It would seem Ricard likes his own traditions this time of year: Bathurst and Italians. M-O Brouillard was sent to the Titan for Giovanni Fiore (which means Johnny Flower, by the way), a first rounder in 2014, and a third rounder this year that previously belonged to Val-d'Or. The move means the end of the Tomas Torok experiment (7 points in 18 games).
Then they got Miguel Caron from Team I Do Not Want To Discuss Right Now Due To Recent Events for a fourth-rounder in 2014.
Gabriel Labbé was sent to (guess who?) Bathurst in return for Étienne Salvail, straight up. Not stirred or shaken.
And today, the Volts tried to give Alexandre Grenier to the Phoenix for a tenth rounder, but the papers were filed too late so they get to claim him off waivers instead. Noooooooooo!
Also leaving (well, sent down for now) is Érik Longtin.
Around the league:
Rimouski and Rouyn swapped goaltenders, as Carl Hozjan and Robin Gusse head to opposite sides of the province.
T.I.D.N.W.T.D.R.N.D.T.R.E also won the Jérémy Grégoire sweepstakes, also picking up netminder Francis Desrosiers in return for their next two first rounders, Thomas Gobeil and Loïk Leveillé.
Well well well, Moncton gets Phillip Danault. The return? Gabriel Gagné, first round selections in 2014 and 2015, a 2015 2nd-rounder as well as a first round selection in the 2014 Euro Draft. Somewhere in there is Alex (Alex? Who's Alex?) Ivan Barbashev which is drawing criticism (if not profanity).
Everything else you either knew already or is boring but you can check it out here anyway.
Alum-flash: In news that makes me less grumpy, apparently Max Villemaire has returned to the Sea Dogs from the Gwinett Gladiators of the ECHL. Over/under on how many penalty minutes that game will have, and what percentage are his? :D
Guindon made 22 saves. Meanwhile, Graham moved off the bench entirely (still bothered by an injury) and Kevin Darveau took the backup spot.
Yesterday:
GOALS
1
2
3
Total
DRUMMONDVILLE
1
0
4
5
VICTORIAVILLE
2
0
0
2
Victoriaville: Diaby, Halley.Drummondville: Brouillard the younger, Malouin, Verrier (2), Boudens. Caouette picked up two assists.
Twenty-seven stops made by Guindon this time.
Let's be honest, I literally missed this entire weekend (I feel like yesterday was Friday). You probably know more about these games than I do.
One thing I do know: PEI tomorrow!
PEI: 13-9-2-0, 28 points, 11th in the league, 97 GF, 88 GA, lost seven of their last ten, and the Ben Duffy/Josh Currie duo takes up two-thirds of the top 3 in league scoring (Grigo butted in the middle). Their netminder, Antoine Bibeau, has a GAA that is fourth-best in the league, 2.68, with a .915 SV%.
Drummondville: 14-12-0-0, 28 points, 9th in the league, 84 GF, 91 GA, are now up to W's in five of their last seven games, Verrier is on a tear with four goals in his last two, and Guindon has an 3.33 GAA and .870 SV%.
Head-to-head: Drummondville won both games against the team that will soon be formerly known as the Rocket, 4-2 over a year ago on November 2nd and 4-3 in overtime, two October 16ths ago. The winning goal at that time was scored by Max Villemaire.
Speaking of which: How is that guy doing, you might ask? One might expect the following stat to stand out: PIM. He has only played 5 games for Gwinnett (currently on reserve) and already has 22 minutes spent in that sin-bin.
Sean Couturier scored two goals this weekend and Charles Landry was finally called up to Syracuse only to be AWOL from the statsheet, probably having to settle for just watching the Crunch (and Ondrej Palat) beat both Mike Hoffman's Senators and Raman Hrabarenka's Devils before going on to thump the Worcester Sharks 6-1. Other notables: the only Bulldogs' goal to be scored yesterday was assisted by Gabriel Dumont, Yannick Riendeau scored and added an assist in a 6-3 Stockton win over Bakersfield, both Ryan McKiernan and Marc-Olivier Vachon (from McKiernan and Jonathan Brunelle, no less) scored in a 3-2 shootout win over Toronto, and Rémi Blanchard scored both goals in a 6-2 losing cause to Marc-Antoine Desnoyers (4 assists) and the UNB Varsity Reds yesterday.
Alum-roundup: Tonight the McGill Redmen men's hockey team took on the Carleton Ravens (pictures from this game will eventually surface as well). They won 6-4, and Ryan McKiernan would have had two goals but one was stolen from him by........Jonathan Brunelle. They were first and second star, respectively, and Marc-Olivier Vachon was all up in the assists and faceoff categories. Also J-P Mathieu and Benoit Levesque were there and the latter had a goal, yes, you get the picture, ex-Voltspalooza.
Elsewhere in the CIS, Remi Blanchard (U de Moncton) took on Marc-Antoine Desnoyers (UNB) and the former's team came out the victors this evening. Blanchard himself picked up a pair of assists. Meanwhile, Olivier Donovan scored in a losing cause for UQTR as they fell 6-2 to Ottawa.
