Just say Blainbriand.

Armada, meet thy ballbusters: Well, that's a headline that is sure to bite me where it hurts in a future game, but these two pretty boxscores can stand alone in this post and I don't have to feel guilty just yet:

GOALS	1	2	3	OT	Total
BLAINVILLE-BOISBRIAND	2	2	2	0	6
DRUMMONDVILLE	3	2	1	1	7

GOALS	1	2	3	Total
DRUMMONDVILLE	1	2	0	3
BLAINVILLE-BOISBRIAND	0	2	0	2

So pretty.

Drummondville (Sunday): Weber, Balmelli, Archambault, Gauthier, Malouin, Verrier (2). Murray and Brouillard the forward with two assists each.
Blainbriand (Sunday): Paquette (3), Hodhod, Clapperton, Sanche.

Drummondville (yesterday): Boudens, Caouette, Verrier.
Blainbriand (yesterday): Sanche, Giroux.

Last night, aside from watching Sportsnet scramble for material with Ouellet sitting this game out on the sidelines, I enjoyed the talents of the budding hockey analyst that is the Montreal Canadiens' P.K. Subban. He had (really) good insight, predicted a number of things before they happened, and Nikolas Brouillard even got praise for his "Subbie-doo" spin-o-rama at the blueline. Now if only P.K. could head over to the MATV studios (formerly VOX) that is apparently broadcasting the Gatineau game on Friday...

Things that actually happened in the game (or before): Jérémie Malouin gets the C on his jersey for the rest of the season (Charles-David Beaudoin with the A), Matt Boudens has this wicked point streak with all these goals scattered everywhere (five games now), the jury is still out on Guindon's super-hero nickname (37 saves plus cool, calm collectedness in the face of never-ending 5 on 3's), it turns out Balmelli can hold his own in a fight?!, a Drummondville player is finally in the league's top-20 in scoring (Verrier) who has recorded at least a point in the last seven games, and the Volts are unbeaten in regulation in their last five games. They are also 7-2-0-1 in their last ten games.

Next: Gatineau. They were also in action last night and lost to Baie-Comeau, 6-3.

Next next: Québec, Sherbrooke, Baie-Comeau, Gatineau again, Sherbrooke in Sherbrooke, and then holiday time.

Alumni news and notes: Some people are already thinking about holiday time!

The McGill Redmen had an interesting Movember campaign (kinda NSFW, actually), and picked up wins against Ryerson and RMC this weekend. Ex-Volts aplenty in the latter game's scoresheet. They now break for the holidays and will be back to host Carleton on January 4th, 2013.

Otherwise, this week is full of zZzZz's, aside from the fact that already six days ago Mike Hoffman picked up a goal and two assists, whereas his opponent and former teammate Sean Couturier got an assist, a -2, and eight shots on net. Binghamton had the upper hand in this game over Adirondack, 7-4.

#AskBoucher

Look! Former Volts' coach Guy Boucher chatted with fans this morning!

Of course he's multitasking by drawing up plays at the same time. Were you really surprised by that? Honestly.


Entire transcript is here. Some highlights:

1. #AskBoucher how was it to be probably one of the only people to slap shot the 1st pitch at a baseball game? #BoltsAtTheBallpark
   — Michelle Spring (@MichelleSpring6) 3 hours ago 

   @MichelleSpring6 Major relief when it was done, but it was a lot of fun. It was actually a dare from Joe Maddon ^GB #AskBoucher — Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) 2 hours ago  

   #AskBoucher if you could pick any nhl player on your team why and who?  — justin leger (@justinleger4) 3 hours ago  

   @justinleger4 The ones I got right now ^GB #AskBoucher — Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) 2 hours ago 

   @tblightning We need a sub on my beer league team, can you send someone over? I'm sure someone has some time to kill. #askboucher  — Ol' Man Jesse (@jdreade) 2 hours ago 

   @jdreade I can send assistant coach Marty Raymond and Dan Lacroix and Nigel. They're on their way ^GB #AskBoucher — Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) 2 hours ago

Also flustered little ol' me:

1. @TBLightning a few players you've coached are now playing for your alma mater. have you been to any games at mcconnell lately? #askboucher
   — Kathy K (@czechtacular) 2 hours ago 

   @czechtacular I keep up with what's going on but I haven't been to any games lately. Last one I watched was Nat'l Champ game ^GB #AskBoucher — Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) 2 hours ago

And the infamous how-you-got-the-scar question:

I'll give you two guesses: either my tough wife or a shark fight. You pick! One of them put me in my place! ^GB #AskBoucher

If I had problems with the 140 character limit (in addition to not keysmashing all over Twitter), I'd assume that he...probably never wants to do this again. Remember that time he took up an entire intermission's worth on VOX with a press conference and they had to cut him off to get back to the game on time? Fun times.

