Desnoyers, Gill contribute to Team Canada win at world tourney
Canada moves to 4-0 after dominant victory over Kazakhstan to conclude preliminary action at world championship.
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Caleb Desnoyers of the Moncton Wildcats scored his first goal, Riverview’s Spencer Gill earned his first point and Team Canada continued to roll at the World Under 18 men’s hockey championship in Finland.
Canada, with the University of New Brunswick’s Gardiner MacDougall serving as head coach and Travis Crickard of the Saint John Sea Dogs as an assistant, cruised past Kazakhstan 11-3 Tuesday to wrap up preliminary round action with a perfect 4-0 record and set the stage for the playoff round that begins Thursday.
Desnoyers scored once, added an assist, picked up four penalty minutes and was plus 5 in 13:48 minutes of ice time while Gill picked up a helper as well and was plus one in his 10:38 minutes of play.
Gavin McKenna paced the Canadian attack with two goals and four assists.
Canada will take on Latvia in the quarter-final round on Thursday. The broadcast on TSN and RDs begins at 1:30 p.m. Atlantic time.
Late addition
Desnoyers was thankful to get an opportunity to play after he sat out the first two games as he was a reserve forward for the event. He did play in both pre-tournament games.
Still eligible for the tournament next year, Desnoyers jumped onto the lineup with an injury to Canadian Roger McQueen.
He has three points thus far.
“I think I just tried to stay positive, stay ready and I felt I was ready to go,” he said after his debut in an 8-1 victory over Switzerland on Sunday. “Playing with (Gavin) McKenna and (Porter) Martone made it easier, they are great players and it was fun. I just tried to play my game and welcome the opportunity I was given.”
In demand
MacDougall’s personal unbeaten season continues as his 4-0 record at the world event adds to the 43-0 mark achieved in winning the University Cup in March. Canada was also 2-0 in the pre-tournament games with wins over Finland and Norway.
The tournament also keeps his name in the rumour mill for potential other jobs in the fall. Jeff Marek of Sportsnet tweeted this week that the Moncton Wildcats had reached out to MacDougall regarding their vacant coaching position.
“The QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats reached out to Gardiner MacDougall about their vacant head coaching position,” Marek tweeted. “Going to be tough to get him away from a great situation at UNB, though.”
The Wildcats and former coach Daniel Lacroix parted ways after the Cats were swept in the opening round of the playoff by Chicoutimi. Then, Ritchie Thibeau, the team’s general manager of hockey operations, and the Cats announced he had accepted a role with J.D. Irving, Limited and his last day was May 6.
The World Under 18 event concludes May 5.
Whatever it takes
One of the more intense finishes of the season happened at the end of Game 3 of the QMJHL semifinal in Cape Breton when the Eagles held off a furious attack from the Baie Comeau Drakkar for a 2-1 victory to get back into the series, which stood at 2-1 for Baie-Comeau entering Tuesday’s fourth game.
During the frantic final moments, Petit-Rocher’s Antoine Roy blocked a Baie-Comeau snap shot with his face and lost several teeth to preserve the win.
“He lost a few teeth, got some stitches, but he’ll be OK and he’ll be there (Tuesday),” said head coach Louis Robitaille. “That’s a warrior.”
Roy, a graduate of the Northern Moose Major U18 AAA program, is wrapping up his third year in the QMJHL, which started with Balinville-Boisbriand. He also skated with Grand Falls of the Maritime Hockey League and Rothesay Netherwood Prep school program.
League awards
As Baie Comeau continues in the QMJHL playoff, the awards continue to rack up for Jean-Francois Gregoire, the head coach and general manager of the regular-season champion Drakkar.
On Tuesday, the former member of the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus was named the GM of the year for the deals he made to fortify the lineup en route to 53 wins and 103 points in the regular season and a 10-1 record in the playoffs entering Game 4 of the league semifinal.
Earlier this month, Gregoire, now 51, was named coach of the year.
The native of Sherbrooke, Que., has a number connections to New Brunswick, including his four years of action with UdeM, which included serving as an alternate captain with the 1995 University Cup champions.
During that era, he picked up 154 points in 105 games. He also served as an assistant coach with Acadie-Bathurst in 2014-15 and as a player, skated for 15 games with the Fredericton Canadiens in 1996-97.
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