SCREAMING EAGLES OPEN SEASON THIS WEEKEND
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles open QMJHL season against Islanders, Titan this weekend
For the second consecutive year, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles will open the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season on the road.
The Sydney-based team will begin the 2018-19 season on Friday when they travel to Charlottetown, P.E.I., to play the Islanders. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Eastlink Centre.
Cape Breton enters the season with high hopes with 18 returning players and four rookies.
This year’s Screaming Eagles team will feature three 20-yearolds, five 19-yearolds, seven 18-years-olds, six 17-years-old, and one 16-yearold.
Screaming Eagles head coach and general manager Marc-André Dumont was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday, however, in an interview with the Post on Aug. 30, Dumont said he was pleased with his roster.
“I think there is a good balance in our lineup and I think that’s important,” he said.
“We’ve been in transition the last two years to where we’ve been stacking up on assets, players and prospects and we’ve been playing 16- and 17-year-olds, so to see two years later that we have a good balance in terms of age groups, we’re satisfied.”
During the off-season, the Screaming Eagles made a number of trades.
The club acquired 20-year-old forward Mitchell Balmas of Sydney from the MasterCard Memorial Cup champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The Screaming Eagles also added Wilson Forest and Antoine Crête-Belzile to help improve the team’s blueline.
In goal, the Screaming Eagles will rely on veteran Kevin Mandolese. The Ottawa Senators sixth-round draft pick was declared the No. 1 goaltender after the team traded Kyle Jessiman to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in June.
In 37 games last season, the 18-year-old Mandolese posted a 15-132-0 record, along with a 3.46 goalsagainst-average and a .884 save percentage.
On defense, the Screaming Eagles have loads of experience with seven returning players, including Forest, Crête-Belzile, Leon Gawanke, Adam McCormick and former first-round pick Noah Laaouan.
“There’s no doubt there’s quite the experience there,” said Dumont. “They’re all experienced defensemen that bring something different to the team.”
On the offensive side, Cape Breton has 10 returning players including Mathias Laferrière, Ryan Francis, Brooklyn Kalmikov and Egor Sokolov.
The Screaming Eagles overage players will feature Balmas, who’s coming off a 42-goal season between the Gatineau Olympiques and Titan last year, Declan Smith and Forest.
Among the new faces on this year’s team include 2018 firstround pick Alex Drover, who scored 27 goals and 57 points in 36 games with the Halifax McDonalds of the NSMMHL last season.
Other rookies include goaltender William Grimard, acquired from Rimouski in the off-season, as well as forwards Félix Lafrance and Liam Kidney.
In 2017, Cape Breton finished the season fourth in the Maritimes Division and 12th overall in the QMJHL standings. They were eliminated from the President Cup playoffs by the Drummondville Votligeurs in five games in the opening round.
The team was seventh in the league in goals for (235), and fifth overall in goals against (259).
On the power play, the Screaming Eagles were fourth in the league, working at 22.4 per cent. As for the penalty kill, the team was ranked seventh overall at 80.2 per cent.
The Screaming Eagles are expected to have their NHL draft picks in the lineup for the season opener.
Mandolese was reassigned to the club from Senators camp on Monday, while Gawanke was sent back to major junior by the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. Laferrière has also been reassigned by the
St. Louis Blues. McCormick (Dallas) and Sokolov (Columbus) were invited to NHL camps, but were released.
Following Friday’s season opener, Cape Breton will continue its two-game road trip against the Titan in Bathurst at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The Screaming Eagles home opener will take place on Sept. 28 when they host the Halifax Mooseheads at 7 p.m. at Centre 200 in Sydney.