Voltigeurs news: Oh right, there was also a game last night.

GOALS	1	2	3	Total
P.E.I.	1	0	0	1
Drummondville	1	2	2	5

PEI: Marcotte.
Drummondville: Milson (2), Murray, Malouin (2). Alliteration goals for the win (literally).

Guindon made 22 saves. Graham was back as his backup, seemingly recovered from his injuries.

Jérôme Verrier, in addition to picking up two helpers last night, made it onto the Q site. Read about Drummondville's leading scorer (en français) here.

Around the league: It would appear our trading BFFs have a new head coach.

Stephane Leroux@StephRDSJunior

Officiel Danny Dupont est le nouvel entraineur chef du #Titan contrat de 3 ans

Also, Étienne Boutet is apparently the new Glen Metropolit, picking up an assist essentially right after being traded from Rimouski to Gatineau and merely having to cross over one dressing room to suit up for the game.

Black (and red) Friday

Whoa! Where the hell have I been?

Here, for one. Have some teaser shots from the game (not for stealing purposes, obviously):

The rest can be found over at All Habs.

Two nights previous:

GOALS	1	2	3	Total
DRUMMONDVILLE	1	0	2	3
BLAINVILLE-BOISBRIAND	1	2	3	6

Drummondville: Archambault (2), Auger.
Blainbriand: Clapperton, Martel (2), Sanche, Roy (2).

This game also featured the loss of Domenic Graham to an undisclosed lower-body injury. (This goalie drama is starting to look a little too Montreal Canadiens to me, especially every time someone quotes Duhamel as saying there is no superior. Okay then.)

The night before that, Drummondville seemed to take into account my warning message about Gatineau. (Just kidding, my mom doesn't even read this blog.)

GOALS	1	2	3	Total
GATINEAU	0	2	0	2
DRUMMONDVILLE	2	1	2	5

Sixty percent of the Volts' goals were scored on the power play, but I won't disclose the amount of power plays they actually had, just to make it look better. Boom.

Drummondville: Malouin, Gauthier, Archambault (2), Brouillard the elder.
Gatineau: Burke, Chapman.

And now for tonight:

Rimouski: 13-8-1-3, 30 points, 5th in the league, 84 GF, 86 GA, have a one-game winning streak just like Drummondville, and Peter Trainor and Scott Oke (city) each have over 30 points this year. Meanwhile, Carl Hozjan has a GAA of 2.83 with a .911 SV% as his counterpart Philippe Desrosiers has a 3.34 GAA with a .902 SV%.

Drummondville: 13-11-0-0, 26 points, 9th in the league, 74 GF, 82 GA, have won four of their last five games, Verrier has taken the lead in points with 29 in 24 games (Brouillard the elder is suffering from a concussion), and Guindon's stats are now 3.14 GAA and .874 SV%.

Around the league: So Quebec decided to quit hogging three Euros and traded one...for another Euro.

2012-11-21	Rouyn-Noranda	Québec	Kamaev, Denis (1994-03-06)	Rd_2, 2013 (Chi)
	Québec	Rouyn-Noranda	Kucherov, Nikita (1993-06-17)

But there is a method to their madness. Sometimes.

2012-11-21	Québec	Sherbrooke	Kamaev, Denis (1994-03-06)	Rd_1, EURO 2014
	Sherbrooke	Québec		Rd_5, 2013 Rd_1, EURO 2014

Speaking of Patrick, tonight is already his 500th game as head coach. I wonder if his buddy Dutil made him a cake.

All quiet on the Alumni front: Somebody do something! (Namely, can Hamilton win a game sometime this month?) UPEI faces off against UNB, Concordia is at Nipissing (no, I do not have a potty mouth. Not this time, anyway), Ryerson plays UQTR and Toronto and McGill have a Centraide Charity game planned at McConnell Arena tonight. Scott Howes and the Allen Americans have a rematch against the Arizona Sundogs in the CHL, while the ECHL's Florida and Cincy both have games tonight (for you Landry and Bouvet-Morrissette fans). Sean Couturier is in action against Norfolk, Palat and Hoffman face off, and it's a little harder to verify goalie-starts but Jake Allen should at least be within a hundred foot radius of the net as Peoria take on Milwaukee. No Hamilton until Sunday afternoon.

EDIT: Apparently Derick Brassard has signed in Austria, as per Aaron Portzline. His Columbus Blue Jackets just lost the All-Star Game due to the lockout.

Stuck in the middle with you...

Good morning-soon-to-be-afternoon, and here are the current standings in the Q:

Tonight's opponent is Gatineau. They are currently free-falling in the standings, having lost three in a row and seven of their last ten.