Raman Hrabarenka didn't take long to get his first AHL point (assist), just 8 minutes, 18 seconds. Albany lost, though, 2-1. Former Volts' goaltender Jake Allen was unfortunate enough to take part in a 6-2 Peoria loss to Abbotsford. For their part, Adirondack and Sean Couturier had a better night. Couts took home first star honours in a 6-3 win over Portland (1 goal, 1 assist, six shots on goal). The Hamilton Bulldogs snuck out a 4-3 win in a shootout which Gabriel Dumont contributed to with a goal. Fred St-Denis was a +2. Mike Hoffman got an assist on the game-winning goal for Binghamton against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Ondrej Palat got an assist as Syracuse beat Hershey, 4-3.
The only ex-Drummondville player on an official ECHL list, Mr. Bouvet-Morrissette, was not on Cincinnati's starting roster this evening. The C(entral)HL is still in exhibition and the Bloomington Blaze counts Pier-Olivier Pelletier in its lineup while the Allen Americans have both Scott Howes and Andrew Randazzo in their ranks. The Denver Cutthroats (!) have one Takuma Kawai as part of theirs.
The LNAH was also full of ex-Volts doing productive (and penalty-productive) things, but I should have a whole post dedicated to that in the near future. Maybe.
A bunch of things decided they would take place the weekend I was off in Far Far Away (no donkeys included, but several cows and kittens. Also no reception).
First, when players become DJs:
Best remix for nightclub by DJ Jods (@OliJods10) feat DJ Narby (@Jonarby15) Official Pre-Game song of : Shawinigan Cataractes QMJHL
I may or may not be playing it at work at times that are not my lunch break such as it is currently.
Aaaand with the Volts no longer capable of keeping up the charge they had going in the first, #theshawi wins 4-3, Narbonne with the GWG. News dropped this morning that he has since joined the Moncton Wildcats as part of a trade that was originally thought to alleviate the 20-year old player count on the Memorial Cup champs' roster, at least until it was revealed that Patrick Downe is also 20. So why split up the DJs?
Hang on, this is a Drummondville blog. Moving on...
Scraping out a W in Victo: After that disappointing loss against #theshawi, the Volts decided to take it out on the Tigres. It took until 17:05 of the second period for someone to score, and that someone was Victo's Philippe Hudon. At the tail end of a power play (!) to open the 3rd, Marc-Olivier Brouillard tied the game with help from Olivier Archambault and Jordan Murray. The latter then enlisted the same guys to help him win the game in overtime, the end result of a major penalty on Hudon who had taken out his frustrations on the younger Brouillard behind Drummondville's net and thus permitted a 4 on 3 to begin the overtime period.
Drummondville is now 4-3-0-0 to start the season and take on the winless Sherbrooke Phoenix on Wednesday.
Hrabarenka, so long (for real, now): We knew this already, but it's official now. Raman Hrabarenka/Graborenko/That Guy has moved on to greener pastures in Albany, which officially also opens up a Euro spot...
And then there was Török: Speaking of Sherbrooke, they traded 6'2" right-winger Tomáš Török to the Volts for a sixth round pick in 2014, which alleviates said extra Euro spot and gives the Slovakian a chance to take on his former teammates as soon as tomorrow. The 17 year old recorded 20 points in 9 games with HVK Svolen's Under-18s and four points in 13 games with their Under-20s last season. He had only played in 5 of Sherbrooke's 7 games before being traded, picking up 1 assist.
Howes it going: Scott Howes made a brief appearance at Texas Stars' training camp, and then back to Allen to participate in the Americans' training camp, where it was discovered that not only have they invited his brother Andrew to take part, but also another Andrew...Randazzo. The Ontario bracket of Drummondville seems to be quite aptly represented in the Lone Star State!
Lefebvre with Wheeling: In Bulldogs' camp, the roster that began with 43 players is continuing to thin out, as Hamilton have released one-time Voltigeur Olivier Fortier and sent Philippe Lefebvre down to the ECHL. For their part, Frédéric St-Denis and Gabriel Dumont are expected to be part of the final Bulldogs' roster.
University roundup: The CIS season is already underway, and should you be looking for more local forms of hockey to replace the NHL and can't always get to Drummondville (like me in the last, oh, two years), you can still have an alumni-fix (and take part in some really cool, competitive hockey):
Jean-Philippe Mathieu, Ryan McKiernan, Marc-Olivier Vachon, Jonathan Brunelle, and Benoit Levesque are (at last check) McGill Redmen;
Corey Garland and Olivier Jannard are Concordia Stingers;
Guillaume Nadeau and Olivier Hotte are Patriotes (UQTR);
...and a bunch of teams have yet to play so I cannot appropriately peruse their rosters.
Look, this already happened: Jonathan Brunelle (Jean-Philippe Mathieu & Marc-Olivier Vachon) !!!
Alumni to return to Drummondville: La Tournée des Joueurs is set to visit Drummondville next Thursday, the 18th of October at 7 p.m. Tickets are going on sale for Volts' season ticket holders this Thursday and Friday from 9-9 before being opened up to the public on Saturday at 10 a.m. The latter sale is also supposedly going to be made available online and by phone, and the tickets (that get snatched up rather quickly) cost $20.
