By Patrick King, Sportsnet.ca
St. John’s Fog Devils head coach Real Paiement set the benchmark Friday night in Lewiston, Maine. Paiement, who has coached Granby, Chicoutimi and Acadie-Bathurst in his Québec Major Junior Hockey League coaching career, set the record for games coached in the league.
Paiement, who was the coach of the year in the 2001-2002 season while with Acadie-Bathurst, broke the previous record of 988 games coached in the QMJHL. The previous record was set in 2001 by Guy Chouinard.
Paiement is on pace to coach in his 1,000th career game on Nov. 2 when the Fog Devils host their expansion brothers, the Saint John Sea Dogs.
Screaming Eagles goaltender in the record books
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles goaltender Olivier Bellavance-Roy recorded the fourth longest shutout streak in the league’s history last week. The 16-year-old rookie posted back-to-back shutouts and saw his streak broken at 167 minutes and 51 seconds when he was beat by Acadie-Bathurst forward Tomas Svoboda in the first period of Saturday’s game.
The all-time record was set by former Shawinigan goaltender Mathieu Chouinard in the 1997-1998 season with a shutout streak of 207 minutes and four seconds.
Knights receive boost
It might not be Patrick Kane or Sam Gagner but the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League finally received a key piece from last season’s lineup.
Goaltender Steve Mason, who set an OHL record for wins last season with 45, was returned to the Knights from the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. Mason, who was drafted by Columbus in the third round of the 2006 draft, cracked the Blue Jackets’ roster but didn’t see any game time with the big club.
Mason will be practicing with the Knights Wednesday and will add stability to a team which has struggled mightily to open the season. In six games, London has allowed 24 goals and sit in last place in the Western Conference’s Midwest Division.
In other Knights news, London has acquired center Chad Beal from the defending league champion Plymouth Whalers for a draft pick.
Blades acquire European sniper
The Saskatoon Blades added a shot of offence with the acquisition of Czech sniper Ondrej Fiala from the Everett Silvertips. Fiala, who was acquired for a draft pick, was a second round pick of the Minnesota Wild in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
Fiala didn’t wait long to make his presence felt as he scored twice and added two assists in his first game with the Blades.
To make room for Fiala, the Blades sent Slovakian forward Robert Brandis to the Brandon Wheat Kings as each team is only permitted two Europeans on their roster. The Blades opted to keep Finnish defenceman Jiri Niemi.
Saskatoon also added overage defenceman John Flatters from the Prince Albert Raiders for 18-year-old Dustin Cameron. With the acquisitions of Fiala and Flatters, the Blades now have five overagers and must deal or release two by the deadline of Oct. 11.
In other trades, the Kootenay Ice sent overage forward Clayton Bauer to the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for 17-year-old Matt Fraser and a draft pick. The Chilliwack Bruins added overage forward Brandon Campos from the Everett Silvertips. Bruins forward Kenny Petkau, a former first round bantam pick, announced his retirement from hockey.
In the QMJHL, the Rimouski Océanic sought help in goal and acquired Michaël Dupont from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar for a draft pick. The OHL’s Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors added overage forward Kris Sparre from the Barrie Colts for draft picks.
Noteworthy: Brandon forward Tyler Dittmer was named the WHL and CHL player of the week. … Sault Ste. Marie forward Dustin Jeffrey was named the OHL player of the week. … Chicoutimi forward Francis Paré was named the QMJHL’s offensive player of the week while Cape Breton goaltender Olivier Bellavance-Roy was named the QMJHL’s defensive player of the week and CHL goaltender of the week. … The defending Memorial Cup champion Vancouver Giants announced Spencer Machacek will be the captain this season. Machacek takes over for Milan Lucic who is currently with the Boston Bruins in the NHL. Should Lucic return from the NHL he will take over the captaincy. The Giants also announced they have released overage forward Mike Wuchterl. … The Kootenay Ice won their 400th game in franchise history in a 2-1 win over Red Deer on Friday. … The Québec Remparts were fined $1,000 for a comment made by head coach Patrick Roy.
