It is hard to believe that the off-season for the Halifax Mooseheads is already half over. The unofficial midway point comes this Saturday, when all sixteen QMJHL teams participate in the league’s 2002 Midget Draft. This year’s draft is being held in Bathurst, New Brunswick, at the KC Irving Center.
The Sherbrooke Castors have the distinction of holding the first overall pick in this year’s draft, and skilled, hard-nosed Magog forward Alex Bourret is pegged as the top prospect, who could potentially go to the Castors. However, should Sherbrooke decide to trade that pick, there are many other players who could leapfrog over Bourret and emerge as the top pick in this year’s draft, such as Amos sniper Brent Aubin, or Girouard forward Kevin Mailhiot. Selecting second will be the Moncton Wildcats, who have missed the playoffs the last two years, yet have managed to build up a solid core of youngsters in the process. With the Memorial Cup being held in Quebec in 2003, there could be a barrage of trades on draft day as teams look to get a leg up on their competition. The current draft order for Saturday’s draft, barring any trades, is as follows:
1. Sherbrooke Castors 2. Moncton Wildcats 3. Montreal Rocket 4. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 5. Val d'Or Foreurs 6. Drummondville Voltiguers 7. Quebec Remparts 8. Rimouski Oceanic 9. Hull Olympiques 10.Baie-Comeau Drakkar 11.Victoriaville Tigres 12.Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 13.Halifax Mooseheads 14.Shawinigan Cataractes 15.Chicoutimi Saguneens 16.Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Halifax will likely be looking towards adding forwards to their depleted four lines on draft day, as Jason King and Robbie Sutherland are gone after their overage seasons, Sergei Klyazmin is likely gone to the minor-pro ranks in the Colorado system, and more forwards may be victims of the overage numbers game. On defence, Halifax is solid, with potentially seven regular defensemen from the 2001-2002 season returning to the fold. Here is a list of the top 80 midget and bantam players eligible for Saturday’s draft, with statistics for most players:
First round 1 Bourret Alex 5'09 201 15 A/W G/L MAAA Magog QC 40GP-26G-34A-60P-105PIM 2 Melanson Mathieu 6'00 180 16 A/W G/L MAAA Moncton NB 32GP-31G-19A-50P-34PIM 3 Laliberté David 6'00 177 15 A/W D/R MAAA CAGirouard QC 41GP-21G-21A-42P-14PIM 4 Aubin Brent 5'08 169 15 C D/R MAAA Amos QC 42GP-39G-43A-82P-50PIM 5 Latendresse Olivier 5'08½ 163 15 C G/L MAAA CCLemoyne QC 39GP-17G-50A-67P-41PIM 6 Mailhiot Kevin 6'01 186 15 A/W G/L MAAA CAGirouard QC 36GP-32G-22A-54P-52PIM 7 Vokey Jared 6'00 185 16 A/W G/L JrA Trenton Ont NS 48GP-21G-31A-52P-32PIM 8 Ellis Julien 6'00 180 15 G G/L MAAA CAGirouard QC 22GP-16-2-1-2.69 9 MacCormack Colin 5'11½ 188 16 