Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Notebook: Tigres stay alive

Alexandre Garneau/Victoriaville Tigres
The Victoriaville Tigres staved off elimination on Wednesday night.

Benjamin Vigneault scored just 1:35 into overtime to give the Tigres are a 3-2 win over the Drummondville Voltigeurs and avoiding a sweep. The Volts will try once again to earn a spot in the QMJHL final in Friday's Game 5, which will take place in Drummondville.
The Drakkar/Eagles series resumes Thursday in Baie-Comeau following a nasty Game 4 that ended in an 8-2 Drakkar win. Eagles forward Cam MacDonald and Drakkar goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel recieved match penalties on separate plays – but no players will be suspended for Game 5, according to reports.
The Drakkar can clinch a spot in the league final with a win while an Eagles victory would send the series back to Sydney for Game 6 on Saturday.

JOB OPENINGS
There are some high profile job openings in the Maritimes Division right now.

The Halifax Mooseheads are looking for a new head coach after firing Jim Midgley after just one season. Midgley is a former Sea Dogs assistant coach and Rothesay Netherwood head coach.

The Moncton Wildcats, meanwhile, are looking for a new head coach after parting ways with Dan Lacroix. That move was long expected – but what wasn't expected was Moncton also starting the search for a new general manager. The team announced on April 18 that general manager Ritchie Thibeau "has accepted a senior position with J.D Irving effective May 6 and will be leaving the team."

Both the Mooseheads and Wildcats were swept in the first round of the playoffs and underperformed in the second half. The two teams are heading in different directions though with Halifax likely starting a rebuild and Moncton entering its contention window.

MACDOUGALL WATCH
An interesting note from Sportsnet's Jeff Marek – but it's a note that's been brought up many times over the past decade.
RINK IMPOVEMENTS
The Quebec government will be helping fund improvements to 10 of the 12 Quebec-based QMJHL arenas. The two excluded are presumably the newer rinks in Gatineau and Quebec City.
PEDDLE COMMITS TO STATE
Brady Peddle, the younger brother of Sea Dogs forward Tyler Peddle, has committed to Michigan State University.
The 16-year-old defenseman was a third-round pick of the Gatineau Olympiques in last year's QMJHL Entry Draft. He has spent the past two seasons playing US prep school hockey.

Not many Maritimers land with Big 10 conference schools, so this is a notable signing. Michigan State is coming off an excellent season and, like Maine, is seeing a rebirth in its program.

OTHER THINGS
  • CBC Sports has a story on Gardiner MacDougall and mentions something that doesn't get discussed publicly too much: how many pro opportunities has MacDougall had over the years?
  • One of the largest arenas in junior hockey, London's Budweiser Gardens, is getting a $24 million renovation.
  • The NHL Draft Lottery will take place May 7.
  • According to College Hockey Insider Mike McMahon, no changes to the CHL/NCAA rules are expected to come out of this year's American Hockey Coaches Convention, which is taking place this week in Florida.
  • Old news now, but Bradly Nadeau became the latest New Brunswicker to skate in an NHL game when he suited up for the Carolina Hurricanes on April 16. Nadeau recently signed his entry-level deal with the Hurricanes after a tremendous year at the University of Maine.
  • Rouyn-Noranda Huskies goaltender William Rousseau, who helped the Quebec Remparts win the Memorial Cup last year, played the last few weeks of the playoffs with a broken finger, reports Le Nouvelliste.
  • Cape Breton Eagles head coach Louis Robitaille is questioning whether some of the horns allowed into Quebec arenas are safe for players. It's a fair question but the fans are likely to crank up the horns even more now when the series returns to Baie-Comeau.
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