Lions popular at QMJHL draft
A number of West Island area hockey players had their names called during the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft, held Saturday in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Front and centre were three players from the midget AAA Lac St-Louis Lions, who won bronze at the Telus Cup this spring after capturing the Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League playoff crown, selected in the first round.
The Dollard-des-Ormeauxbased Lions had the most players of any team selected in the first round of the draft.
Lachine native Gabriel Fortier, a forward who had 47 points in 41 regular season games with the Lions, was taken fourth overall by Baie-Comeau.
Blainville-Boisbriand drafted both Mathias Laferrière, a native of Outremont who recorded 15 points in seven Telus Cup games, seventh overall and then Jérémie Bucheler, of St-Laurent, at 15th.
Other Lac St-Louis Lions drafted include: Azzaro Tinling (second round/Val-d’Or) of Pointe-Claire; Isiah Campbell (third round/St. John) from Pierrefonds; Shane Mcgrath (fourth round/Val-d’Or) of Beaconsfield; Sebastien Paquette (12th round/Charlottetown) of Montreal and Jake Di Girolamo (13th round/Charlottetown) of Pierrefonds.
Two players from the SportÉtudes program at John Rennie High School in Pointe-Claire were drafted by Moncton: Noah Massie (third round) and Dylan Massie (12th round), who are brothers from St-Lazare.
That makes three Massie brothers playing high-calibre hockey, as older brother Jake was drafted last year in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL entry draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, but was traded last fall to the Chicago Blackhawks. He has committed to play for the University of Vermont/NCAA next season.
Kirkland native Kyle Havlena, who played for the Tigres du Lac St-Louis, was drafted in the third round by Blainville-Boisbriand.
Benjamin Tardif, a Notre-Damede-l’Île-Perrot native who played for the Grenadiers de Châteauguay, was drafted in the second round by Sherbrooke, while his teammate Carmelo Gullotti, of Pincourt, was taken in the sixth round by Chicoutimi.
Gatineau drafted two players from the Prédateurs de Lac St-Louis: Vincent Cournoyer of Île-Bizard (seventh round) and Dorval’s Simon Martineau (12th round).
Beaconsfield’s Jonathan Riel, who played with Collège Ste-Anne, was taken in the eighth round by Rimouski.
Nicholas Cardone, who hails from Dollard-des-Ormeaux, was taken in the 11th round by Charlottetown.
Meanwhile, centre Benoit-Olivier Groulx, who had 51 points in 41 games with L’Intrépide de Gatineau this past season, was the first overall pick (Halifax Mooseheads).