LEWISTON —With such an emotional win still vividly visible in the rearview mirror, the Lewiston Maineiacs are in a prime spot for a classic letdown game against a herky-jerky Val d’Or team that has compile a nice list of streaks this season, both winning and losing.
You’d think so, anyway.
But if the rest of the squad is truly following captain Cameron Critchlow’s lead, that’s about the last thing hockey fans will have to worry about.
“The biggest thing with junior hockey is, you have to take it a day at a time,” Critchlow said. “The team that works the hardest is probably going to win, no matter what. Every year I’ve been in the league, it’s been that way. Last game, we played hard and we played well against Quebec, but we can’t let up against Val d’Or. They’re a good team as well, they’re really overachieving this year. They’re a physical team and we have to play smart and play disciplined.”
The Maineiacs, meanwhile, are on quite a roll themselves. Lewiston is 9-3 in its last 12 games, and has won four consecutive games, including a pair against league juggernauts Drummondville and Quebec.
“We’re playing within ourselves, and playing with confidence,” Critchlow said. “We have another year of maturity under our belt. The team had a major facelift at Christmas last year, and it’s paying off.”
Wednesday, the Maineiacs handed the top team in the CHL, Quebec, a 4-3 loss at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. The previous Friday, Lewiston skated into Drummondville and came out with a 5-4 win, its first win at the Marcel Dionne Centre in two years.
“We started to play really good hockey the second half of last year, and our goal was to make the playoffs,” Critchlow said. “We did that, and we just came into this year and continued to play smart.”
Now, the team’s eyes turn to Val d’Or. The Foreurs have lost three in a row, including a 5-2 setback in Victoriaville on Thursday night. They arrived in Lewiston at around 3 a.m. Friday, and the pair of games this weekend are Games 2 and 3 on a three-in-three swing.
But there’s no denying the team has talent.
During the first week of October, the Maineiacs and Foreurs met up for a pair of games in Val-d’Or, with each side winning once. The Foreurs started with a 4-1 win before the Maineiacs rebounded for a 5-4 victory the next day.
Val-d’Or currently owns a 10-8-2-0 record (22 points), which is good for fourth place in the Telus West Division.
Cedrick Henley, brother of Lewiston forward Sam Henley, is Val d’Or’s lone drafted skater. He’s had a slower start this year, with four goals and nine total points in 12 games. Jonathan Hazen has been lights out for the Foreurs, accumulating 23 points in just 16 games.
In net, neither Val d’Or keeper has posted excellent numbers, but have played well enough to combine for the team’s 10 victories. Jacob Gervais-Chouinard has seven of those win to go with seven losses, a GAA of 3.53 and an .884 save percentage. Rookie Francois Tremblay is 3-1-1 with a 4.23 GAA and an .870 save percentage.
Etienne Brodeur continues to lead the way for the Maineiacs. The burly 19-year-old forward netted a pair against Quebec on Wednesday is now, with 17 goals, one shy of his total from last season. Even Patrick Roy, after the game Wednesday, praised his efforts.
“It may be a surprise to you guys, but it’s no surprise to me,” Roy said of Brodeur. “We knew when he was drafted he could put up some numbers. he’s very fast and has good hands. He’s got the confidence now, too.”
Forward Michael Chaput has a point in four of the last five games, as does defenseman Olivier Dame-Malka. Critchlow has struck for four points in two games, and goalie Nick Champion has won nine of his last 10. Champion will again get the start Friday as Andrey Makarov continues to nurse a groin injury. Tyler Piercy will back up.
“If we can get a sweep this weekend, we can really climb the standings even more, and hopefully we can continue that climb,” Critchlow said.
Friday will also mark the debut of newly-acquired sniper Kirill Kabanov. the Russian New York islanders draft pick will wear No. 71 and skate on a variety of lines as he continues to, as coach J.F. Houle called it, “get his game legs back.”
Kabanov has played in just two games this season, and dating back to last season, when he suffered an injury, his on-ice time has been seriously limited.
And the spotlight continues to shine brightly on the talented prospect.
“He’s a fast player, he’s quick and he’s got really good hands,” Houle said. “But it takes more than that to be a hockey player. It’s overall game, you have to be good defensively, you have to finish your hits. Sometimes, practice can be deceiving.”
The pair of games this weekend against the Foreurs kicks off at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee at 7 p.m. Friday, which was originally going to butt up against the Lewiston vs. Brunswick high school football semifinal.
But due to poor field conditions, the Blue Devils and Dragons will battle Saturday at 6 p.m., one houw before Maineiacs-Foreurs, Round 2.
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