Easy pickings? Not necessarily!

In light of this game and what it might mean, I started getting a little nit-picky with the above table and the highlighted number 10 spot, and how it breaks down on either side of the grey line. Some of it is a little disconcerting, if looked at under a certain context. But this is just me being cautious if not somewhat cynical considering the fact that I remember when Gatineau-Drummondville meant a lot more than it does currently, which is important to keep in mind.

Drummondville has won 11 of their 21 games this season. They are at exactly .500 in their last 10. They could fall to .500 overall, should tonight continue a certain trend.

Of the 21 games played, 11 of them have been decided by one goal. With the exception of one 4-3 loss against #theshawi, none of the Volts' losses to teams 11-18 in the standings are part of these 11. In fact, they can even be classified as blowouts. The most recent case was, of course, Chicoutimi (who return to the CMD on Sunday). In other words, while no one says they're going to underestimate a number 16, if the Olympiques even get a hint of the gas pedal at any point during this game, they have good odds of shoving it to the ground, handing the Volts another embarrassment.

Meanwhile...

Eight of the eleven one-goal games have been wins, and while the value of two points is not being questioned, the fact that over half of those eight one-goal games have been wins against teams 11-18 deters a little from the final score in each of them. For example: the 5-4 "win" against Bathurst on Sunday. As for that gas pedal...Drummondville simply let go of that one when they should have been as unforgiving as the Saguenéens et cie.

No need to panic, at least not just yet. The season is barely a quarter of the way through, after all. But to this cautious if not cynical bystander, tonight's matchup is just as crucial as any in March.

Gatineau: 6-12-1-0, 13 points, 16th in the league, 53 GF, 83 GA, lost three in a row, Martin Reway has 20 points in 19 games, Michael Nishi is the main goaltender for that club with a 4.13 GAA and .874 SV%.

Drummondville: 11-10-0-0, 22 points, 10th in the league, 62 GF, 71 GA, two wins in a row, M-O Brouillard still leads with 26 points in 21 games followed by Verrier with 22 points, rookie goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon is getting the start tonight after a two-game absence, he stands at a 3.36 GAA and .872 SV%. For his part, Domenic Graham has a .857 SV% and a 3.23 GAA.

The Value of St-Denis

Tomas Kaberle is a baby-daddy as of yesterday. Because there seems to be a fascination about how the Habs seem to randomly overload on defensemen, another call-up was made, this time to Frédéric St-Denis.

(Hey. No complaints here.)


Steady Freddy is an interesting case. He's been around, which is quite a change considering he stayed put in junior. Since his overage year he's made stops in Hamilton, Cincinnati, Houston, invited to whatever team is under Houston (sue me, I forgot one), Trois-Rivières, and now I've managed to get myself lost. Don't trust the order of this, either. Especially since the day he randomly signed a contract in Hamilton after I expected him to go back to the Wild organization was like a BOOM in my head followed by three sprinted laps of my living room. There may have been some damage caused (more in my head than in the living room, fear not).

Basically, he's back to being Steady Freddy and staying put in one place. Except yesterday, he was up with the Canadiens, which drew comments like "why can't Kaberle have babies more often?" ...the thought of which is frightening, but strangely flattering.

His stats are clean and empty across the board, which is his trademark (but remember that time he scored against the Canucks?!) 0 0 0 0 0, and then a shot on goal. The 0 in the +/- column was threatened a few times, but that tends to happen when your new blueline buddy is Campoli. Crisis averted, however. Ottawa Senators 2, Montreal Canadiens 3.

Meanwhile, in Hamilton: St. John's IceCaps 6, Hamilton Bulldogs 0.

Not that blowouts are an alien concept to the Habs' farm club this season. But a + sign on the end of that "useless/overvalued" stat is, especially on D. Bulldogs' captain and fellow savvy defenseman Alex Henry and St-Denis combine for a -4, but the rest of the Hamilton blueliners? -68.

I'm just poking around here (I haven't had fun with math in over a decade), and I'm well aware that my bias is super apparent. But I bet you can ask anybody in a Hamilton jersey how much they missed Freddy yesterday and they will tell you: A LOT.

Alum-notes: Not much today, but the fact that Ben Bishop is in Ottawa is looking like a healthy kickstart for Jake Allen. He won again yesterday, making 38 saves, including 18 in the first period alone. Meanwhile, former teammate Ondrej Palat, who these days can be seen in Norfolk, picked up an assist on Evan Oberg's 6th of the season in a 4-1 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Couturier's former partner in crime has 20 points in his AHL rookie year.

ETA: Alex Comtois is singing.

Around the league: Benoit Groulx is PISSED.