SASKATOON, Sask. – Stefan Fournier knows enough Russian to chirp his opposition.
The Halifax Mooseheads forward responded in kind to the Saskatoon Blades’ Russian goaltender, Andrey Makarov, during a friendly, bilingual trash talk during Thursday’s pre-tournament banquet. Fournier predicted he would score on Makarov, while proceeding to tell him to enjoy the imposing screen he plans on providing for Sunday’s game.
"He barked at me in Russian and then I barked a few appropriate remarks back in Russian," Fournier said Saturday.
Makarov may only have himself to blame for the lashing he received in his native tongue. Two years ago, the two were teammates in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on the Lewiston MAINEiacs. Fournier developed a close friendship with Makarov and fellow Russian Kirill Kabanov while learning a few choice Russian words from his teammates.
They played together during just one season, but the bond and friendship stayed strong through the past two years.
"He’s a fantastic kid," Fournier said. "Apparently he’s learned more English. I had a fun time listening to him talk."
The two are set to face each other in the MasterCard Memorial Cup after believing they would have the possibility of playing together in the same tournament a year ago. Following their only season together in Lewiston, the MAINEiacs were sold to the league and the team’s assets were liquidated in a dispersal draft. Fournier was chosen by Victoriaville, while Makarov wasn’t taken at all in the two round draft.
It’s a chip Makarov still carries on his shoulder.
"(It was a) disappointment because nobody picked me up and I go back to Europe," he said.
Makarov didn’t stay in Europe for long. He was taken by the Blades in the Canadian Hockey League import draft a few weeks later and resumed his major junior career in the Western Hockey League. The Blades had seen Makarov at the under-17 tournament in Timmins, Ont. in 2010, and after speaking with some NHL personnel, they believed he had the potential to progress.
It’s strange to think now that Makarov emerged as a world-class goalie that none of the QMJHL teams would see enough value in him to take him in the dispersal draft. According to former MAINEiacs general manager Roger Shannon, the confusion wasn’t in his talent, but where they could obtain it.
"There was some confusion as to how he had to be drafted," Shannon told Sportsnet.ca. "He could have been taken in the dispersal draft and he wasn’t because there were some teams that thought they could let him go to the next day’s (midget) draft and just draft him as a regular player."
The gamble 17 teams took during the Lewiston dispersal draft would prove costly, and set in motion the dominoes for the Blades to land their starting goalie. The QMJHL, which would allow MAINEiacs players who weren’t taken in the dispersal draft to be taken in the regular draft, would only now permit a team to take Makarov in the import draft.
"There’s teams that wish they had taken him in the dispersal draft now because he’d be playing for their team, and not for Saskatoon," Shannon said.
Any QMJHL team kicking itself over missing the opportunity to lay claim to Makarov pales in comparison to the question marks surrounding the fate of the fallen MAINEiacs. In their last season, they managed to reach the league semifinals, but lost to the Saint John Sea Dogs, who would win their first of back-to-back championships.
The Sea Dogs were loaded in talent last season, but those with connections to Lewiston can’t help but wonder what may have been had owner Mark Just been able to retain the team for just one more season.
"I felt that we built a team knowing that the Memorial Cup was in Shawinigan in 2012 and that was our year," Shannon said. "We were really, really going to go for it.
"I do think it was going to come down to Lewiston and Saint John (last) year. And it would have been a dogfight to see who got to the Memorial Cup."
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Shannon, the architect behind a team whose greatness was never realized. His players, soon spread throughout the league to different teams, felt the same disappointment.
"We had our month of sulking, all the boys," Fournier said. "The questions of what could have been, what could have happened, they’re bothersome when you’re 19 years old.
"We had a pretty power-packed team. Not with the same names that Saint John had, but at the same token, I can’t tell you what would have happened."
"I think we had a chance the next year for sure to go to Memorial Cup," Makarov said. "We (had) such a good team in Lewiston."
Four members from the MAINEiacs’ final season received a ring last year. Shannon, who became an assistant general manager of the Cataractes, was joined by Kabanov, Pierre-Olivier Morin and Michael Chaput, last year’s tournament MVP.
Now two former MAINEiacs have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some former teammates playing with new teams. It may not answer the question as to what they could have accomplished together, but the connection to a team that disbanded too soon remains.
"It’s kind of neat they’re playing each other," said Shannon, now the assistant general manager and director of scouting for the Moncton Wildcats.
"Now I’m in a different spot," Fournier concluded, "doesn’t really matter anymore because I got my chance to win."
