FINAL STRETCH
Players taking advantage of chance to play key minutes in big games
Screaming Eagles beat Val-d’Or Foreurs as team approaches QMJHL’s Christmas break.
As a veteran major junior hockey coach, Marc-André Dumont has come to learn that every dark cloud has a silver lining.
On Sunday, Dumont’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles once again overcame the absence of their top scorer and a depleted defence corps to defeat the Val d’Or Foreurs
4-2 before a crowd of 2,220 at Centre 200.
“The great thing for the players that are healthy right now is that everybody is getting a chance to contribute – nobody can say they’re not getting their chance right now,” said Dumont, who has served as the Québec Major Junior Hockey League team’s head coach and general manager since December 2012.
“I think it’s allowing for players to display their assets and at the same time to work on sequences they don’t always have the opportunity to work on.”
The most notable absence for the Screaming Eagles is obviously Drake Batherson, an Ottawa Senators prospect who was leading the QMJHL in scoring when he sustained a hand fracture two weeks ago in a game against Moncton.
Dumont said there’s no way to replace a player of Batherson’s quality, but said other forwards have stepped up their games since the 18-year-old sniper was placed on the injured list.
“Nobody is being asked to replace Drake or his contribution, but we are saying that forwards on our team can step up and make their contributions to the team and that’s what they’ve been doing,” he said.
“We are finding a way to be successful without Drake in the lineup and it’s because many players on our team are taking advantage of that opportunity.”
Third-year veteran Peyton Hoyt was the latest Screaming Eagle to find a way to replace Batherson’s offense as he scored twice in Sunday’s win over the Foreurs. The 18-year-old Fredericton native has seven goals in his past eight games.
Russian rookie Egor Sokolov added a goal and an assist, while captain Phélix Martineau, who played despite being on the receiving end of a knee during Friday’s win in Moncton, scored the other Cape Breton goal. The Wildcats’ Liam Dunda received a five-minute major and has been suspended indefinitely as a result of that hit.
Meanwhile, the Screaming Eagles’ defence held off a late Val-d’Or offensive to help the team win its second straight game. It did so without injured regulars Ross MacDougall and Noah Laaouan and the suspended Sacha Roy. Call-up Ian Smallwood and forward Gabriel Proulx filled in on the blue-line.
But despite being better of late, even with a patchwork rotation, the team’s defensive play is still a cause for concern for head coach Dumont.
“Our defensive game is really not where we want it to be, but we think we can still grow it and the guys know we can still improve it – the key thing it to continue growing,” said Dumont, who will soon lose star defenceman Leon Gawanke to the German national team for the upcoming world junior championships.
Cape Breton (15-12-1-1) held the visiting Foreurs (1315-0-1) to just 23 shots and many of those were from a distance. However, goalie Kyle Jessiman came up big when needed.
At the other end of the rink, the Screaming Eagles fired 43 shots on Val-d’Or goalie Etienne Montpetit.
The Eagles continue their four-game home stand on Thursday when they host the Gatineau Olympiques (14-10-2-2).