SUPER SOPHOMORE
Islanders forward Matthew Grouchy aims to score his NHL dream this season
Matthew Grouchy enters his second season with the Charlottetown Islanders.
said HE IT “We’ll be a hard working team. Teams won’t like playing with us, we’ll go into the dirty areas, get under others team’s skins. That’s how we’ll win games.” Matthew Grouchy of the Charlottetown Islanders on how he sees the team’s style of play this season.
It’s a big year for Charlottetown Islanders centre Matthew Grouchy and he knows it.
“Yeah, I really notice it. But it’s a good opportunity to show the team and the scouts I can play in this league and hopefully make an impact,” said Grouchy.
Grouchy, 18, soon goes into his second full Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season. Right now, it’s still pre-season and the Isles have a home game Saturday at the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre in Montague versus the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Game time is 7 p.m.
The 18-year-old year is typically an NHL draft year for a player, but Grouchy has the added weight of being one of the revamped Islanders’ go-to guys after the departure of several veterans this year including snipers Daniel Sprong and Filip Chlapik.
The Labrador City, N.L. native, knows as his ice time goes up the expectations go with it so he’s relying on the solid formula he concocted last season with linemates Pascal Aquin and Keith Getson to live up to those heights.
“We have a really good chemistry and (hopefully) be a good year for us. We have to step up to the plate,” he said.
Former Islander general manager Grant Sonier selected Grouchy in the sixth round (101st overall) of the 2015 QMJHL draft.
Grouchy came to training camp that year, but left to maintain his NCAA eligibility.
He returned last season, committed to the Isles and had a solid year tallying 11 goals, 28 points and a plus-16 plus-minus ratio in 62 games. He added three points in 12 playoff games.
This season, Isles head coach Jim Hulton expects a jump in the six-foot, one-inch, 189pound Grouchy’s play because he’s bigger, stronger and more sure of himself after a full season in the Q.
“Matthew has shown a lot of maturity as a player and a person on and off the ice. His play is exactly what we expected,” said Hulton, who doubles as Isles GM. “He’s a little heavier, but he’s a work in progress because of his body type. His confidence is high and when you’re confident you play faster and think faster because you’re sure of yourself.”
Grouchy, who left home at 13 to pursue the NHL dream, started that chase at the Canadian International Hockey Academy in Ottawa and played under current Isles associate coach Guy Girouard at CIHA.
That dream is closer now and Grouchy can see the possibilities this year might bring.
“I doesn’t seem real. It’s surreal. I’m trying to get the opportunity to get invited to a combine or be drafted by an NHL team. But with the coaching staff helping me here and my agent (working for me) I think they can get me in the right direction.”
Matthew Welsh gets the start Saturday in the Isles net.
Dillon Boucher, 20, left camp as Adam Marsh, 20, is set to return to the lineup in Sunday’s pre-season finale versus Acadie Bathurst. Game time is 3 p.m. at Eastlink Centre.
Marsh’s return from Arizona’s rookie camp and Boucher’s departure leaves the Isles with the maximum three overagers. Aquin and William Bower are the others.
Defenceman Hunter Drew draws back into the lineup after recovering from a high ankle sprain, but blue-liner Jaimen Allison is still out with a shoulder injury.
D-man Pierre-Olivier Joseph remains at Arizona’s main camp.