QMJHL Hall of Fame Inductions

Last Wednesday night, the League hosted their 13th annual Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony and Golden Puck Awards Gala. Eric Desjardins, Pierre Turgeon, Orval Tessier, and Michel Deziel were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Desjardins played with the Granby Bisons from 1986 to 1988 scoring 32 goals and 73 assists in 128 games. He was named to the second All-Star team in his rookie season and the first All-Star team the next year. The Bisons won the Jean-Rougeau Trophy as the regular season champions in 1988.

Desjardins won the Emile Bouchard Trophy as the Q’s top rearguard in 1988. He played for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in 1988 and 989 winning the gold in 1988. The Montreal Canadiens selected him 38th overall in the 1987 NHL draft. Desjardins won the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993 scoring 14 points in 20 games with three goals coming in the second game of the finals against Los Angeles in Montreal’s 3-2 overtime win.

Deziel played four seasons with the Sorel Éperviers from 1970-74. He scored 196 goals and added 261 assists over 241 games. He was a QMJHL first-team All-Star in the 1973-74 campaign. In his final season in the QMJHL, he netted 92 goals and 135. His linemates were Pierre Larouche and Jacques Cossette. Their 692 points that season still stands as a QMJHL record.

Dezeil’s record of 92 goals and 135 assists still stands as a record for points by a left winger. In 1973-74, the Éperviers won the Jean-Rougeau Trophy as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season champions in 1973-74. Their 25 consecutive wins and 27 consecutive games without a loss still stands as a league record. The Buffalo Sabres selected Deziel 47th overall in the NHL draft, and the New England Whalers took him 56th overall in the WHA draft.

Over the course of his junior career, Tessier coached three QMJHL teams (Cornwall Royals, Quebec Remparts, Chicoutimi Saguenéens) and one OHL team (Kitchener Rangers) from 1971-72 to 1988-89. His record during that time was 320-249-16. He made the QMJHL first team All-Star in 1971-72, 1974-75 and 1975-76; second team in 1972-73 and 1977-78; and third team in 1979-80. His first season in Cornwall saw the team go 47-13-2 with 96 points winning the Jean-Rougeau Trophy as the regular season champions.

On their way to the Memorial Cup, they defeated Verdun, Shawinigan and Quebec to win the President Cup title and Peterborough to win the Memorial Cup. The next year under his guidance, Quebec finished first in the league standings with 102 points to win the Jean-Rougeau Trophy. The Remparts defeated Cornwall in seven games in the Presidents Cup final.

Tessier coached Chicoutimi Saguenéens for two seasons in the late 1970s before joining the Kitchener Rangers (OHL). In 1980-81, he led the Rangers to the Memorial Cup final. He became the first QMJHL alumni to win the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL Coach of the Year.

Turgeon played with Granby for two seasons from 1985-87 and was Desjardins’ teammate in his rookie year. Over that period, he scored 116 goals and assisted on 152 others in 128 games; an average of 2.11 points per game. At the end of the 1985-86 season, Granby won the Jean-Rougeau Trophy with 100 points.

Turgeon was a third team all-star in both of his QMJHL seasons and won the Michel Bergeron Trophy as the League’s top offensive rookie in 1985-86 and the Michael Bossy Trophy as its top professional prospect in 1986-87. Turgeon played for Team Canada at the 1987 World Junior Hockey Championships and was selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1987 NHL entry draft.

Golden Puck Awards

The Golden Puck Awards were also held in conjunction with the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. The winners were:

Michel Briere Trophy (MVP) - Francis Paré, Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Emile “Butch” Bouchard Trophy (Best Defenseman) - Marc-André Bourdon, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
Marcel Robert Trophy (Scholastic Player of the Year) - Robert Slaney, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
The RDS Cup - Olivier Roy, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Humanitarian Of The Year - Chris Morehouse, Moncton Wildcats
Mike Bossy Trophy (Top Pro Prospect) - Mikhail Stefanovich, Quebec Remparts
Jacques-Plante Trophy (Best GAA) - Bobby Nadeau, Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Jean-Béliveau Trophy (Highest Point Total) - Mathieu Perreault, Acadie-Bathurst Titan

Awards Presented on-ice at the Start of the Playoffs:

Luc Robitaille - Rouyn-Noranda
Robert Lebel - Chicoutimi
Raymond Lagace (top rookie) - Olivier Roy, Cape Breton
Michel Bergeron - Nicolas Deschamps, Chicoutimi
Guy Carbonneau - Olivier Fortier, Rimouski
Kevin Lowe - Mathieu Bolduc, Chicoutimi

All-Star Teams:

All-Rookie Team

Goaltender - Olivier Roy (Cape Breton)
Defensemen - Samuel Groulx (Quebec), Simon Després (Saint John)
Left-winger - Nicolas Deschamps (Chicoutimi)
Center - Tomas Knotek (Halifax)
Right-winger - Jacob Lagacé (Chicoutimi)

