Musings from Montreal's Rookie Camp.

With Montreal's rookie camp coming to a close, here are some tidbits to enjoy:

Courtesy of canadiens.nhl.com:

Head coach Guy Carbonneau also announced Thursday that forward David
Desharnais and goaltender Marc Denis will suit up for the pre-season contest against the Sabres on Tuesday in Roberval, Quebec.

This game is supposed to be on CBCsports.ca on Tuesday. Look for it! Congrats to David.

Olivier Latendresse & the Canadiens' writers showed the fans of Cincinnati a little love as well:

Six members of the 2008 East Coast Hockey League champion Cincinnati Cyclones – Thomas Beauregard, David Desharnais, Olivier Latendresse, Conrad Martin, Ryan Russell and Cedrick Desjardins – are taking part in the Canadiens’ rookie camp this week. Not only have they brought the Ohio franchise its first championship but the crew has also managed another impressive feat: making hockey popular in a state where football is all the rage.“We had crowds of over 13,000 during the Finals,” said Olivier Latendresse, who racked up 35 points in 24 games with the Cyclones. “We had a bunch of Quebec natives on the team and together with our teammates, we all built something really special. There were actually a few Quebec flags in the crowd, and it wasn’t even our families!”

Not to gloat or anything... but I'm pretty sure the Quebec flag trend started right in Row B of Section 138. :)

Not much, news-wise, has come out of Nashville up to this point. Yawn.

Getting caught up

First things first, some signings:
Billy Irish-Baker, Sean Perkins, TJ McElroy, Barret Ehgoetz

All of them are great assets to the team and I'm glad to have them back. I think Irish-Baker and Perkins, with a full season under the belts, will bring great things to the table in their sophomore season. TJ McElroy finished fairly strong after coming over in the trade from Idaho. Ehgoetz, what can I say? The guy has done great things for the team in two seasons. He's a trooper.

And four training camp invitees:
Mikael Bedard, Nicolas Robillard, Paul Lynch, Brian Porter

Lynch and Porter were invitees from the free agent camp in August. Bedard, however, comes to us from the BCHL's Nainaimo Clippers where he put up 71 points in 59 games... 1.2 points per game. Robillard comes from the University of Moncton (CIS), where he played one season and put up 24 points in 28 games after splitting four seasons between the QMJHL and the QJAHL. He won the Memorial Cup with Cedrick Desjardins and the Quebec Remparts in 2005. Lynch spent 48 games in the SPHL last season, chalking up 130PIM. I'll reserve my opinions on this one, based on my feelings about the SPHL, but I'm not writing him off completely. Porter comes to us from the Greater Toronto Hockey League, 58 pts in 46 games with a ... get this ... +49.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have one line! :P

Onto other things of importance... NHL training camps. At least 10 members of the 2007-2008 Cyclones are going to be suiting up for NHL clubs in their training camps this month:

Montreal: Mathieu Aubin, Thomas Beauregard, David Desharnais, Cedrick Desjardins, Conrad Martin, Olivier Latendresse, Ryan Russell
Nashville: Ryan Maki, Mark Matheson
Pittsburgh: Jean-Michel Daoust

Developmental Camp

Just quick note: forwards Thomas Beauregard, David Desharnais, & Ryan Russell are among the 30 prospects participating in Montreal's developmental camp this week.

Knock, knock... anybody home?

I know, I know. It's been three and a half months since I updated. I'm a bit of a slacker, sometimes, and it doesn't help that I kind of picked up and moved to Louisville... but never the less, I have good things to share:

2007-08 Weekly/Monthly/Yearly Awards Recap

ECHL All-Rookie Team: David Desharnais
All-ECHL First Team: David Desharnais
All-ECHL Second Team: Chad Starling

InGlasCo Player of the Week
- Mathieu Aubin: February 18-24

CCM Player of the Month
- JM Daoust: November 2007; December 2007

RBK Hockey Goaltender of the Week
- Dov Grumet-Morris: February 11-17

RBC Financial Group Saver of the Month
- Cedrick Desjardins: February 2008

PaysourceUSA Plus/Minus Performer of the Month
- Chad Starling: February 2008
- Scott Reynolds & Matt MacDonald: December 2007
- David Desharnais: November 2007

Vector/CCM Rookie of the Month:
- David Desharnais: March 2008, February 2008, November 2007

...more awesomeness forthcoming, I promise!

Extending the lead

Unbeaten in the last 7 (6-0-1) with a 3-1 win over Wheeling (they showed up this time).

JM Daoust's 7th consecutive game with a goal is now tied for the longest this season in pro hockey.

