SAINT JOHN PLAYERS COULD WIN BIG

The 2010 edition of the QMJHL’s Golden Puck Awards is scheduled to take place on Wednesday night in Montreal, with several members of the regular season champion Saint John Sea Dogs having been nominated for various league awards.

SEA DOGS COULD WIN BIG TONIGHT
In the four years of Saint John Sea Dogs hockey, only Payton Liske (Top Scholastic Player) has won a major league award.

That looks like it will change tonight.

The following are the Sea Dogs players and the awards they are up for: Michel-Briere Trophy (Most Valuable Player) - Mike Hoffman; RDS Cup (Rookie of the Year) - Stanislav Galiev; Frank-J.-Selke Trophy (Sportsman of the Year) - Mike Hoffman; Michael-Bossy Trophy (Top Professional Prospect) - Stanislav Galiev; Ron-Lapointe Trophy (Coach of the Year) - Gerard Gallant; Michel-Bergeron Trophy.

HOFFMAN ON THE RADIO
This week, Inside the Q turns its attention to this year’s Golden Puck Awards.

MVP candidate Mike Hoffman of the Saint John Sea Dogs shares his impressions on being nominated for the celebrated Michel-Brière Trophy and talks about what challenges he expects in the second round.

Also, “Q” expert Willy Palov of the Chronicle Herald gives his predictions on which players are the favourites to take home the most hardware at this year’s awards.

Finally, 2007-08 Scholastic Player of the Year Robert Slaney stops by to talk about his season with the Toronto Marlies.

Click HERE to here the show.

PREDICTIONS
With the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League set to hand out their yearly hardware tonight in Montreal, what better way to celebrate then enlightening the world with our predictions.

Below are the lists of trophies that will presented at this year’s Golden Puck Awards ceremony. The nominees for each award are listed below. Remember, this is who we think will win, not who we think should win.

Michel-Brière Trophy (Most Valuable Player)
Luke Adam – Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Gabriel Dumont – Drummondville Voltigeurs
Mike Hoffman – Saint John Sea Dogs

Prediction: Luke Adam – Just about the only player on the Screaming Eagles who wasn’t a bust this year. This award will be tight.

RDS Cup (Rookie of the Year)
Stanislav Galiev – Saint John Sea Dogs
Robin Gusse – Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Tomas Jurco – Saint John Sea Dogs
Xavier Ouellet – Montreal Juniors
Adam Polasek – P.E.I. Rocket
Petr Straka – Rimouski Océanic

Prediction: Petr Straka – We think Galiev should win, but playing with Mike Hoffman and Nicholas Petersen all season could hurt him. Then again, it could be said that being able to play with two NHL drafted 20-year olds is an asset.

Émile “Butch” Bouchard Trophy (Best Defenseman)
Mark Barberio – Moncton Wildcats
Joël Chouinard – Victoriaville Tigres
David Savard – Moncton Wildcats

Prediction: David Savard – The league will look bad if they don’t pick enough Wildcats.

Marcel-Robert Trophy (TELUS Scholastic Player of the Year)
Pascal Amyot – Halifax Mooseheads
Vincent Bourgeois – Montreal Juniors
Joël Chouinard – Victoriaville Tigres
Dominic Jalbert – Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Marc-Olivier Vachon – Drummondville Voltigeurs

Prediction: Pascal Amyot – We can’t really predict a winner for this one, so we’ll pick Amyot because he used to play in Saint John.

Frank-J.-Selke Trophy (Sportsman of the Year)
Philip-Michaël Devos – Victoriaville Tigres
Mike Hoffman – Saint John Sea Dogs
David Savard – Moncton Wildcats

Prediction: Mike Hoffman – Seems to be a good sport on the ice, but how are his fishing and hunting skills?

Michael-Bossy Trophy (Top Professional Prospect)
Stanislav Galiev – Saint John Sea Dogs
Brandon Gormley – Moncton Wildcats
Kirill Kabanov – Moncton Wildcats

Prediction: Brandon Gormley – We never really understood this award, but we doubt Kabanov wins it.

Ron-Lapointe Trophy (Coach of the Year)
Mario Duhamel – Drummondville Voltigeurs
Danny Flynn – Moncton Wildcats
Gérard Gallant – Saint John Sea Dogs

Prediction: Danny Flynn – This is a tough one and could go any way tonight. We are taking Flynn because it takes a brave man to deal with Neil Hodge and Les Stoodley for an entire season. Surviving H1N1 will be considered an asset.

Maurice-Filion Trophy (General Manager of the Year)
Danny Flynn – Moncton Wildcats
Jérôme Mésonéro – Victoriaville Tigres
Dominic Ricard – Drummondville Voltigeurs

Prediction: Dominic Ricard – Takes skill to have a competitive team the year after a championship.