A/W D/R MAAA Halifax NS 27GP-24G-16A-40P-40PIM 10 Mitchell Torrey 5'09½ 152 16 A/W D/R MAAA CCLemoyne QC 41GP-15G-41A-56P-54PIM 11 Roach Brandon 6'03½ 208 16 D D/R MAAA Tri-Pen NFL 12 Labelle Olivier 5'11 172 16 A/W D/R MAAA LLL QC 41GP-27G-34A-61P-117PIM 13 Larivière Jonathan 5'09 190 15 A/W G/L MAAA CCLemoyne QC 41GP-32G-28A-60P-79PIM 14 Bélanger Maxime 5'11½ 200 15 D D/R MAAA Magog QC 37GP-4G-9A-13PIM-134PIM 15 Brière Joël 6'02 169 16 C D/R MAAA Amos QC 40GP-21G-57A-78P-91PIM 16 Vienneau Justin 6’03 201 15 D G/L MAAA Moncton NB 30GP-2G-6A-8P-61PIM 2nd round 17 Sawyer Jean-Claude 6'01 166 15 D G/L MAAA St John NB 32GP-2G-12A-14P-78PIM 18 Roy Mathieu 5'11½ 161 15 A/W G/L MAAA Amos QC 41GP-14G-30A-44P-40PIM 19 Zaoré-Vanié Vincent 6'00 168 15 D D/R MAAA SSFrançois QC 40GP-7G-10A-17P-36PIM 20 Ledaire Colin 6'02 185 16 D D/R MAAA Dartmouth NS 33GP-5G-20A-25P-50PIM 21 Cabana Frédérik 5'11 168 15 A/W G/L MAAA Magog QC 37GP-20G-16A-36P-124PIM 22 Courcelles Simon 5'08 173 15 C G/L BAAA Notre Dame SK QC 32GP-16G-6A-22P-47PIM 23 Lessard Benoit 6'00 200 16 D D/R MAAA Amos QC 41GP-2G-11A-13P-92PIM 24 Tremblay Érick 6'01 185 15 D G/L MAAA Gatineau QC 42GP-2G-3A-5P-96PIM 25 Allaire Louis-Simon 5'10 192 16 D G/L MAAA Magog QC 41GP-10G-22A-32P-100PIM 26 Gordon Andrew 5'09½ 155 16 A/W D/R MAAA Dartmouth NS 34GP-19G-43A-62P-2PIM 27 Caron Jeff 6'01 157 16 D G/L MAAA Moncton NB 32GP-1G-14A-15P-38PIM 28 Gauthier Sébastien 5'11½ 198 15 A/W D/R MAAA Cap-Madeleine QC 28GP-5G-23A-28P-56PIM 29 Dick Jonathan 5'06½ 148 16 C G/L MAAA CCLemoyne QC 42GP-31G-32A-63P-58PIM 30 Bélanger Pierre-Luc 5'11½ 170 16 C G/L MAAA SSFrançois QC 42GP-18G-22A-40P-32PIM 31 Plante Dominic 6'00½ 157 16 A/W G/L MAAA SSFrançois QC 39GP-10G-17A-27P-18PIM 32 Bélanger Justin 6'00½ 165 16 A/W D/R MAAA Lévis QC 42GP-21G-20A-41P-56PIM 3rd round 33 Magnan Olivier 6'01 177 15 D G/L MAAA Magog QC 42GP-3G-9A-12P-50PIM 34 Audette Marc-André 6'00½ 181 16 G G/L MAAA LLL QC 26GP-10-11-1-3.72 35 Côté Jean-Philippe 6'01½ 170 15 D G/L MAAA SSFrançois QC 42GP-0G-3A-3P-48PIM 36 Tobin Mark 6'02 190 16 A/W G/L JrB St John's NFL 31GP-17G-11A-28P-54PIM 37 Brown Tyler 6'01 178 16 D D/R MAAA Dartmouth NS 33GP-5G-11A-16P-63PIM 38 Blais Alexandre 5'04 146 15 A/W D/R MAAA Lévis QC 42GP-29G-41A-70P-56PIM 38 Demers Alexandre 5'07 189 15 C D/R MAAA Lévis QC 36GP-28G-36A-64P-54PIM 40 Beauchamp Brett 6'00 192 15 D G/L MAAA EMG Floride Qc 41 Gariépy Charles 6'00½ 161 16 A/W G/L MAAA LLL QC 41GP-15G-31A-46P-34PIM 42 Bisaillon Sébastien 5'10 162 15 D D/R MAAA Amos QC 42GP-2G-5A-7P-26PIM 43 DesAlliers Renaud 6'01 177 15 A/W G/L BAA DucsRichelieu QC 44 Bessette Gabriel 6'01 181 15 D G/L BAA Yamaska-Miss. QC 45 Welton Nathan 5'11 170 15 D G/L MAAA Dartmouth NS 33GP-5G-14A-19P-34PIM 46 Doucet Kyle 5'09 164 16 C D/R MAAA Halifax NS 34GP-27G-21A-48P-72PIM 