Lascek, Yandle and Esposito win QMJHL player of the month awards
BOUCHERVILLE, Wednesday, November 2, 2005 (QMJHL) The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League today announced the winners of the offensive, defensive and rookie player of the month awards for November following a list of candidates submitted by the eighteen QMJHL teams. A League mandated committee is responsible for picking the monthly winners.
The offensive player of the month is Stanislav Lascek of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. The winger had quite a showing in November, tallying 5 goals as well as 26 assists, good for 31 points in only twelve games. He presently leads the League in scoring with 67 points. Furthermore, he was a very healthy +15 (plus/minus). His offensive prowess enabled the Saguenéens to claim the top spot in the overall standings.
Other players considered for the award were Alexander Radulov of Quebec, Alex Bourret of Shawinigan and Guillaume Latendresse of Drummondville.
The defensive player of the month award winner is Keith Yandle of the Moncton Wildcats. The 6'2'', 195 lb defenseman leads all blue-liners in scoring and had a very impressive month of November, twice claiming player of the week honours in the QMJHL as well as once in the CHL. During that span, he scored 6 goals including one game-winner, and had 15 helpers in twelve games. Also, he has helped the Wildcasts climb towards the top of the Eastern division standings where they presently stand second, only one point behind Acadie-Bathurst. His +32 (plus/minus) is tops in the League.
Defensemen Marc-Édouard Vlasic of Quebec and Julien Brouillette of Chicoutimi as well as goaltender Josh Tordjman of Victoriaville were also considered.
Among rookies, Angelo Esposito of the Quebec Remparts takes home the honour for a second consecutive month. The 16 year-old forward has continued to impress since the beginning of this Major Junior career. In the last four weeks, Esposito scored 7 goals including one game-winner, and produced 14 assists in twelve games. He was a key element in the Remparts’ turnaround – the team was on quite a roll, at some point winning thirteen straight contests during the month of November. Finally, his plus/minus ranking remained strong at +12.
The finalists for the rookie honour were defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy of Rouyn-Noranda, forward Marc-André Laroche of Rimouski and goaltender Roger Kennedy of Halifax.
