Q Round-up: Eight QMJHL players named to Canadian WJC camp roster

Eight QMJHL players will participate in the Team Canada selection camp starting Dec. 10 in Calgary.

Three Sea Dogs were named to the training camp roster, where Team Canada selects their team for the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships, starting Dec. 26 in Edmonton and Calgary.

Zach Phillips, Nathan Beaulieu and the injured Jonathan Huberdeau were named to the roster. Huberdeau is progressing nicely and is expected to recover from his lower body injury in time for the tournament’s opening game.

Saint John is tops in the QMJHL circuit with a record of 24-7-0-1.

Other players named to camp are Moncton’s Brandon Gormley, Rimouski’s Jerome Gauthier-Leduc, Shawinigan’s Michael Bournival, Victoriaville’s Philip Danault and Quebec’s Louis Domingue.

Domingue is one of four goaltenders invited.

Of the 41 players named to the selection camp roster, the most ever by Hockey Canada, three players are returnees. Forwards Jaden Schwartz of Colorado College and Quinton Howden of the Moose Jaw Warriors, along with goaltender Mark Visentin of the Niagara Ice Dogs are the returning players.

Off the QMJHL invites, it has been speculated that Huberdeau and Gormley are pencilled in for Team Canada by Boxing Day. Any other players are up in the air at that point.

Canada has made it to the final game in each of the last eleven years. They’ve lost each of the last two tournaments in dramatic fashion, to the United States in overtime in 2010, and to Russia in a third-period collapse last year.

Team Canada plays Finland at 1:30 local time at Rexall Place in Edmonton on Boxing Day. The tournament wraps up on Thursday, Jan. 5 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.

***

Speaking of Phillips, he’s had a great run as of late.

Since Oct. 14, the Sea Dog forward has been putting up points at will, notching 38 points in his last 20 games. His impressive streak is the highest consecutive points-scoring streak so far this year.

The run has put him in the top five of the scoring list. Phillips sits in fourth place in QMJHL scoring with 48 points.

He has played with Jonathan Huberdeau the last couple of years, but during most of this run, the highly-touted Sea Dog forward has been injured.

He leads the Sea Dogs in scoring. His teammate, Danick Gauthier, is tied for the league lead in goals with 26.

Saint John is the top team in the league standings.

***

Nathan MacKinnon can add another accolade to his young career.

The young Halifax Mooseheads’ forward was named the QMJHL first star of the week last week, notching eight points in three games.

MacKinnon capped off the week with a four-point game Friday against the P.E.I. Rocket. He scored two goals and added six assists.

Gatineau Olympiques goalie Francois Lacerte was the second star of the week. He went 1-0-0-2 in the week, but put together outings of 36, 37 and 53 saves.

Lacerte hasn’t lost in regulation time in his last nine games, going 5-0-1-3 in that span.

Baie-Comeau Drakkar defenceman Samuel Carrier was named third star. He grabbed seven points in his team’s two games, including a five-point game on Friday. The five-pointer was the highest point total in a game for a Drakkar defenceman since Bruno St-Jacques notched six points in a game in 1999-00.

***

Saint John is tops in the league in the standings, followed closely by Quebec.

The Sea Dogs have a record of 24-7-0-1 for 49 points, four up on the young upstart Remparts for the league lead. The team is in first place thanks to a great home record. They have a record of 14-1-0-0 at home, and just 10-6-0-1 away from the Port City.

The Remparts sit with a record of 21-5-2-1 for 45 points. The Sea Dogs have played three more games than Quebec, 32 to 29.

The Gatineau Olympiques sit in third place overall, on virtue of leading the TELUS West Division, with 32 points, a number that would put them in eighth place on points alone.

In the Maritimes Division, the Sea Dogs are 12 points up on second place Halifax. Moncton sits three points behind the Mooseheads, followed by the enigmatic Titan, the Screaming Eagles and the woeful Rocket.

In the TELUS East Division, also known as the “division of death” this year, the Remparts are four points up on the Shawinigan Cataractes. Victoriaville is two points behind them. Rimouski sits in fourth, followed by Chicoutimi and Baie-Comeau, who spent time atop the division earlier this year.

In TELUS West, Gatineau is two points up on Blainville-Boisbriand for the division lead. Val-d’Or sits one point behind them in third. Drummondville is in fourth and Rouyn-Noranda is in fifth.

***

A pair of Titan lead the league in scoring, bumping Yanni Gourde down to third place for the first time in two months.

Zach O’Brien and Sebastien Trudeau of Acadie-Bathurst sit one-two in league scoring. They are also the only two players who have broken 50 points so far.

O’Brien sits atop the league’s scoring race with 52 points, including a league-leading 26 goals. Trudeau has 50 points.

O’Brien is also the greatest example of discipline in the QMJHL, having not taken a penalty so far this year. In fact, he has never taken a penalty in his QMJHL career.

Gourde is now in third place with 49 points. Zach Phillips is in fourth with 48 points. Matthew Bissonnette of the Titan rounds out the top five with 46 points.

Sitting in sixth place is Remparts’ rookie Mikhail Grigorenko, with 45 points. Behind him is the Wildcats’ Alex Saulnier and rookie MacKinnon with 43 points, and Alexandre Mallet of the Oceanic and Ben Duffy of the Rocket with 41 points apiece. Gauthier and Gauthier-Leduc are the only other QMJHL players to break the 40 point barrier.

Gauthier-Leduc’s 40 points more than lap the field in defenceman scoring. Three defencemen are tied for second place with 26 points each: Gormley, Gatineau’s Mathieu Gagnon and Quebec’s Martin Lefebvre. Mathieu Brisebois of the Armada rounds out the top five with 25 points.

O’Brien has caught up to Gauthier in the race for the league’s top goal-getter. Both players have 26 goals to outpace the league by four. Grigorenko and Shawinigan’s Anton Zlobin are next up with 22 each. Bissonnette is in fifth with 21 goals. Philippe Halley of the Tigres is the only other player who’s scored 20 or more.

Behind Grigorenko and MacKinnon in rookie scoring is Sven Andrighetto of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies with 34 points. Tomas Hyka is the only other rookie who’s cracked 30 points, hitting it on the nose.

Saint John’s Mathieu Corbeil is still the league’s winningest goalie. He leads the league with 18 victories. The Wildcats’ Roman Will is in second place with 16 wins, followed by Shawinigan’s Alex Dubeau with 14. Quebec’s Louis Domingue and Gatineau’s Francois Lacerte each have 13 wins.

Domingue is running away with the save percentage lead. The Quebec netminder has a percentage of .930, well up on Corbeil. Corbeil is in second place with a .918 mark. Domingue’s teammate, Francois Brossard, sits in third with a save percentage of .912. Two more goaltenders have save percentages above .900. Lacerte has .907, and Will has .902.

Corbeil still leads in GAA, with a mark of 2.14. Domingue is second with 2.31. Both goalies are well up on the competition. Jimmy Appleby of Baie-Comeau is third with a 2.61 mark. Four more goalies have GAA’s under 3: Will, Brossard, Dubeau and Halifax’s Zachary Fucale.