All Habs News: Thursday March 31, 2011
Happy Birthday!! All Habs community: tell us! NHL: Brendon Nash (Hamilton Bulldogs), Michael Ryder, Steve Bernier, David Clarkson
►Moose-hunting done right: The Halifax Mooseheads lost their fourth game in a row to the Montreal Juniors on Wednesday night, thus making a hasty exit from their first playoff berth in three years. Habs’ prospects Philippe Lefebvre and Louis Leblanc each scored a goal in the 4-2 win as JF Bérubé held back 32 of the 34 shots he faced on the night. The Juniors join the Saint John Sea Dogs (who move on at the expense of Morgan Ellis‘ Cape Breton squad), the Drummondville Voltigeurs, Victoriaville Tigres and Quebec Remparts in the second round, as all four teams also swept their respective opponents.
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►Cataractes poised: Michaël Bournival‘s Shawinigan Cataractes moved to 3-1 against the PEI Rocket in their series, with Bournival scoring a power play goal at 19:56 of the second frame and adding an assist on Peter Sakaris’ tally to help secure a 4-2 win Wednesday night in Charlottetown. This Friday night at 6:00 p.m. EST, the teams face one another again in Game 5.
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►Sage advice: After struggling for most of the season, Scott Gomez recently took the opportunity for a private chat with Canadiens former GM Bob Gainey.
“I mean Bob, what are you going to say? The guy’s a Hall of Famer and the guy cares. It was just nice to sit down and talk. We all know Bob’s presence. I don’t know if that guy ever gets rattled. We just talked and went over stuff, what he was seeing, what I was seeing.” — Scott Gomez
The legacy project by Arpon Basu
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►Prospects rated: Hockey’s Future is publishing their annual list of the top 50 NHL prospects for 2011. To start, HF has revealed numbers 41-50, with future articles counting down the list in segments.
No Canadiens prospects appear in the current reveal, but former Canadiens prospect Ryan McDonagh (now a member of the New York Rangers) appears at No. 50 with former Montreal Juniors goaltender Jake Allen (Peoria Rivermen) listed at No. 42.
Jake Gardiner tops first grouping of HF’s Top 50 NHL prospects