Desharnais' goal put him in a tie for the rookie scoring lead.

Gleed & Bonneau were reassigned from Hamilton. Quite a few extra guys floating around. Sixsmith is back in the lineup, as was Gallagher, finally.

Anyone else thing Beauregard should leave the fighting to the big guns? Yeah, me too.

Stats Extravaganza and more

With the 5-4 Win over Dayton -- the boys are at 19 points, a .731 win percentage, and have a two-point lead over Elmira & Reading for first in the North division, and still share a piece of the American lead. Plus Gerard Miller lost a couple teeth so he's pretty hardcore now.

Congratulations to JM Daoust -- his 6-game goal streak is currently the second longest in professional hockey this season!

With almost exactly one month in the books...
- The Cyclones are still tied for the goal lead & have allowed the 3rd-fewest (behind two teams with less GP).
- JM Daoust & David Desharnais are 8th & 9th respectively in overall scoring.
- Desharnais' 17 pts are second in rookie scoring. Beauregard's 12 are good for 10th.
- Desjardins' 2.16 is 5th best overall, and Grumet-Morris' 2.29 is 7th. Grumet-Morris ranks 8th in wins with 5.
- 5 players are averaging at least a point per game (Desharnais, Aubin, Daoust, Beauregard, and yes - my least favorite player ever - Bryan Schmidt, somehow...).
- Desharnais is a +12. I REALLY like this guy. 10 others are at least a +5

- My first month of the season MVP pick: very easily David Desharnais.

The make-up game for Friday's atrocity is Tuesday -- tickets are good for that game -- hope to see all of you (and David Desharnais) there.

Cyclones 5, Trenton 3

David Desharnais is a beast. Just, clearly, a beast.

I can't figure out how Bryan Schmidt is putting so many points on the board. He.is.awful. But to his credit, I said his name in vain much fewer times last night than preseason or the opener last week. (Please note the -1 though. kthxbye.)

Starls was a plus!!! I mean, duh. It's Starls, and he is the pluth mathta.

Also, those game notes on the Cyclones' home page? Basically the coolest thing ever. You know, if you're obsessed with statistics like I am.

That is all. See you all tonight (in costume).

Hamilton demotes 4, MacDonald returned, Milwaukee sends 3 (UPDATED)

Matt MacDonald was returned by Rockford to the team on Monday. More here.

The team received four from Hamilton today - forwards Mathieu Aubin, David Desharnais, Thomas Beauregard, and goaltender Cedrick Desjardins.

• Aubin, 21, went 16-30-46 in 48 games with the Cyclones in 2006-07, including 9 points in 10 playoff games. He also had 5 points in 17 games with Hamilton.
• Desharnais, 21, finished a successful QMJHL career in 2007, finishing last season with an impressive 108 points in 61 games (374 points in 262 career games with Chicoutimi). He also suited up in 7 games with Bridgeport and went 1-1-2.
• Beauregard, 21, is also a product of the QMJHL and scored 124 points in 69 games with Acadie-Bathurst.
• Desjardins, 22, returns to Cincinnati for his second professional season after going 24-19-1 with a 2.54 GAA and .917 SPCT. He also went 0-2 in two games for Hamilton.

Milwaukee also assigned three to the team, goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris, forward James Sixsmith, and defenseman Bryan Schmidt.

• Grumet-Morris, 25, split the season between Cincinnati and three AHL clubs (Hamilton, Portland, and Manitoba). With the Cyclones he went 11-8-3 with a .909/2.77.
• Schmidt, 26, notched 18 points in 58 games with Manchester of the AHL. He also spent six games with Reading (ECHL).
• Sixsmith, 23, joins the team from the college ranks out of Holy Cross where he averaged 38 points per season. He also played three games with Bridgeport (AHL), and had was 2-1-3.

Current roster stands at 22:

• Goaltenders (4): Cedrick Desjardins, Dov Grumet-Morris, John Smith (PTO), Lee Lansdowne (PTO)
• Forwards (14*): Barret Ehgoetz, Scott Reynolds, Mathieu Aubin, David Desharnais, Thomas Beauregard, Jean-Michel Daoust, Avery Wilson, Travis Fuller, Billy Irish-Baker, Andrew Martin, Matt Rogers, Steven Doherty (PTO), P.O. Mouton (PTO), James Sixsmith
• Defensemen (7): Matt MacDonald, Chad Starling, Conrad Martin, Tyler Howells, Greg Gallagher, Sean Perkins (PTO), Bryan Schmidt

*Forward Gerard Miller is still with Hamilton.