Friday Night Hockey
The all-Maritime tilt wasn’t exactly a coach’s dream, but it was highly entertaining.
The Halifax coaching staff of Dominique Ducharme, Jim Midgely and Steve Hartley have been a pleasure to deal with. The group is young, energetic and highly entertaining.
Here’s hoping the injury to Nathan MacKinnon isn’t longer than the Mooseheads are letting on. While he’s expected to be out of the lineup for up to two weeks, the rest on a battered body may be equally as important as healing the lower body impediment.
Props to Bill Armstrong and the rest of the St. Louis Blues scouting staff. They have a couple of gems in Dmitrij Jaskin and Yannick Veilleux. But I do believe they missed the boat on not signing Stephen MacAulay. He’s about as honest a player as you could find.
One scout may have had a point when he quipped that Nathan MacKinnon makes a lot of room for Jonathan Drouin. We’ll see how it plays out with MacKinnon out for up to two weeks.
You can make an argument that Jaskin is the best player in the Canadian Hockey League.
Moncton goalie Alex Dubeau looks like a different guy than the guy we saw last year playing for Shawinigan in the Mastercard Memorial Cup.
Moncton head coach and GM Danny Flynn should write a book. His hockey travels have taken him right across North America and at just about every level. If he writes it, I’ll buy it.
Speaking of Flynn, the FNH crew could not have appreciated spending most of our Thursday with the Wildcats at practice and then a two hour briefing in Flynn’s office.
A new downtown rink in Moncton would be great. The Coliseum is starting to show its age. Not to mention, it’s the hottest broadcasts booth I’ve ever worked in.
QMJHL
I still can’t believe the New Jersey Devils kept Stefan Matteau Jr. There are whispers that a one-game team imposed suspension in Blainville-Boisbriand earlier this season may have had something to do with his remaining in New Jersey despite very limited minutes.
OHL
Ran into Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff in the airport on the weekend. He thinks a long-run into the OHL playoffs with Barrie will benefit Mark Scheifele. Further, it became evident that strength might be a factor with the Jets. It shouldn’t be with the Colts.
The Oshawa Generals are OHL contenders once again, but has the goaltending question really gone away?
Imagine the Sarnia Sting with Nail Yakupov, Alex Galchenyuk and Connor Murphy in the line-up.
Windsor, London, Barrie are sure bets to bid for the 2014 Mastercard Memorial Cup. Barrie already has a plan in-place to renovate the Barrie Molson Centre to add seats.
Great piece on Kyle Dubas during Hockey Day in Canada.
WHL
So much for the battle of the titans. Kelowna, while game, couldn’t stand the test on back-to-back nights against Portland, losing 5-3 on Friday and then getting Petan-ed on Saturday in a 5-1 loss.
The Friday night loss ended a 23-game home win streak for the Rockets.
The battle for the WHL scoring title runs through Portland, will it be Brendan Leipsic or Nicolas Petan?
The weekly question about the Saskatoon Blades? Are they all good now?
Stat Trick:
Upcoming FNH: Back in full swing, the FNH crew travels to the WFCU Centre Friday Night for a WHL Western Conference match-up featuring the Windsor Spitfires playing host to the Sarnia Sting.
More FNH:
February 22 — Kamloops @ Vancouver
March 1 — Moncton @ Rimouski
March 8 — London @ Sarnia
CHL: For more on the CHL, check out the latest from Patrick King.