Game played on 2/13/2025.
General Game Notes: This close game surprisingly showed not only some solid goaltending on both ends but team defense. It was hard to get to the net even with the amount of skill in some of these forwards hands. Drummondville was able to take the victory capitalizing on momentum they created going into the third period up two goals. Depth scoring from the Voltigeurs was also key in their win.
Riley Mercer (G, L, 6’2″, 203, Drummondville Voltigeurs, 03/31/2004)
Game Rating
A-
1 Viewing
Comments: Mercer stands tall and plays big, he blocks shots rather than waiting for them to come to him. His size is such an advantage and uses it by getting out of his net and cutting shooters angles. He did not face a ton of shots, only twenty two on record, but he did see some grade A chances and came up big on them. He moves well for his size but needs to be able to recover quicker when dropping down into a V. A couple times tonight, opponents would attack from the goal line, look to jam pucks, and after Mercer made the save, if the puck went to the other side, he was slow recovering getting up back to his far post. Mercers plays the puck well making a some solid breakout passes to his defenseman or wingers kick starting transition hockey the other way.
Maxime-Olivier Drolet (LW, L, 5’11”, 183, Drummondville Voltigeurs, 07/19/2006)
Game Rating
A-
1 Viewing
Comments: With two goals on the night, Drolet was able to show off his ability to get into scoring areas and capatalize. Scored a nice one on the first of his two, getting the puck off the face off running a clear play, in the high slot. He shot from the point with plenty of traffic and beat the goalie over the shoulder in a goal that he had no chance of seeing. The best part of this goal was from how deep it was and how Drolet had his head up picking a corner, almost shooting it like a defensemen from the point. Drolet was at his best tonight when he was either given time and space in the offensive zone or he made it himself. He skates smooth and has a effortless stride. He is able to create this type of space with his stick work and how close he can keep the puck to his body allowing more range for himself to make moves. In a smaller detail but detailed none the less, he does a good job at getting low on face offs. On this goal, he won the draw and it all started with that.
Renaud Poulin (RW, R, 5’11”, 185, Drummondville Voltigeurs, 11/22/2006)
Game Rating
B-
1 Viewing
Comments: Offensively, Poulin loves to jump in the play and can be useful as a trailer. As a puck carrier, he does not flash as much puck skill as players more skilled with their sticks can swipe the puck away. He showed tonight that at times, he can be caught leaving the puck open on his stick rather than shielding it and he is easily pushed off the puck, as a solid shoulder will cause him to lose inside positioning. He does have that quick burst of speed where he can separate himself from the opposition closest to him allowing him more time and space to work with in small areas and on entries.
Hugo Dufour (RW, L, 6’0″, 195, Drummondville Voltigeurs, 06/21/2007)
Game Rating
B
1 Viewing
Comments: Dufour scored a nice goal and an important goal getting on the board first. The big man not really known for offense was able to create time and space with some depth footwork and awareness, but ultimately putting himself in a great position. At times, Dufour struggles to cross over, leading to him being a step late or finding himself out of position when defending. He struggles to recover with his slow speed and instead relies on his body to try and separate a player from the puck. One aspect that needs to improve in his game is his first three strides. He needs to find that acceleration to create a gap between himself and his opponent. The pace of play is too fast to take time on your strides or thinking about where the puck needs to go.
Samuel Kingsley (D, R, 5’11”, 180, Drummondville Voltigeurs, 01/18/2005)
Game Rating
B
1 Viewing
Comments: Kingsley plays a two way role but showed tonight, with two assists, that he can contribute offensively. He does a good job at simply getting his shot through, it does not need to be a cannon or picked in a corner, he stick handles once and looks to beat layer one and at a height that is ‘tippable’ for his teammates. He did a good job tonight at being first one puck defensively, even on rushes when someone goes to dump it in his corner, he puts a hand out the forward to push off of him so he can be first touch. Couple times tonight he wanted to skate rather than snap passes, he needed to be more consistent on looking up ice, seeing first player, and getting the puck there.