Second-Team

Goaltender - Marco Cousineau (Baie-Comeau)
Defensemen - Kevin Marshall (Lewiston), Ivan Vishnevskiy (Rouyn-Noranda)
Left-winger - Michael Dubuc (Rouyn-Noranda)
Center - Mathieu Perreault (Acadie-Bathurst)
Right-winger - Jakub Voracek (Halifax)

First-Team

Goaltender - Kevin Desfossés (Quebec)
Defensemen - Marc-André Bourdon (Rouyn-Noranda), Marc-André Dorion (Baie-Comeau)
Left-winger - Stefano Giliati (Lewiston)
Center - Francis Paré (Chicoutimi)
Right-winger - Claude Giroux (Gatineau)

Three awards will also be presented at the Annual Session in Cape Breton in June. They are the Maurice-Filion Trophy (General Manager of the Year), the John Horman Trophy (Administrator of the Year) and the Jean-Sawyer Trophy (Marketing Director of the Year).

Messier Leaves Drakkar

On Friday, the Baie-Comeau Drakkar announced that assistant coach Eric Messier, who has been with the team for three seasons, will be leaving his post for personal reasons.

Moncton Wildcats Draft First Overall

On Thursday, the league announced that the Moncton Wildcats will have the first overall pick in the 2008 draft in June at Centre 200 in Sydney, NS.

Rimouski to Host 2009 Memorial Cup

On Thursday, 2009 MasterCard Memorial Cup selection committee president Bernard Lord announced that the Rimouski Océanic will host the 2009 Memorial Cup. Rimouski had all of the right ingredients from top to bottom with the organizing committee, great installations, a good hockey team, the money, and the community behind the bid.
Chicoutimi, Halifax, Lewiston, and Shawinigan were also in the running and were all very prepared and had very professional presentations making the decision very difficult to make. The selection committee was made up of Bernard Lord, Jacques Gauthier, Stéphane Quintal and Camille Thériault.

The tournament will take place from May 15th-23rd, 2009.

Playoff Results

On Friday night, Brad Marchand led the Halifax Mooseheads with a goal and two assists as the Mooseheads doubled Cape Breton 4-2; Hugo Carpentier’s hat trick led Rouyn-Noranda to a 4-3 win over Rimouski; Michael Kirkpatrick, Payton Liske, Christopher DiDomenico, and Scott Howes all scored one goal each as Saint John nipped Acadie-Bathurst 4-3; and Paul Byron, Darryl Smith, and Matthew Pistilli netted a goal apiece in Gatineau’s 3-1 win over Quebec.

Bryce Swan’s game-winner 6:29 into the third saw Halifax nip Cape Breton 4-3; Patrick Prokop’s goal and three assists helped Gatineau defeat Quebec 5-2; Maxime Macenauer scored at the 11:57 mark of the second overtime as Rouyn-Noranda edged Rimouski 2-1; and Keven Guérette-Charland’s three goals gave Saint John a 5-2 win over Acadie-Bathurst.

Halifax, Saint John, Gatineau, and Rouyn-Noranda now enjoy 2-0 leads in their best of seven quarterfinal series.

The Leaders

Gatineau right winger Claude Giroux continues to lead all scorers with five goals and 15 assists in seven playoff games with his teammate, defenseman Patrick Prokop in second as he has also played seven games scoring one goal with 14 assists. Finishing out the top three is Halifax center Peter-James Corsi with six goals and eight assists in eight games.

Acadie-Bathurst rearguard Remi Blanchard leads all rookie point getters with three goals and five assists in the seven games that he has played in. Shawinigan right winger Nicolas Peterson is second with five goals and one assist in five games, while Chicoutimi left winger Jacob Lagace skates into third with three goals and two assists in six games.

Between the pipes, Rouyn-Noranda’s Maxim Gougeon leads the way with his 6-0 record, 1.69 GAA, and 0.946 SAV %. Backstopping his way into second place is Rimouski’s Jean-Christophe Blanchard (4-3, 1.89 GAA, 0.937 SAV %), while Halifax’s Mark Yetman rounds out the top three with his record of six wins against two losses, 2.14 GAA, and 0.922 SAV %.

Cape Breton’s Olivier Roy leads all rookies as he is 4-4 with a 2.48 GAA, and 0.905 SAV %. St. John’s Jake Allen (2-1, 3.74 GAA, 0.855 SAV %) still sits second, while Acadie-Bathurst’s Nicolas Champion (4-4, 4.43 GAA, 0.843 SAV %) rounds out the top three.

Games To Come

Tuesday

Gatineau @ Québec
Halifax @ Cape Breton
Rouyn-Noranda @ Rimouski
Saint John @ Acadie-Bathurst

Wednesday

Gatineau @ Québec
Halifax @ Cape Breton
Rouyn-Noranda @ Rimouski
Saint John @ Acadie-Bathurst

Friday

* Cape Breton @ Halifax
* Rouyn-Noranda @ Rimouski
* Québec @ Gatineau

Saturday

* Halifax @ Cape Breton
* Acadie-Bathurst @ Saint John

Sunday
* Gatineau @ Québec
* Saint John @ Acadie-Bathurst

*if necessary