A couple months into the season, Drake Batherson has been the QMJHL's best story.
Batherson scored a hat trick on Sunday afternoon in Saint John - which included the game-winner in overtime - to give him an incredible 15 goals in 13 games this season. This comes after he scored 22 goals all of last season (in 61 games).
A fourth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators last year, Batherson is leading the league in goals and points (24). It's highly unlikely he maintains his 1.15 goals per game average, but Batherson could have quite an impressive stat line come March.
As HockeyProspect.com writes, "Batherson is the classic late-bloomer type of player who was undersized but had a late growth spurt. He’s showing early on this season that he’s going to have a dominant year in the QMJHL."
The top five scorers in the league at the moment all play in the Maritimes Division: Batherson (Cape Breton), Mika Cyr (Moncton), Filip Zadina (Halifax), Maxime Fortier (Halifax) and Jeremy McKenna (Moncton).
As Willy Palov notes, the top three rookie scorers - Zadina, Jakob Pelletier (Moncton) and Ostap Safin (Saint John) - also all play in the Maritimes.
Some other notes from around the circuit...
1. While Batherson has put Cape Breton's offence in the spotlight early this year, their defence and goaltending has to be a concern. The team has allowed a league high 56 goals and have had a wild few weeks. In their past four games, Cape Breton has allowed nine, three, seven and five goals against, respectively. Eagles games have been entertaining, at least.
2. The Screaming Eagles opened the scoring on Sunday against the Sea Dogs. Anyone who has watched the Dogs this season knows they've had issues getting off to quality starts - and the numbers reflect that. Saint John has scored first in just three of their 14 games, which is tied for the league low.
3. Given how many great offensive teams the Sea Dogs have had in their history, I don't think many people would have picked this year's squad to set the franchise record for quickest back-to-back goals.
4. Saint John's choice of shootout shooters on Saturday has certainly been a hot topic of debate. After Joe Veleno shot first, the team went with Matt Green and Samuel LeBlanc, two players who are not known for their goal scoring ability. Perhaps they've looked good in practice shootouts this year. Josh Dixon would have looked like a genius if they had scored, though.
5. The shootout choices made me think about the odd situation Josh Dixon is in. How often do you see a guy come in - brand new to the league - in the final weeks of training camp? While we've all watched many of these guys play for a few years, Dixon is probably still learning what each are capable of.
6. Related to that, can we maybe give Dixon a chance, folks? He's been here 14 games and people already want the guy fired. Come on.
7. A nice touch by the Sea Dogs and Islanders equipment staffs on Thursday.
8. It's too bad Alex D'Orio didn't make Team QMJHL for the Canada Russia Series. He has been phenomenal this season.Tonight is for you Mr.Downie... THANK YOU! pic.twitter.com/FKeLY3wJ8A— DK (@SeaDogsDK) October 19, 2017
9. Last week, the league handed Shawinigan's Charlie Roy a 15-game suspension for this nasty incident.
10. It's great to see Julien Tessier off to a strong start with the Wildcats this year (he has three goals and 10 assists). A former first-round pick of the Sea Dogs, Tessier had rough battle with Chron's disease during his time in Saint John, but seems to have gotten things under control over the past couple seasons.#QMJHL: 15-game suspension for Charlie Roy after this cheap shot that knocked out LW Maxime Comtois (ANA), who was off to a great start pic.twitter.com/snxgSsLkZ2— Steve Kournianos (@TheDraftAnalyst) October 17, 2017
11. It's been said a million times, but the Charlottetown Islanders' webcast is unreal. It's a shame they don't have a centre ice video board at Eastlink Centre.
12. You know who isn't buying the Moncton Wildcats hype (yet, anyways)? The people who pick the CHL Top 10 Rankings. The Wildcats, despite being first overall in the QMJHL at the time, weren't even an honourable mention last week. Not that the Rankings mean anything, but it's an interesting note.
13. Speaking of the CHL Top 10, the WHL's Portland Winterhawks were ranked No. 1 last week. Danny Flynn picked a good team to join.
14. Former Sea Dogs forward Stephen Anderson is currently leading Atlantic University Sport in goals with seven in six games.
15. After playing just seven games with UNB last year, Oliver Cooper has three goals and two assists in six games with the Varsity Reds this year.
16. Some bad news: Spencer Smallman could miss a couple months due to a shoulder injury, per a source. He had yet to appear in a regular season AHL or ECHL game.
17. The St. Stephen Aces acquired Nico Blachman's MHL rights last week. The team said they are hopeful he will join the club sometime this season.
18. Dodgers in six.
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