Q Round-up: Jonathan Lessard suspended 15 games

One Baie-Comeau Drakkar forward was dealt a heavy blow from the league this week in the form of a suspension.

Jonathan Lessard, 20, of the Drakkar was handed a 15-game suspension for his hit on Rempart forward Nick Sorensen when the two teams met on Oct. 28. Sorensen suffered major damage to both his MCL and ACL. He will have surgery in January and is expected to take 6-8 months to recover.

The league offered its explanation in its press release:

“The player at fault was skating in the direction of his opponent to bodycheck him with his shoulder while his knee was bent forward. When his opponent changed direction to avoid him, the player at fault also changed direction and violently hit him with his knee.

Due to the change in direction of his opponent, the distance between the two players did not permit the player at fault to hit his opponent with his shoulder.

The player at fault kneed his opponent, causing serious injury.

The incident is not the first for the player at fault.”

The last line is referring to a hit by Lessard on Jakub Culek of the Rimouski Oceanic last season that went unpunished.

The league also suspended Remparts head coach and director of hockey operations Patrick Roy $2,500 for comments made after the game Oct. 28. Roy commented that Raymond Bolduc, the league’s disciplinarian, was “too nice a guy” to give a player like Lessard a serious suspension.

Lessard’s suspension was active immediately following the game in question.

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The QMJHL roster was updated heading into the first game of the 2011 Subway Super Series this week.

The roster was named two weeks ago. The Victoriaville Tigres and the Quebec Remparts will play host to games this season. The QMJHL will play host to a Russian travel team for two games beginning on Nov. 7 in Victoriaville. The Russian team will then play an OHL squad for two games, and conclude by playing a WHL team for two games.

Tigres head coach Yanick Jean and Remparts head coach Patrick Roy will handle coaching duties, alternating the head coaching position for the game in each team’s home arena; Jean will coach in Victoriaville, and Roy will coach in Quebec City.

Moncton Wildcats defenceman Brandon Gormley was named captain of the QMJHL team for the two-game set. Gormley is a four-time member of the QMJHL team in the Subway Super Series. Phillip Danault of the Victoriaville Tigres, Morgan Ellis of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and the injured Jonathan Huberdeau of the Saint John Sea Dogs were named assistants. The honorary captains for the event are former NHLers Real Cloutier and Stephane Fiset.

The team will see P.E.I.’s Maxime Lagace and Quebec’s Louis Domingue between the pipes. On defence, the team will be led by the Oceanic’s Jerome Gauthier-Leduc, the Wildcats’ Brandon Gormley and the Sea Dogs’ Nathan Beaulieu. Up front, Jonathan Huberdeau of the Sea Dogs, Michael Bournival of the Cataractes, and the Titan’s Zach O’Brien and Matthew Bissonnette will lead the charge.

Drummondville’s Marc-Olivier Brouillard will replace the injured Michael Chaput of the Shawinigan Cataractes, while Victoriaville’s Brandon Hynes and Quebec’s Anthony Duclair will replace Huberdeau, with Hynes playing in game one in Victoriaville and Duclair playing in game two in Quebec City.

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The Gatineau Olympiques traded one of their veteran defencemen this week.

The Olympiques traded Hubert Labrie to the Victoriaville Tigres for a fifth round pick in the 2012 QMJHL Entry Draft.

Labrie is currently playing in the ECHL with the Idaho Steelheads, an affiliate of the Dallas Stars. In the unlikely event that he returns to junior, he would suit up for the Tigres.

Labrie was the captain of the Olympiques for a year and a half. He is known throughout the league for his defence and physical play.

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The QMJHL selected three players not yet selected this year with its three stars of the week this week.

Shawinigan forward Anton Zlobin was selected first star of the week. He became the first player in the QMJHL to hit the 20-goal plateau with his five-goal week this week. Zlobin, 18, added two assists for a seven point week in three games.

Jonathan Brunelle of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles was named second star of the week. Brunelle, 20, had seven points in his team’s two games this week, with two goals and five assists.

Val-d’Or Foreurs forward Nicolas Larocque-Marcoux earns the third star of the week honours this week. He managed seven points in his team’s three road games.

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Yanni Gourde of the Victoriaville Tigres managed four points on the week to stay atop the QMJHL scoring race for the third week in a row.

Gourde’s 41 points holds off three Acadie-Bathurst Titan for the scoring lead.

Zach O’Brien sits in second with 37 points. Either O’Brien or Gourde have been in first place for the league’s scoring lead. O’Brien’s linemates, Matthew Bissonnette and Sebastien Trudeau, sit in third and fourth with 36 and 35 points.

Alex Saulnier of the Moncton Wildcats continues to sit in fifth spot with 32 points.

Quebec rookie Mikhail Grigorenko overtook Nathan MacKinnon for the rookie scoring lead, and also takes over sixth spot in league scoring with 31 points. Drummondville’s Andre Bouvet-Morrissette and Saint John’s Zach Phillips, making his first appearance in the top ten, also have 31 points.

Rounding out the top ten are MacKinnon and Victoriaville’s Yannick Dube, who each have 30 points. Following that are five players with 28 points, including Jonathan Huberdeau and Rimouski defenceman Jerome Gauthier-Leduc.

Gauthier-Leduc’s 28 points continue to set the pace in defenceman scoring, and he also leads all defencemen with 11 goals. Behind him are the Remparts’ Martin Lefebvre and Mikael Tam. Lefebvre has 20 points, eight behind Gauthier-Leduc, and Tam has 18 points. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada defenceman Nikita Kolesnikovs is tied with Tam for third place.

Shawinigan’s Anton Zlobin leads the league with 20 goals. Saint John’s Danick Gauthier and O’Brien are one goal behind him with 19. Gatineau’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau has 17, and Bissonnette rounds out the top five with 16. Four players have 15 goals, including rookie Grigorenko.

Rookies MacKinnon and Grigorenko both feature in the top ten in league scoring. Behind them is Sven Andrighetto of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, in striking distance with 27 points. Christopher Clapperton of the Armada sits in fourth with 23 points, and Denis Kamaev is in fifth with 22. No other rookie has cracked 20 points.

Two goalies lead the league with 12 wins apiece. Mathieu Corbeil of the Sea Dogs and Alex Dubeau of the Cataractes are the league leaders. Corbeil has 12 wins in only 15 games to set the pace.

Roman Will of the Moncton Wildcats sits in third place with 11 wins. Francois Tremblay of the Foreurs, Domenic Graham of the Voltigeurs, and Brandon Whitney of the Tigres each have nine wins. Whitney is still undefeated with an impressive 9-0-0-0 record.

Louis Domingue continues to reign over the league in save percentage. The Remparts netminder sets the pace with a .931 mark. He has an 8-2-1-1 record. Corbeil is in second with a save percentage of .920. Dubeau, Whitney, and rookie Francois Brossard of the Remparts are the only other goalies above .900: Dubeau and Brossard sit with a .904 mark, and Whitney with .903.

Corbeil continues to lead in goals against average, with a mark of 2.01. Domingue sits in second at 2.30, followed by Whitney at 2.41. Five goalies have GAAs under 3, and four more are under 3.04.