INSIDE HOCKEY

President’s Cup Championship

The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and Gatineau Olympiques will meet up for the President’s Cup title starting next Friday night in Rouyn-Noranda. Both teams got to the final with hard fought sweeps of the Saint John Sea Dogs and Halifax Mooseheads, respectively.

When play resumed on Tuesday night, Hugo Carpentier's three goals helped Rouyn-Noranda thrash the Sea Dogs 8-1.

On Wednesday night, Yannick Riendeau's goal with 7:42 left in regulation gave Rouyn-Noranda a sweep of Saint John with a 5-4 victory. In the other match, Paul Byron continued his torrid pace against Halifax as he added two goals and one assist in the 6-1 Olympiques victory. Gatineau completed the sweep on Thursday night as Giroux netted one goal and assisted on another as his team won 5-2. This will be the ninth time to the finals for Gatineau.

Deschamps Top Skater, Delmas Top Goalie

Chicoutimi center Nicolas Deschamps is the highest ranking North American prospect in the QMJHL for the 2008 NHL entry draft coming in at 21st among Canadian and American players. The 18-year-old native of Delson, QC played in all 70 games this season scoring 24 goals and adding 43 assists and had two goals and three assists in six playoff games as Chicoutimi bowed out to Quebec in six games.

Lewiston’s Peter Delmas topped all QMJHL netminders, as he finished third among North American goalies. Delmas, an 18-year-old from Bedford, NS, had a 17-13 record, 2.87 GAA, and 0.903 SV% in 34 regular season games played. The final rankings came out on Thursday.

Thirty QMJHL skaters and six netminders made the list with the rest as follows.

Skaters:

Maxime Sauve, C, Val-d’Or - 26th
Yann Sauve, D, Saint John - 29th
Luke Adam, C, St. John’s - 42nd
Danick Paquette, RW, Lewiston - 45th
Kelsey Tessier, C, Quebec - 46th
Jacob Lagace, LW, Chicoutimi - 55th
Mikhail Stefanovich, C, Quebec - 57th
Patrice Cormier, C, Rimouski - 61st
Mathieu Brodeur, D, Cape Breton - 69th
Samuel Groulx, D, Quebec - 76th
Philippe Cornet, LW, Rimouski - 80th
Joel Chouinard, D, Victoriaville - 99th
Alexandre Neron, D, Rimouski - 107th
Mathieu Tousignant, C, PEI - 111th
Antoine Roussel, LW, Chicoutimi - 118th
Samuel Morneau, LW, Baie-Comeau - 120th
Jordon Southorn, D, PEI - 122nd
Marc-Andre Bourdon, D, Rouyn-Noranda - 125th
Chris Doyle, C, PEI - 130th
Luc-Olivier Blain, C, Chicoutimi - 137th
Pierre A Vandall, LW, Shawinigan - 164th
Jean-Sebastien Berube, LW, Rouyn-Noranda - 166th
Pascal Amyot, D, Saint John - 169th
Steven Delisle, D, Gatineau - 171st
Mile Hoffman, C/LW, Drummondville - 177th
Tomas Knotek, C, Halifax - 180th
Eric Louis-Seize, LW, Halifax - 182nd
Travis Stacey, LW, Gatineau - 197th

Goalies:

Peter Delmas, Lewiston - 3rd
Jake Allen, St. John’s - 8th
Robert Mayer, Saint John - 14th
Marco Cousineau, Baie-Comeau - 20th
Mathieu Leclair, Baie-Comeau - 22nd
Nicolas Champion, Acadie-Bathurst - 26th

The Leaders

There is no change in the order from last week as Giroux continues to lead all playoff scorers with 12 goals and 25 assists in 14 games played, while Saint John left winger Scott Howes sits second with 15 goals and 11 assists over 14 games, and Acadie-Bathurst center Mathieu Perreault is once again third with three goals and 19 assists in 12 games played.

Rouyn-Noranda right winger Pier-Luc Giguere moves from third to first in the rookie scoring with five goals and five assists over 12 games played. Quebec right winger Mikhail Stefanovich is still second with four goals and four assists in 11 games. Acadie-Bathurst defenseman Remi Bouchard drops from second to third with three goals and five assists in 11 games.

Between the pipes, Rouyn-Noranda’s Maxim Gougeon’s 12-0 record, 2.21 GAA, and 0.927 SV% gives him the top spot, while his counterpart on the Gatineau Olympiques, Ryan Mior, backstops his way into second place as he is 12-1 with a GAA of 2.35 and 0.908 SV%. Finishing out the top three is Cape Breton’s Olivier Roy (5-6, 2.55 GAA, 0.914 SV%).

Games To Come

The President’s Cup championship gets underway Friday night in Rouyn-Noranda. Game Two will take place Saturday night in Rouyn-Noranda as well; Games Three and Four on Tuesday and Wednesday will be in Gatineau, Game Five, if necessary, is on Friday, May 9th in Rouyn-Noranda, Game Six is on Sunday in Gatineau, and Game Seven is in Rouyn-Noranda on Tuesday, May 13th.