Bellmare as your first choice. And for good reason, as he is as of this morning, the owner of the best GA (1.79) and 2 shoutouts.
• Matthew Welsh (Charlottetown) – It looks like the Islanders’ goaltender also made an impression on you, with 22% of the vote. Honourable mentions went to James Povall (VIC | 11.7%) and Julian Galloway (QUE | 11.5%).

Translation: Richard Dumas