By Station Nation StaffDRUMMONDVILLE - The first round drama started early at the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League entry draft at the Marcel Dionne Centre in Drummondville, Que.
The Lewiston Maineiacs, Acadie-Bathurst Titan, and Baie-Comeau Drakkar completed a complex trade that, in the end, gave the Maine squad the first overall pick in the draft. Olivier Roy, acquired by Lewiston in a trade on Friday, was sent packing to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
With the first overall pick, the Maineiacs selected eighth-ranked defenseman Dillon Fournier of the Lac St. Louis Lions. Fournier’s brother, Stefan, already plays with the Maineiacs.
As expected, the Halifax Mooseheads drafted Luca Ciampini who was ranked second by QMJHL Central Scouting. The skilled forward will hopefully provide some much needed goal scoring for the rebuilt Moose.
“He’s a goal-scorer — he scores from everywhere,” Central Scouting director Patrick Charbonneau told Metro. “Every time there’s a rebound, it goes on his stick. He’s always in the right place to score goals and he’s not afraid to go to the net in traffic to score.
“When he gets the puck, close to the net, the puck goes in. He’s going to score goals in this league.”
With the third overall pick, the Chicoutimi Sagueneens selected Dominic Poulin, a defenseman who played with Sém. Saint-François last season.
The top goaltender available at the draft, Francois Trembaly, was taken by the Val-d’Or Foreurs with the fourth pick. Tremblay was ranked ninth by Central Scouting.
After completing the massive transaction, Baie-Comeau selected Frederick Gamel, a player that the Titan were very interested in.
Sixth overall went to Chicoutimi who selected Charles Hudon. The small forward was ranked 13th entering the draft.
Taylor Burke of Nova Scotia was the first Atlantic boy drafted on the day, going seventh overall to the Gatineau Olympiques.
The Shawinigan Cataractes came up next, selecting New Brunswick born defenseman Justin Hache with the eighth pick of the draft.
"It's an honour for me to be here to represent the whole province,'' Hache said to the Telegraph-Journal yesterday. "There are a lot of good hockey players in New Brunswick and being the only Acadian and the only New Brunswicker (projected to be drafted in the first round) is an honour.''
The Shawinigan Cataractes took 25th ranked Alex Dubeau with the ninth overall selection, making him the first “off the board” selection of the day.
Dubeau, a goaltender, even has his own website.
Rimouski selected Halifax native Liam O’Brien with the 10th overall pick, making him the second Nova Scotian drafted in the opening round.
“Liam is a gritty, physical Scott Hartnell type forward (without the hair),” said player agent Allan Walsh on Twitter.
Victor Provencher was taken by the PEI Rocket in the 11 slot, becoming the first 1993 born player to be selected in the draft. He was ranked 17th by Central Scouting.
With their third selection in the opening round, Austyn Hardie went 11th overall to Chicoutimi. The pick was also a bit off the board as Hardie was ranked 35th overall by CSR which would have made him a late second round pick.
The Lewiston Maineiacs, Acadie-Bathurst Titan, and Baie-Comeau Drakkar completed a complex trade that, in the end, gave the Maine squad the first overall pick in the draft. Olivier Roy, acquired by Lewiston in a trade on Friday, was sent packing to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
With the first overall pick, the Maineiacs selected eighth-ranked defenseman Dillon Fournier of the Lac St. Louis Lions. Fournier’s brother, Stefan, already plays with the Maineiacs.
As expected, the Halifax Mooseheads drafted Luca Ciampini who was ranked second by QMJHL Central Scouting. The skilled forward will hopefully provide some much needed goal scoring for the rebuilt Moose.
“He’s a goal-scorer — he scores from everywhere,” Central Scouting director Patrick Charbonneau told Metro. “Every time there’s a rebound, it goes on his stick. He’s always in the right place to score goals and he’s not afraid to go to the net in traffic to score.
“When he gets the puck, close to the net, the puck goes in. He’s going to score goals in this league.”
With the third overall pick, the Chicoutimi Sagueneens selected Dominic Poulin, a defenseman who played with Sém. Saint-François last season.
The top goaltender available at the draft, Francois Trembaly, was taken by the Val-d’Or Foreurs with the fourth pick. Tremblay was ranked ninth by Central Scouting.
After completing the massive transaction, Baie-Comeau selected Frederick Gamel, a player that the Titan were very interested in.
Sixth overall went to Chicoutimi who selected Charles Hudon. The small forward was ranked 13th entering the draft.
Taylor Burke of Nova Scotia was the first Atlantic boy drafted on the day, going seventh overall to the Gatineau Olympiques.
The Shawinigan Cataractes came up next, selecting New Brunswick born defenseman Justin Hache with the eighth pick of the draft.
"It's an honour for me to be here to represent the whole province,'' Hache said to the Telegraph-Journal yesterday. "There are a lot of good hockey players in New Brunswick and being the only Acadian and the only New Brunswicker (projected to be drafted in the first round) is an honour.''
The Shawinigan Cataractes took 25th ranked Alex Dubeau with the ninth overall selection, making him the first “off the board” selection of the day.
Dubeau, a goaltender, even has his own website.
Rimouski selected Halifax native Liam O’Brien with the 10th overall pick, making him the second Nova Scotian drafted in the opening round.
“Liam is a gritty, physical Scott Hartnell type forward (without the hair),” said player agent Allan Walsh on Twitter.
Victor Provencher was taken by the PEI Rocket in the 11 slot, becoming the first 1993 born player to be selected in the draft. He was ranked 17th by Central Scouting.
With their third selection in the opening round, Austyn Hardie went 11th overall to Chicoutimi. The pick was also a bit off the board as Hardie was ranked 35th overall by CSR which would have made him a late second round pick.
Reports say that the Mooseheads were looking to take Hardie.
The Acadie-Bathurst Titan selected 13th overall, snagging yet another Halifax native in Brent Turnbull, who plays with Pictou County Weeks.
Patrick Roy and the Quebec Remparts came up next to select in the 14 position. Hearts stopped for a moment as he called out “Lac St. Louis Lions,” the site of top ranked prospect and NCAA bound Michael Matheson. Instead, the Remparts selected Patrick Walsh, who was 24th ranked.
The Rocket came up again at number-15, taking Louik Marcotte from College Charles-Lemoyne.
In the 16th spot, the Drakkar selected unranked Alexandre Larouche. He is a big lad, listed at 6’4”, 211 pounds.
Charles-David Beaudoin went to his hometown Drummondville Voltigeurs with the 17th overall selection.
Finally, Saint John closed out the first round my taking hometown forward Ryan Tesink with the 18th overall selection.
NOTES: The QMJHL website crashed just after the first few selections were made. It crashes every season on draft day… a fairly large deal went down in the first round involving the Cataractes and Junior. The transaction saw Charles-Olivier Roussel traded to Montreal for Dillon Donnelly, Loik Poudrier, the Junior’s first pick in the draft, and a fourth round pick in the 2011 draft… several QMJHL related topics were trending on Twitter during the opening round.
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