Monday, March 26, 2007

Huge news for Eagles as no less than FOUR players named to league all-star teams!!!!!

The QMJHL named its first and second league all-star teams today, along with its all-rookie team.

On each team, one goaltender, two defencemen, one left winger, one center, and one right winger are selected.

The QMJHL First All-Star Team is as follows:

Goal- ONDREJ PAVELEC, CAPE BRETON

Defence - Kristopher Letang, Val d'or
Defence- Andrew MacDonald, Moncton

Left Wing- Slava Trukhno, Gatineau
Center- Mathieu Perreault, Acadie-Bathurst
Right Wing- Thomas Beauregard, Acadie-Bathurst

The QMJHL Second All-Star Team is as follows:

Goal- Jonathan Bernier, Lewiston

Defence- JC SAWYER, CAPE BRETON
Defence- OSKARS BARTULIS, CAPE BRETON

Left Wing- Benoit Doucet, Victoriaville
Center- JAMES SHEPPARD, CAPE BRETON
Right Wing- Francois Bouchard, Baie-Comeau

The QMJHL All-Rookie Team is as follows:

Goal- Peter Delmas, Lewiston

Defence- Simon Lacroix, Shawinigan
Defence- MARK BARBERIO, MONCTON (FORMER EAGLE, of whom we're all still quite proud)

Left Wing- Michael Frolik, Rimouski
Center- Christopher DiDomenico, Saint John
Right Wing- Jakub Voracek, Halifax




This is HUGE for the Screaming Eagles. I remember the days when the idea of having just one player on a league all-star team seemed absolutely unfathomable. When it finally happened in 2001-2002 with Mathieu Dumas's selection to the second all-star team and David Cloutier's selection to the first team, I remember thinking it was a pretty big deal. So to have four guys so honoured this season really says a lot about what a year it was for our squad. We not only had a great finish in the standings, but we have impact players too............ all-star team selection calibre guys are usually guys who can singlehandedly turn a game around. And don't forget that aside from all of these league all-star selections, we still have a 53 goal scorer, a 40 goal scorer, a 37 goal scorer, and a 30 goal scorer besides!

I personally don't entirely agree with all of those all-star selections, and I feel that a few very deserving players around the league were curiously omitted, but it's still great to see four Screaming Eagles there. I also really don't see how Andrew MacDonald made the first all-star team ahead of JC Sawyer (or a guy like Maxime Noreau of Victoriaville, for that matter). MacDonald had an awesome season, and was a huge reason why Moncton was such a pleasant surprise. However, his 58 points and +5 don't seem to compare to JC's 77 points and +40. I'm not sure how a guy leads all defencemen in both points and plus-minus and doesn't get selected to the first all-star team. I know that stats aren't everything, and I know that it may seem petty to point this out when we have four guys selected to league all-star teams, but I still don't quite understand it.

That small quibble aside, this is pretty sweet news for Cape Breton, and will hopefully give those players that much more confidence heading into the upcoming playoff games. All of those all-star selections are well and good, and look pretty on a guy's resume, but I'm sure any of them would trade such personal honours in a heartbeat for the chance to lift that President's Cup.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

"CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BOYS FOR THESE ACCOMPLISHMENTS" VERY PROUD TO SAY THAT I AM A SCREAMING EAGLES SUPPORTER. NOW LETS GO FINISH OFF THE TEAM THAT IS PLAYING IN THE FOG.ITS NOT HARD TO SEE WHAT THE FOG DEVILS ARE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH.BUT THE BOYS ARE JUST GOING TO STICK TO THEIR GAME PLAN JUST LIKE THEY DID ALL YEAR AND WIPE THEM OUT.WE DONT HAVE TO PLAY THE STYLE OF GAME THEY DO WE'LL JUST PUNISH THEM WHERE IT HURTS ON THE SCOREBOARD,JUST LIKE IN THE LAST 2 GAMES.THEY CAN'T COMPETE WITH A TEAM THAT IS THAT HIGHLY SKILLED AND IT SHOWS,BOTH OFFENSIVELY AND DEFENSIVELY.WE JUST HAVE TO KEEP LETTING THEM TAKE THOSE STUPID PENALTIES(WHICH ALL THE PLAYERS KNOW THAT YOU DON'T TAKE IN THE PLAYOFFS)SO GO GET'EM BOYS ON THE ROCK .CLEANNNNN SWEEEEEP

Anonymous said...

I’m, indeed, pleased to see 5 of our guys on the All Star Team. Yes I still regard Mark Barberio as one of ours.
I agree with your assessment re J.C. not making the first team. No offense intended to our local guy, Andrew MacDonald, either.
I always have difficulty understanding why Chris Culligan is always over looked. He is incredibly hard working, talented (30 goals), and excels at both the defensive and offensive side of the game. He is an incredible hockey player who deserves much more recognition.
I was very pleased to see Graham suspended for 2 games and hopefully the rest of the season for him and The Sea Fogged Goons.
Brad Gallant is a good heavy weight; however, he seems to run out of steam towards the end of the fights. More conditioning is needed. He had it all over Spencer until the tank went dry.
On the subject of Sheppard, he is an incredible work horse. It’s not often that you get the attributes of a Clydesdale with the smarts and speed of an Arabian! I have a feeling that one of these days Shep is going to show everyone that he has the attributes of Mohammed Allie as well. God help the individual that learns that lesson first!
God, look after the boys tonight and steer them from harms way.
Go Eagles Go!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to Ondrej, Shep, JC and Oskars. You are right though, JC should definitely have been named to the 1st team. At any rate, it is still great that we have four All-Star players. Personally, I think we have 22 all-star players in their own rights. And I'm hoping that they show up for tonight's game and make the series 3-0. They are on such a high now, I don't see how they wouldn't! And the players aren't the only ones on a high - their fans are right there with them! GO EAGLES GO! I'm counting down the minutes to puck-drop (84 and counting!)

