Stilts is a star

I think I'll start off by saying positive stuff, since I just recapped the Habs who--shockingly--didn't entirely screw up their Western swing last week.

The thing with the Q this year is that only one team gets screwed out of the playoffs. So with that perspective, even the Habs would make it despite not being anywhere close to deserving of it if that system was applied to the NHL (technically they'd also have to disperse a team a la Lewiston, and don't say Phoenix is the obvious choice because I will not hesitate to get violent with you). Well, because I do bring a certain brand of tough love with them, the same can be said for my Volts, but that being said, there is a particular bright spot that doesn't always get enough attention.

Except Jonathan Habashi beat me to it, because he's smart like that. But yes, André Bouvet-Morrisette.

(I can't show you his abnormally happy-looking headshot because I don't have photo rights and I don't want to get in trouble. But if you go to the Journal L'Express' link up above there you can see it.)

I call him Stilts for short because let's face it, his real name is a mouthful. He even shortened his Twitter handle to @47mo because he's probably aware of that fact. "Stilts" comes from the fact that the last game I went to at the CMD (which was all the way back in September of 2010, woe is me) I snuck down to front row and was immediately faced with his legs. Yes. I had to crane my neck to see what name was on the back of his jersey because he is that imposing leg-wise, as if he was on a pair of stilts!

This week, Stilts was named second star of the Q:

The second star is handed out to André Bouvet-Morrissette of the Drummondville Voltigeurs. The right-winger scored 4 goals and added 2 assists for a total of 6 points. Wednesday, in a 7-3 loss against the Quebec Remparts, he scored 2 out of the 3 goals for his team. Friday, in a 3-1 win versus the same team, he scored the third goal of the contest. Saturday, in an impressive 6-1 win versus the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, Bouvet-Morrissette scored a goal and added two assists. He was named the first star of the game.

The goal against the Drakkar was his 39th of the season. Dating back to last year, in which he first debuted with the team as a 19 year old, he has 101 points in 126 games. Not too shabby for a guy who was discovered pretty late.

He has the longest active goal-scoring streak in the league this season with eight. That's almost a franchise record that he won't get to tie or break because the regular season cuts him off by one game. The last forty-goal scorers with Drummondville were both drafted to NHL teams: Gabriel Dumont and Sean Couturier. But they were on teams who were at least more consistent than a bouncing tennis ball in a square room. (If you had to pick anyone whose Q career to be jealous of, I'd probably go with anyone who was there for most of the Sean era. Hey guys, I'm sixteen and probably the tallest guy here with the best playoff-beard capacities so let's win a President's Cup together! And even when we disband, my experience and talent will help keep this team afloat for two more years!)

But Stilts was only there for the tail end of the Sean era. People were skeptical about keeping him on as an overager. People were skeptical about him in general, and he just kept on keeping on, silently racking up points, respect, and leadership skills all while remaining humble. And now, with him as co-captain and in the top-20 scorers league-wide, those aforementioned people probably feel very silly.

The last two teams the Volts face in the regular season are: Shawinigan on Saturday (better get into the St-Patrick's Day spirit for that one, unless there's a chance the Cats haven't learned their lesson from the Rimouski game last week) and Blainville-Boisbriand on Sunday. I would love to be in attendance for either of them, but in all likelihood I won't, so I'll just transmit my energy into hoping for that number 40 for number 47.

Around the league: After winning 9 straight, Quebec was halted in their tracks by none other than these very Voltigeurs, after which they lost 5-0 to Gatineau who by some stroke of luck is still worse than us. Ha ha.

Alum-notes: Jake Allen's had a pretty rough go of this season, but he recorded his first shutout of the season on Sunday against the Abbottsford Heat. He's got top duties with the Rivermen now that Ben Bishop is off stirring the pot in Ottawa. Peoria next plays on Wednesday against Chicago.

I haven't figured out how this works, but despite being traded to the Islanders' organization on trade deadline day, Yannick Riendeau is back with the ECHL's Reading, where he started the season. Its affiliation is shared by Boston and Toronto, last I checked. Anyway, he got an assist in a 2-1 win against Trenton this weekend.

The McGill Redmen, who have a ridiculous amount of Volts' alumni and have somewhat forced me into betraying my alma mater by rooting for them, won the Queen's Cup 4-1 against Western and have put themselves into the CIS National Championships. Ben Levesque got the eventual GWG and former Volts' captain Marc-Olivier Vachon picked up an assist. Last year the Redmen lost to UNB (and Marc-Antoine Desnoyers) in the CIS final.

Meanwhile, Voltigeurs' school #2 UQTR, who was defeated by McGill last week, won bronze over Windsor by the count of 5-3. I can honestly say I don't know what happens to them now but I'm wondering if it means I have to find some way to keep Alexandre Demers' CIS eligibility valid because half the excitement of going to see UQTR these last few years was seeing him light it up again.

Misc.: In the "disconcerting stuff" category: Drummondville's potential playoff opponent as of this second is the Halifax Mooseheads. As a Czech sympathizer you can see my problem with this. Hint: it is vowel-free.