Interesting numbers, weekend #4

This week, we’ll make a list of our former players currently in the National Hockey League at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season. Note that among 19-year-old players or younger still eligible to return to the QMJHL, Nathan MacKinnon has made the leap in the NHL.

TEAMS AT FULL THROTTLE

• Charlottetown – The Islanders will have to be taken seriously! Still undefeated in regulatory time (6-0-1), they rank first this morning in the standings with 13 points.
• Blainville-Boisbriand – The Armada and its perfect score sheet (6-0 | 12 pts) will be a contender for the title of the Telus West Division. Among its rivals are the Drummondville Voltigeurs (5-2 | 10 pts) which will be in Boisbriand this Friday. Drummondville scored 14 of its 27 goals on the power play, but the Armada promotes discipline, having received only 85 penalty minutes. The goals against average per game gives an advantage to the Armada: 1.97 against 2.43 for Drummondville
• Rimouski – the Oceanic (5-2) won its first four games on the road, and will travel to Victoriaville (tonight) and Drummondville (tomorrow).
• Victoriaville – With 6 wins in 8 games, they currently rank first in the Telus East Division. Four of their six victories were by a difference of one goal.

OUR FORMER PLAYERS IN THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

• On day one of the 2013-14 NHL season, on October 1^st, a total of 71 former QMJHL players were on team rosters. By position … they were 11 goaltenders, 16 defensemen and 44 forwards.
• Considering that 726 players and goaltenders were found on 30 rosters, we can announce that 9.8% of the players in the NHL come from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
• Among the teams of Bettman’s League, the one with the highest number of QMJHL former players is Colorado with 6; now headed by Patrick Roy, the Avalanche lined-up veteran goaltender Jean-Sebastien GIGUERE, as well as Patrick BORDELEAU, Marc-André CLICHE, Pierre-Alexandre PARENTEAU Alex TANGUAY and the first overall pick of the 2013 NHL draft, Nathan MACKINNON. Tanguay, Giguère and MacKinnon are three former stars of the Halifax Mooseheads!
• Other NHL teams do not hesitate to trust our former players, Montreal, Phoenix and Philadelphia each have a total of five players, all from the QMJHL.
• Considering the “core team” of these former players in the QMJHL … Gatineau (formerly the Hull Olympiques) and the Moncton Wildcats were the most represented (7) this season in the NHL. Rimouski and Shawinigan account for six each, followed by Halifax and Drummondville (5).

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

• Jérémy Roy (SHE) – Exciting start in the QMJHL for the 1st round pick of the Phoenix. The 16-year-old rookie defenseman participated in five of the team’s goals in his last four games, maintaining a +1 differential in this sequence.
• Carl-Antoine Delisle (VIC) – Have you noticed that 3 of the 6 goals scored by the forward have been shorthanded? With 12 points, two game-winning goals and a +7 differential, he is one of the spark plugs of the Tigres.

ACTIVE SEQUENCE

• Georgs Golovkovs (DRU) – In his first season in the QMJHL, the 18-year-old forward is not longing his native Latvia, if one relies on the performance he offers the Voltigeurs. He scored six goals on 15 shots in 7 games so far, which earned him a percentage of offensive efficiency of 40%. He will try to score a goal tonight in a fifth straight game…
• Daniel Audette (SHE) – the Phoenix appreciates his creativity during offense, as he will be looking tonight an eighth straight game with at least one point. He leads Sherbrooke with 9 points and 26 shots on goal.

PLATEAU

• Jonathan Drouin (HAL) – in a season and a half in the QMJHL, he was able to maintain a rate of 1.67 points per game. He who just came back from the Tampa Bay training camp is already approaching 200 points with Halifax, considering the regular and playoff season: 195 points in 117 games, including 69 goals. The Mooseheads and him will be in Sherbrooke (Friday), Victoriaville (Saturday), Drummondville (Sunday). His return is a beautiful and unexpected gift for the Mooseheads, which are celebrating their 20th season in the QMJHL.
• Saint John – a franchise created via the expansion in the QMJHL in 2005-06, the Sea Dogs are already approaching the 300 milestone. Mike Kelly’s troop is only missing two wins before “celebrating”!
• Gatineau – on Saturday, the Olympiques will attempt to win the 1400th victory in their history in regular season. They will host the Quebec Remparts.

A LITTLE HISTORY

• The offensive games … – Last week, to the delight of fans at Centre Gervais Auto, Rouyn-Noranda and Shawinigan finished a game with a score of 10-9, and a ratio of one goal per “3 minutes”, a fact that one sees very rarely …
• You have to go back to October, 24, 2000 in our archives to find such a 19-goal-game as spectacular and tight: Rouyn-Noranda 9 @ Hull 10.
• On the other hand, a game in which the gap in the score was limited to “two or fewer goals”, the highest final score was 12-10 in favor of the Granby Bisons over the Drummondville Voltigeurs on January 19, 1992, 21 years ago; it was the evening of Hugo Proulx and René Corbet who scored 7 points each!
• The craziest seasons in terms of high scores were 1972-1973 and 1982-1983 when no fewer than five games were completed with a score of 21 goals or more.
• Is the record in a QMJHL game untouchable? A total of 26 goals by the two clubs, and this feat has been holding for 35 years: Shawinigan 4 @ Sherbrooke 22!