47 Beauregard Thomas 5'09½ 159 15 A/W D/R MAAA MBourassa QC 42GP-23G-20A-43P-12PIM 48 Veilleux Guillaume 6'01 191 15 D G/L BAA Québec QC 4th round 49 O'Toole Chauncey 6'00½ 188 15 D G/L MAAA St John NB 29GP-1G-9A-10P-88PIM 50 Aubut Maxime 5'10 180 15 D D/R MAAA LLL QC 33GP-3G-14A-17P-56PIM 51 Robillard Nicolas 6'03½ 197 15 A/W D/R MAAA CCLemoyne QC 37GP-11G-17A-28P-60PIM 52 Aubin Mathieu 6'01 160 15 C D/R MAAA CAGirouard QC 19GP-5G-10A-15P-10PIM 53 Bouchard Dannick 5'09 170 15 A/W D/R BAA Seigneurs MI QC 54 Careen Blake 6'00 160 16 A/W G/L MAAA St John's NFL 55 Vincent Alexandre 6'03 183 15 G G/L MAAA Cap-Madeleine QC 26GP-12-9-1-4.04 56 Simoneau Mathieu 5'11 178 16 D D/R MAAA Magog QC 38GP-8G-13A-21P-28PIM 57 Glaude Eric 5'11 201 16 D G/L MAAA Lac-St-Louis QC 38GP-3G-6A-9P-156PIM 58 Morier Étienne 5'11½ 153 15 A/W G/L BAA Yamaska-Miss. QC 59 Bégin Eric 6'00 182 15 D G/L BAA CFrançais QC 60 Roberge Philippe 5'11 164 15 G G/L BAA Rive-Sud QC 61 Robert Maxime 5'09½ 180 16 C G/L MAAA Cap-Madeleine QC 42GP-16G-31A-47P-42PIM 62 Gariépy Frédéric 6'05½ 175 16 D G/L MAAA Cap-Madeleine QC 42GP-0G-5A-5P-58PIM 63 Boileau Stéphane 5'11 171 15 C D/R MAAA LLL QC 42GP-14G-23A-37P-96PIM 64 Jenner Ryan 6'02½ 234 16 D G/L MAAA Valley NS 24GP-8G-7A-15P-64PIM 5th round 65 Chisholm Jamieson 6'01 176 16 D D/R MAAA Cape Breton Wes NS 29GP-7G-10A-17P-78PIM 66 Brunet Maxime 6'01 159 15 D G/L MAAA Amos QC 39GP-1G-6A-7P-20PIM 67 St-Denis Frédéric 5'10½ 171 15 D G/L MAAA CCLemoyne QC 42GP-4G-6A-10P-4PIM 68 Chiasson Michael 5'10 163 15 G G/L MAAA Cole Harbour NS 20GP-?-?-?-4.57 69 Angers-Goulet Mathieu 5'09 165 15 A/W G/L MAAA SSFrançois QC 42GP-15G-20A-35P-6PIM 70 Bergeron Charles 6'00½ 165 15 A/W D/R MAAA Lévis QC 40GP-3G-6A-9P-48PIM 71 Paré Jean-Philippe 6'00½ 180 16 A/W G/L MAAA Cap-Madeleine QC 42GP-18G-19A-37P-14PIM 72 Champagne François 5'11½ 162 15 C G/L BAA Beauce-Amiante QC 73 Melanson Jules 6'01 208 16 D G/L MAAA Moncton NB 32GP-4G-20A-24P-12PIM 74 Kitchen Jeff 5'10 186 16 A/W G/L MAAA St John NB 26GP-9G-8A-17P-77PIM 75 Imbeault Alexandre 5'11 125 15 C D/R BAA DucsRichelieu QC 76 Corriveau-Lacasse Jonathan 5'11 182 15 D D/R BAA PatRichelieu QC 77 Trudel Stéphane 5'11 188 15 A/W D/R MAAA Lac-St-Louis QC 42GP-13G-17A-30P-76PIM 78 Turcotte David 6'00 202 16 A/W G/L MAAA Lac-St-Louis QC 40GP-14G-8A-22P-73PIM 79 Lavallée Francis 5'10½ 201 15 A/W D/R MAAA Cap-Madeleine QC 33GP-13G-12A-25P-32PIM 80 Lamarche Alexandre 5'09½ 178 16 A/W G/L MAAA LLL QC 34GP-4G-10A-14P-168PIM [player list from http://www.lhjmq.qc.ca]
Saturday afternoon should be very interesting, as teams jockey for
positions in the standings two months before training camps begin, and as
the next batch of QMJHL superstars find their starting points.
Until next time, this is Phil Laugher, signing off for Hockey’s Future.