Teo Besnier (D, R, 5’9″, 180, Drummondville Voltigeurs, 08/19/2005)
Game Rating
B-
1 Viewing
Comments: Besnier showed that as a smaller defender is can play with an edge. His aggressive style can help him in defending the rush and can sometimes help him deny zone entries. This is an area of his game where increased mobility would help in this regard, as he has all the tools to be an adept rush and transition defender. Mobility would help because of how aggressive he is, when his timing hits, he is able to shut down the rush. If something happens before the rush, his recovery techniques are slow causing space on entries. Defensively, Besnier did show that he is more than willing to stand in lanes to block shots and generally is in the right position to make a play on the attacker. He has a good stick that created more than a couple turnovers for the opposition.
Gabriel D’Aigle (G, L, 6’4″, 220, Victoriaville Tigers, 01/29/2006)
Game Rating
B+
1 Viewing
Comments: Depsite the loss, D’Aigle was a huge reason why the score was kept close as long as it did. Even at the stature that he stands at, D’Aigle was able to show impressive athleticism and side to side movement. He has a unique combination of being agile while still being able to cover a lot of the net due to his size. What he does really good is challenge shooters to pick from small spaces he leaves behind from him cutting the angles down. Multiple times, on fast breaks, he would pop out a little farther than the shooter expected leaving only rebound opportunities from shot attempts left. His foot speed out of his pipes could improve, too many times tonight, rims would get around the boards when he could have stopped the puck and transitioned the play for his team.
Olivier Laverdiere (F, L, 6’1″, 202, Victoriaville Tigers, 08/18/2007)
Game Rating
B+
1 Viewing
Comments: Laverdière was able to get his team on the board with a quick wrist shot from the slot that was blocked, followed up his rebound, and with a second attempt beat the goalie to put his team within one. Right before his goal, he made this inside outside move on a stationary defender that allowed him to get to the space that he got to. Raw in his own right, Laverdière showed a nice set of hands where he was able to pull the puck in tight on a reaching defender, after, get the puck into a shooting position quick enough to evade the next defender and get a quality shot off at the net. Laverdière is young but he was able to show that he has the work ethic to make things hard for his opponents, at times, it looks like he runs around but these are traits of his game that will develop with time and experience. For now, he makes the effort to disrupt wether the timing is off or not.
Mathis Aguilar (D, L, 6’3″, 210, Victoriaville Tigers, 11/17/2004)
Game Rating
B-
1 Viewing
Comments: Aguilar is a very physical, defensive defenseman and showed this tonight with some of box outs in front of the net and step ups at the blue line from the rush he took. Has solid hockey sense and positional skills. Does not score as many points as he possibly could, because he has a shot that when given time, players do not want to block and has some deception with how hard it is. Also, he is rather prone getting beat wide, he needs to work on foot speed. If he is not going to provide a ton of offense, but be more dependable in his own end, he needs to be able to defend the smaller quicker forwards that attack on the rush with speed and agility.
Francesco Iasenza (D, L, 6’0″, 208, Victoriaville Tigers, 07/11/2004)
Game Rating
B-
1 Viewing
Comments: A lot of Iasenza physicality comes after the whistle in net front scrums, and taking late shots at opponents. He is capable of getting under the opposing teams skin and punishing players but he also shows a lack of discipline at times. No doubt he is not afraid to get in the mix and should be a positive part of his game but controlling this feature of his would only help control the opposition better. He needs to be able to use his physicality to separate pucks from opposing players more consistently. As of right now, he uses it in ways that result in him logging a lot of penalty minutes, and when your team is on the kill a lot, obviously this makes it harder to win. Where he was at his best was pinning opponents in his own zone along the wall, creating turnovers, and getting the puck north for his forwards to gain entries with time and space.
Photo credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images