The Lewiston Maineiacs will be without a head coach and general manager for a little while, at least one who is personally available.
Clem Jodoin, who fills both roles on the team, will be in British Columbia for the rest of December and into January with Hockey Canada. Starting this week, Jodoin, as an assistant coach of this year’s World Junior Team for Canada, will help select players who will participate in this year’s tournament. Thirty-four players, including seven from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, have been invited to the final tryout.
Meanwhile, assistant coach Ed Harding, who also wears the seldom-talked-about title of assistant general manager, will be in charge of the team.
“You talking to him,” Harding cracked when asked who would take over for Jodoin.
Jodoin will miss three games, all at home, and the beginning of the league’s trading period, which opens after the final game is completed before the holiday break on the night of Dec. 18.
“Obviously, we’ll be in touch if anything comes up,” said Harding. “We’ll be in touch by phone with Clem, myself and (head scout) Serge David. Also, we’ll be on the phone with Mr. Just (Maineiacs majority owner Mark Just) in Chicago.”
To trade or not to trade
With the third mid-season trade period looming, some fans are beginning to get anxious. In Year 1, the team made one minor move in acquiring Karl Fournier from Cape Breton for a 20-year-old player not skating with the team at the time (Nicolas Corbeil).
Last year, a more significant move saw 19-year-old defenseman Travis Mealy sent to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies for the rights to Sebastian Piche, now playing a regular shift on the Maineiacs’ blue line as a 17-year-old.
But what about this year? The Maineiacs are in an awkward position, in that of the 24 players currently on the roster, 20 could possibly still be in Lewiston.
Still, there is the possibility of a trade.
“We’ve been getting some calls,” said Harding. “We sat down and had a big meeting this week with the scouts and decided on some things, but now we just have to wait to see what happens in the next few weeks. There’s still some time left.”
League notes
Shawinigan and head coach Denis Francoeur, who was instrumental in the trade with Lewiston that sent Alex Bourret to the Cataractes at last summer’s draft, have parted ways.
Francoeur led the Cataractes to the President’s Cup title in 2000-01, and had a 163-164-38 record in 385 games behind the bench.
Assistant coach Mario Carriere has since taken over in the interim.
In Moncton, defenseman Keith Yandle received a one-game suspension this week in addition to the one game automatic suspension he was assessed after taking a run at Cape Breton netminder Ondrej Pavelec in a game between the teams on Nov. 30.
Alexander Radulov, who managed two assists for Quebec in its 6-4 win over Lewiston Friday night, has a point in each of his last 19 games. The longest streak in the QMJHL this season so far is 21 games, set by Chicoutimi’s Maxime Boisclair to open the season. Boisclair’s streak ended on Nov. 12, but he continues to battle for the league-lead in points with teammate Stanislav Lascek. Lascek has 73 points and Boisclair has 70 through 33 games.
Who: Lewiston Maineiacs vs. Chicoutimi Sagueneens
When: 4 p.m.
Where: The Colisee, Lewiston.
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