QMJHL Weekend Preview

February 18, 2011 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Lewiston MAINEiacs News Release


Lewiston, ME (QMJHL) - With eleven games remaining in the 2010-11 regular season, the Lewiston MAINEiacs are finished playing against the three division leaders. Unfortunately, two of those division leaders got the best of the MAINEiacs on their recent three-game homestand, as Lewiston dropped a pair of decisions against the Quebec Remparts over the weekend, before suffering a tough 4-3 loss to the Montreal Junior on Thursday night.

The MAINEiacs currently have a record of 35-20-0-2 (72 points), which remains good for second place in the Telus East Division. Quebec has an 11-point lead at the top of the grouping, while Victoriaville trails Lewiston by eight points in third. The competition in the overall standings remains tight, where the MAINEiacs are currently sitting in eighth place. Acadie-Bathurst and Gatineau both lead Lewiston by one point, while Shawinigan has a three-point edge on the MAINEiacs.

This weekend, Lewiston will face a team that they have had a significant amount of success against this season, as they will play a road contest against the Rimouski Oceanic. The MAINEiacs have won four of the five games they have played against the Oceanic, including victories in both tilts at Rimouski. The two sides split a pair of games in Lewiston to start the season (8-3 Lew, 3-2 Rim), before the MAINEiacs took the lead in the season series with a 5-2 road win in October. Most recently, the two teams played a home-and-home series at the end of January. Lewiston started the series with a 3-1 win on the road, before erasing a 4-1 deficit for a thrilling 5-4 victory on home ice.

The Oceanic enter this weekend with a 27-28-1-1 record (56 points), which is good for a tie for fourth place in the Telus East Division, while being tied for 12th in the overall standings. Rimouski currently holds the tiebreaker over Chicoutimi for both positions, but the Sagueneens have one game in hand.

Who's Hot for the MAINEiacs

23-F-Etienne Brodeur (has at least 1 point in 12 of his last 14 games)

44-D-Olivier Dame-Malka (has at least 1 point in 11 of his last 13 games)

55-D-Sam Carrier (has at least 1 point in 7 of his last 9 games)

19-F-Pierre-Olivier Morin (has at least 1 point in 6 of his last 8 games)

71-F-Kirill Kabanov (has at least 1 point in 5 of his last 6 games)

Learning the Opposition

Rimouski Oceanic

Established in 1995

2 President's Cups (2000, 2005)

Notable Alumni: Ryane Clowe, Sidney Crosby, Michael Frolik, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards

NHL Draft Picks

Jakub Culek (Ottawa)

Gleason Fournier (Detroit)

Jerome Gauthier-Leduc (Buffalo)

Petr Straka (Columbus)

Who to Watch for

71-F-Felix Lefrancois (26 goals, 36 assists, 62 points in 54 games)

63-F-Alex Belzile (23 goals, 33 assists, 56 points in 53 games)

14-D-Gleason Fournier (11 goals, 27 assists, 38 points in 48 games)

6-D-Jerome Gauthier-Leduc (8 goals, 30 assists, 38 points in 50 games)

20-F-Alex Emond (19 goals, 16 assists, 35 points in 45 games)

64-F-Jarrad Struthers (18 goals, 17 assists, 35 points in 54 games)

37-G-Morgan Clark (11-9-1 record, 2.61 GAA, .906 Sv%, 1 shutout in 22 games)

Special Teams

Lewiston Power Play: 41-for-242 (16.9%), T-14th

Rimouski Power Play: 64-for-259 (24.7%), 6th

Lewiston Penalty Kill: 239-for-296 (80.7%), 7th

Rimouski Penalty Kill: 205-for-257 (79.8%), 8th

Season Series

Lewiston 4, Rimouski 1

All-Time Series

Lewiston 19, Rimouski 15, 1 tie

All-Time Series in Rimouski

Lewiston 10, Rimouski 7

This Weekend in the Telus East Division

Division leaders will collide in Verdun on Friday night, when the Quebec Remparts visit the Montreal Junior. Quebec owns the top spot in the Telus East Division with 83 points in 57 games, while Montreal leads the Telus West Division with 86 points in 56 games. The Junior have won all three games in the season series thus far, taking a 5-4 score at Verdun Auditorium, as well as 3-2 and 1-0 victories at Colisee Pepsi.

The Victoriaville Tigres will be on the road for a pair of games this weekend. On Friday night, the Tigres will head to Acadie-Bathurst, where they will face the Titan. Then, on Saturday, Victoriaville will travel to Rimouski, where they will look to add to their current eight-point lead over the Oceanic for third place in the division.

The schedule presents an interesting dynamic this weekend for the Rimouski Oceanic, who will play two games on home ice this weekend. On Saturday, the Oceanic will play host to the Victoriaville Tigres, who will be coming off of a road game the night before. Then, on Sunday, Rimouski will play their second game in as many days, facing the Lewiston MAINEiacs, who will have been off since Thursday.

The Chicoutimi Sagueneens will also be at home for a couple of games this weekend, as they will welcome in two drastically different opponents. On Friday, the Sagueneens will welcome the PEI Rocket to town, before a home contest with Gatineau takes place on Saturday.

The Baie-Comeau Drakkar might be at an advantage thanks to their divisional rivals, as Chicoutimi will play the exact same opponents as Baie-Comeau, in the same order, and one day before the Drakkar will see them. The PEI Rocket will make their way to Centre Henry Leonard on Saturday, before the Gatineau Olympiques make their visit to town on Sunday.

Elsewhere in the QMJHL

The Shawinigan Cataractes have won eight of their last ten games to move into fifth place in the overall standings with 75 points in 55 games. Although Shawinigan currently has games in hand, those contests will be challenging this weekend, as the Cataractes will play three games in three days to finish off a stretch of four games in five days on the road against the Maritimes Division. Shawinigan started the trip on a good note, defeating Cape Breton 5-2 on Wednesday. However, now comes the difficult part, as the Cataractes will battle Moncton, Saint John, and Acadie-Bathurst in that order.

The Val-d'Or Foreurs are also taking up residence in the Maritimes Division right now, as they are in the midst of four games in five days. Val-d'Or suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 shootout loss in Acadie-Bathurst on Wednesday, and will look to rebound this weekend, when they face Saint John, Halifax, and Moncton in that order.

The Battle of Nova Scotia will take center stage on Friday night, as the Halifax Mooseheads and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles will clash at Centre 200 in Sydney. The two teams enter the weekend with 37 points each, meaning that playoff positioning will be on the line. This is the sixth of eight meetings between the two provincial rivals this season, with Cape Breton winning each of the previous five.

The final two games in the QMJHL this weekend will both involve the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on the road. Rouyn-Noranda will be faced with the daunting task of facing the top two teams in the Telus West Division, as they will travel to Drummondville on Friday and Montreal on Saturday.



Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from February 18, 2011


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