The Final Audition
The top prospects for the Québec Major Junior Hockey League’s next draft are at the Centre d’Excellence Sport Rousseau in Boisbriand to participate in the Gatorade Excellence Challenge. A total of 121 players who were born in the year 2000 will have the chance to show their talent in front of scouts and other hockey personnel from the QMJHL’s 18 teams.
The players are scheduled to play a minimum of 5 games. The provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, & Newfoundland and Labrador each have a team, while Québec is represented by 2 teams. It’s the last chance before the June 4th draft day in Charlottetown for these young men to get the attention of hockey directors.
Coaches Tevor Budgell, Jon Greenwood, Marc Hussey, Daniel Jacob, Ryan Ramsay, and Daniel Renaud will be trying to help these players to the next level.
Québec vs New Brunswick
On the first day of activities, Québec’s White team had their way, defeating New Brunswick by a mark of 10-0. It was team New Brunswick’s second game of the day. Québec goalie, Olivier Rodrigue earned the shutout with 13 stops. Rodrigue is seen by many as the top prospect for the coming draft. Benoît-Olivier Groulx scored three times and also picked up an assist.
Guillaume Desmarais and Gabriel Denis each had 2 goals, while the rest of the scoring was accomplished by Cédric Desruisseaux, Yohan Plamondon and Mathieu Samson who had 1 goal apiece. Defencemen Alexis Arsenault (3) and Nicolas Olivier (2) also picked up points. New Brunswick goaltender Daniel Thompson faced 52 shots.
New Brunswick vs Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick opened the hostilities late on Thursday morning. 4 third-period goals helped Newfoundland and Labrador to carry the day with at 4-2 win. Jack Keough, Jay Henley, Matt McKim et Zack Bennett all scored. New Brunswick scoring was prvided by Dominic Hachey and Alex Lewis.
Nova Scotia vs Prince Edward Island
Team Nova Scotia scored 4 goals in the first 40 minutes of their 6-2 win over Prince Edward Island. Kyle Penney scored twice. Jared MacIsaac and Logan Timmons gave Nova Scotia its comfortable lead. Prince Edward Island’s Connor McGregor cut into that lead with his 2 goals at the start of the third period, but Nova Scotia dominated in shots, 45 to 13.
Now that the first day of work is done, there are still 3 matches left for each team in the preliminary round, which will finish on Saturday. Following that, there will be a medal round on Sunday, played according to the final standings. The match-ups will be 1st against 2nd place, 3rd vs 4th, and 5th against 6th. The winning team will take home the Golden Cup.