Anonymous said...

I just read the all-star selections. I also could not believe that Andrew MacDonald was picked over JC Sawyer. Sawyer was the highest scoring defenseman in the league with 77 points with plus 40 to only 58 points and plus 5 for MacDonald. I would also rate Chad Denney over MacDonald. Denny had 65 points and plus 33.

Anonymous said...

I agree that J.C. should have been on the 1st team, what boggles me though is why we cannot sell out for the playoff games. It is terrible to see empty seats in C200 with such a talented and hard working team on the ice. People have no idea the show they are missing, get over the fact that you do not like some people in the org. come and support the team.
Season ticket holder(3) from day 1

Anonymous said...

There is a lot of politics involved when these choices are made. The people who choose the players for the all-star selections have their favorites, or are influenced in their selections by others who have favorites. I can't comment on Andrew MacDonald as I don't think I've ever seen him play, although he must be at least half decent to make the all-star selection at all. Only thing I can think of is that because CB had such a strong offensive team, that sometimes points are overlooked intentionally as the players on a winning and power house team are playing with better players, so more points are expected. Is Andrew a physical player, maybe that was what put him over the top, as JC is not what you'd call a crash and banger type D-man.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to all the Eagles that have been named to all-star teams! I truly believe in what cb~eagle~fan said about us having a 22 all-star player team. The boys are playing outstanding games!
JC Sawyer should have been named to the first star team, but there's nothing we can do about it, I guess. Best of luck to all the Eagles as the quest for the cup continues.

GO EAGLES GO!

Inside the Nest said...

Tommy- I'm not sure that politics can at all be considered as part of the equation when FOUR Screaming Eagles were named to league all-star teams.

That said, you are on to something when you bring up the differences between the teams MacDonald and Sawyer play on. Moncton is a quality team that had a very good season, but in all honesty, they don't have the offensive weapons the Eagles have, and therefore it would be a lot harder for a powerplay quarterback to pick up points on the Moncton team than it would be on Cape Breton, where you have snipers like Fergus/McIlveen/Sheppard converting your passes or rebounds.

Very good analytical response, keep reading and giving your great feedback!

Inside the Nest said...

Anonymous- Across the East Division, crowds are never very big for the first couple of playoff games. In fact, in some centres (Moncton and Halifax, for example), crowds for the first two games of the playoffs are usually much smaller than they are for most regular season games. A big reason for that is corporate seating. Corporations buy season tickets, but most don't buy playoff tickets as well.

So it's not a Cape Breton problem or an Eagles problem, it's something that happens everywhere, small crowds for the first couple of playoff games. The trend is that once you get past those first couple of playoff games, crowds increase dramatically, and buildings are usually pretty much full come round 2 or 3.

All of that said, I personally think that we had a very good crowd for the opening game of the playoffs. Just over 3800 people, all very loud and boisterous. I'm not sure the Eagles have ever had a crowd as large as 3800 for the opening game of the playoffs..... the only other year they may have is 2004, the year we were supposed to have a "stacked team" and there was a lot of hype surrounding them.

I was mildly disappointed with the crowd for Game 2, as it was a couple of hundred smaller than the crowd for Game 1, but I'm very confident that any further playoff games will see big crowds, as the word is spreading about this team.

Thanks for your input!

Anonymous said...

What I was leaning towards in referencing the politics factor was simply stating that, when they vote on the top players for 1st and 2nd all-star, if a majority favour one player over another in the group of players eligible for selection, then obviously the favoured player will get on the 1st team. In saying that, it leaves the fans to question, as I've never seen anything posted by the league, that lists what factors are used to define a 1st team or 2nd team all-star. Obviously total points is not the determining factor or Andrew MacDonald wouldn't have made either team. I would have to guess that the only other consideration that would give Andrew the nod over JC, would have to be how much of an impact the individual has on his team. That being said, it would be safe to assume that MacDonald was considered more valuable to his team than JC was to the Eagles, as the Eagles lineup would still be powerful without JC in the lineup. Take MacDonald out of the lineup of his team, and I'm sure they'd fair much worse over the course of the season.

Inside the Nest said...

Tommy- I believe that the 1st and 2nd all-star teams are determined by a vote among the 18 head coaches around the league. Maybe it's head coaches AND general managers, not sure. It's something along those lines anyway, a vote.

Anonymous said...

Just a quick note here about the attendance at the first two playoff games. I think what a lot of people here are forgetting is that the Vince Ryan Tournament was going on the same weekend. That took a lot of people away from Centre 200 that would definitely have been there cheering for the Eagles any other weekend. I'm not sure, but I believe there was also some high school hockey going on as well. It seems to me that before that weekend, CJCB radio was announcing that the sports fans of the area had a lot to choose from. That being said, I'm sure that the first two games of Round Two will have a lot fewer empty seats!

Anonymous said...

I think eagle fan is right, if I wasn't playing in the Vince Ryan I would have been at both games, and I'm sure many others, players and fans of the Vince Ryan, would have as well.