When pucks get a mind of their own...

Something really crappy happened yesterday.



photo cred: E. Bolté, 24heures. don't worry, we're cool. I give him lineup sheets all the time.
Five overtimes (five periods, actually, but it felt like five overtimes) and no dice. The Montreal Junior lost three consecutive games after being up 3-1 in the series. Gatineau took the series in 7.

And I really do mean TOOK the series. They grabbed it by the horns and never let go. Thankfully I have no problems in hoping Saint John (team #3 in my Q radar if you're counting) puts them in their place. Being the little opportunists that they are, though, the Olympiques should be right on task to give the Sea Dogs more of a pestulent attitude about being the lowest seed in Round 2 than, say, PEI did in Round 1.

As for the Junior, well, I want to discuss one little thing. The goal that got away.

It was a shot from the red line that bounced off the back glass as Jean-François Bérubé was backing up. Somehow the puck got between his right pad and, with the obvious movement pattern, the wrong side of the red line. Poor guy was absolutely furious. I was about ten rows up from the incident and couldn't stop staring at the puck as he kept slamming his stick against the ice. I couldn't believe that that was it. The goal that ended a season.

It fit the situation, but not the game. Both teams fought for almost 82 minutes of play and the Junior players' adrenaline was practically seeping out of their eyes as they threw everything they had at Olympiques 'tender Maxime Clermont. The first overtime should have been it. They were right there. But somehow, Clermont found the puck, even lay on it once and didn't move a centimetre for fear of his life.

As for JF, as angry as he is right now, it'll be a huge building block in his character. No one blames him (or should) for a freak accident like that, and as someone who tends to be irrational in his case, neither do I. If his former teammate Jake Allen found his way out of the events last January to wind up with the best GAA in the CHL (and I have a feeling it won't stop there), I have no doubts that Bérubé will be able to come out in a big way next year.

What I really want to say is that this doesn't just apply to the Q. Bad goals happen, "are part of the game," and really sure do suck a lot, but finger-pointing isn't the way to deal with it. Just a few words to keep in mind for a certain NHL team we happen to love a lot and that's fighting for its life right now.

QMJHL playoffs underway: in which czechtacular attempts (and probably fails) to withhold bragging about her own team(s).

I would definitely have bored you with this subject earlier, but the playoffs is the time of year that piques the most interest among followers so I've tried to give myself more hope. Plus, I like to think my game previews are rather efficient in giving you the whole What You Need to Know with side bonus details sprinkled in over top. I will attempt, but by no means promise, to be equally brief here.

The format used in the Q is new to even me, but each division forms seeds and plays within itself before merging onto a single scene and playing much like the conferences in the NHL do. In other words:

West Telus: Rouyn (1) vs. Val D'Or (4) (hey, that'll be pretty simple in terms of voyage!) and Montreal (2) vs. Gatineau (3)
Telus Centre: Drummondville (1) vs. Lewiston (4) (don't ask me, I didn't decide Maine could be considered 'centre'.) and Victoriaville (2) vs. Shawinigan (3)
East Telus: Quebec (1) vs. Bathurst (5) (this one's a weird one. Bathurst got more points than Baie-Comeau, who is actually in the East Telus division whereas Bathurst is in the Atlantic. But the Atlantic has six teams whereas every other division only has four, and the two worst teams in the whole league are cut from the playoffs. Still with me? I hope so.) and Rimouski (2) vs. Chicoutimi (3)
Atlantic Division: Saint John (1) vs. PEI (4) and Moncton (2) vs. Cape Breton (3).

And thennnnnnnnnnn (in my best Chinese takeout from Dude Where's my Car? accent) whoever emerges from the first round as the top seed overall plays the last seed overall and so on. The lowest-ranking "favourite" is Montreal and the highest is Saint John. Thus, barring upsets, those two would face each other in the second round (and I would be forced to bring my notes and books to the Verdun Auditorium in studying for finals because there's no way I'd miss that).

So who should we be looking out for?


The aformentioned Sea Dogs took over the league this year with their 22 game winstreak earlier in the year enabling them to sit atop that first seed throne. They form a stable hybrid of youth and veterans, and boast two champions from Drummondville's squad last year in sniper Mike Hoffman, drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the fifth round last draft as a 19 year old, and goaltender Marco Cousineau, playoff MVP of 2008-09 and Anaheim Ducks prospect. Workhorse defensemen Yann Sauvé and Simon Després provide an influx of offense in addition to their future-NHLer poise/defensive mad skillz (I know, I sounded almost credible until that point) and European forwards Stanislav Galiev and Tomas Jurco each finished with strong numbers in their rookie campaigns.

The Moncton Wildcats made a flurry of moves to bolster their roster and inform the rest of the league they're serious in their bid to re-live the days of the Keith Yandles and the Martins Karsumses and even the Josh Tordjmans. (Excuse my nostalgia, but it's the first President's Cup run I followed in its entirety.) Goaltender Nicola Riopel, despite only having played about a third of the season, has come up with some solid wins between the pipes for the Wildcats, and Nicolas Deschamps, acquired from Chicoutimi, finished tied for first in the league in points (there is some debate he can snatch away the "tied" part and claim the Jean Beliveau trophy from Sean Couturier but I'll bite my tongue about that for now).

The Victoriaville Tigres are the darkhorse of this top-4 it seems, but have also had a very strong campaign under bench boss Yanick Jean. They threatened Drummondville for tops in the West Telus Division for a time and also made several statements with their acquisitions over the Christmas break. They will look to surprise everybody with their efficiency in both kinds of special teams and capacity to upset the big guns on every squad.

(I've waited as long as I possibly could before claiming bragging rights, so keep that in mind.) From worst to first to second isn't too shabby for a Voltigeurs' squad that last year had Yannick Riendeau, Dany Massé, and the aformentioned Mike Hoffman doing all their scoring. 17-year old Sean Couturier (might) have the scoring title in just his second campaign. The Phoenix/Bathurst native is on his way to turning lots more heads en route to what looks like a top-3 position in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Chris DiDomenico is back from the broken leg he suffered during the last playoffs and has fared very nicely since his return. Habs' prospect Gabriel Dumont has the goal-scoring title in the Q with 51, and teammate/future teammate Philippe Lefebrve didn't fare too badly himself with 26 goals and 29 assists. Meanwhile, in nets, once crucified by Canadian hockey fans for bringing back silver (oh, the horror), Jake Allen now boasts the lowest goals-against average in the QMJHL and the CHL at 2.20 and has convinced his teammates and surely the rest of the league that he will be the go-to guy in the bid to bring Drummondville another title. I have a myriad of other Jake-isms for you, including his almost-record shutout streak of 188 minutes and 47 seconds, but I suspect you get the idea.

*photo cred: lhjmq.qc.ca, my Sea Dogs Newsletter that joyfully brightens up my inbox each Friday, and Journal L'Express Drummondville.