Screaming Eagles putting tough first half behind them
SYDNEY — The first half of the 2014-15 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season is one the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles would like to forget, but head coach and general manager Marc-André Dumont said his team has moved forward.
“It was frustrating and it was frustrating for everyone,” he said. “Everything happens for a reason in life, so it happened for a reason. We grew from it, we learned a lot of lessons from it and I think it makes our players right now hungrier than ever.”
The Screaming Eagles were mired in 17th place in the 18-team league after 34 games, sporting a 12-17-2-3 record. At that point, the team had lost 14 one-goal games. Injuries to key players also didn’t help matters much.
“The first half of the season is very simple,” said Dumont. “We had 14 losses by one goal in the first 34 games. We brought in Jonathan Deschamps and Duncan MacIntyre on trades over the summer in order to support Loïk Léveillé and our two 17-year-old defencemen, Jason Bell and Bradley Lalonde. We brought in a 20-year-old goalie (François Brassard) to help support that young defensive squad.
“We weren’t able to replace, adequately, (graduating defencemen) Justin Haché, Stephen Woodworth and Jérémy Beaudry. Those three left and the young guys growing in our organization and the arrival of Jonathan and Duncan were not enough. That’s the reason why we decided to give more support on the backend by getting a 19-year-old goalie who has experience, and two, experienced defencemen.”
Once the league’s holiday trade period opened, Dumont worked the phones to improve the club.
The first move was acquiring 19-year-old blue-liner Alexandre Gosselin from the Acadie-Bathurst Titan for forward prospect Samuel L’Italien and a third round pick in 2015. Another key move also involved the back end, as Cape Breton added 18-year-old rearguard Olivier LeBlanc and forward prospect Declan Smith from the Saint John Sea Dogs for Bell and a first-round selection in 2015, originally owned by Drummondville.
In goal, the team added 19-year-old Alexandre Bélanger from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and also received a third-round pick in exchange for forward Julien Pelletier, who requested a trade after a struggling in his sophomore season.
Cape Breton the added further depth at forward. They filled their empty 20-year-old position by acquiring Stephen Anderson from the Val-d’Or Foreurs for a 12th round pick. The team then picked up gritty winger Colin MacSween from the Armada along with a third-round pick in 2016 for prospect Pascal Corbeil. Tim Simard was moved to Chicoutimi for a third-round pick to make room up front.
Even before the trade period got going on Dec. 19, Cape Breton shuffled the deck with its overagers by adding forward Marcus Hinds from the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and trading Cameron Darcy to the Sherbrooke Phoenix, adding a bit more sandpaper and grit.
“There are several players in our lineup currently who didn’t live the first half, so they don’t know what happened and it’s not really important what happened, it’s important what we do about it,” said Dumont.
The moves have paid off so far. Cape Breton is riding a five-game winning streak heading into this weekend’s road trip in New Brunswick. They’ve reduced their shots against on goal and have generally tightened things up defensively.
Newly acquired players like Anderson are contributing on the scoresheet as well. He has five goals and six points in his first five games with the Screaming Eagles. Other incumbent players like leading scorer Kyle Farrell, Evgeny Svechnikov and Maxim Lazarev continue to impress. Svechnikov, recently named the first star of the week in the league, is pegged to go in the first round of the 2015 NHL draft.
Their current 18-21-2-3 record puts them into 16th place and a playoff spot, with the hopes of moving up even further.
“I think we needed to improve the team,” said Dumont. “I think we improved the team at every position and it’s not in the hands of the new guys only to stir up things after the trading period, it’s the responsibility of everyone: the new guys and the guys who were already with the team.
“Everybody has to contribute and step it up and everybody is going to have a chance to contribute.”
