Road to the 2022 TELUS Cup: Moncton Flyers
Winners of 15 in a row and 22 of 23 courting again to the common season, the Atlantic Area champions are coming to Okotoks flying excessive
No workforce is coming to the TELUS Cup hotter than the Moncton Flyers.
Since getting back from a COVID-19 shutdown that lasted virtually two months
from mid-December to early February, the Flyers have misplaced simply as soon as in a
run of 23 video games that has included locking down first place within the New
Brunswick/P.E.I. U18 Main Hockey League (NBPEIU18MHL), and profitable
provincial and regional championships.
Moncton has but to lose within the playoffs – it swept the Northern Moose and
Saint John Vitos to win the New Brunswick title, went good within the
preliminary spherical on the Atlantic Regional in Paradise, N.L., and edged the
RisePEI Macs 2-1 to assert the Atlantic crown.
Going 55 days with out recreation motion in the midst of the season usually
doesn’t bode properly for a workforce, nevertheless it has labored fairly properly for the Flyers.
“We simply stored saying, ‘We have to proceed working laborious, we have to keep
centered,’” head coach John DeCourcey says of the mindset through the break.
“Regardless that we would have been down for a few weeks, or could not go
to the rink for a few weeks, we tried to maintain that focus and we
[wanted] to be prepared when [we could play again].”
DeCourcey has leaned closely on his veteran leaders, together with six gamers
who had their names referred to as on the QMJHL Entry Draft – 5 of whom
(Philippe Collette, Xavier Farrah, Preston Lounsbury, Jack Martin and Luke
Patterson) noticed Main Junior motion all through the season.
Patterson is the straw that stirs the drink for the Flyers. The Cape Breton
Eagles prospect (59th total) led the NBPEIU18MHL in scoring through the
common season, two factors forward of Collette, and added 12 objectives in 12
playoff video games, profitable MVP honours on the Atlantic Regional.
He additionally wears the ‘C’ for the Flyers, one thing that comes from Patterson’s
impression off the ice simply as a lot as what he does on it.
“He was a 15-year-old on our workforce final yr,” DeCourcey says. “He broke his
collarbone within the playoffs, and he was within the [dressing] room though
he wasn’t enjoying. [We] determined then he was going to be the captain if he
was right here [this season].”
Patterson could be the chief, however don’t sleep on the remainder of the offence.
Moncton iced 5 of the highest six scorers within the NBPEIU18MHL, together with
Zachary Wheeler, who acquired ‘distinctive standing’ to play as a 14-year-old
this season, whereas defenceman Spencer Gill, who will doubtless hear his identify
referred to as early within the 2022 QMJHL draft, made it six Flyers within the prime 10.
Put all of it collectively – the playoff win streak, the high-scoring offence, the
shutdown defence (Moncton allowed lower than two objectives per recreation by means of the
common season and playoffs) – and the Flyers have an opportunity to make some
noise in what might be their ninth look at Canada’s Nationwide Males’s U18
Membership Championship.
Moncton opens its
TELUS Cup schedule
in opposition to the West Area champions, the Notre Dame Hounds, on Might 16.
HOW THEY GOT TO OKOTOKS
New Brunswick/P.E.I. U18 Main Hockey League
New Brunswick semifinal: defeated Northern Moose 3-0 (2-1, 4-0, 7-5)
New Brunswick last: defeated Saint John Vitos 4-0 (3-2, 5-0, 3-2 OT, 2-0)
Atlantic Regional
Preliminary spherical: 4-0-0 – first place (defeated Charlottetown Knights 7-4,
defeated East Coast Blizzard 7-0, defeated RisePEI Macs 3-1, defeated
Pinnacle Growlers 6-3)
Closing: defeated RisePEI Macs 2-1
REGULAR SEASON
Common season report: 25-3-2 (1st in NBPEIU18MHL)
Targets for: 171 (1st in NBPEIU18MHL)
Targets in opposition to: 55 (1st in NBPEIU18MHL)
Longest profitable streak: 7 (Sept. 24-Oct. 15; Oct. 22-Nov. 12; Feb. 5-March 12)
High 3 scorers:
– Luke Patterson – 34G 18A 52P (1st in NBPEIU18MHL)
– Philippe Collette – 11G 39A 50P (2nd in NBPEIU18MHL)
– Preston Lounsbury – 23G 19A 42P (4th in NBPEIU18MHL)
PLAYOFFS
Playoff report: 12-0
Targets for: 51
Targets in opposition to: 19
High 3 scorers:
– Luke Patterson – 12G 7A 19P
– Zachary Wheeler – 6G 8A 14P
– Philippe Collette – 6G 7A 13P
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
1977 – Moncton Flyers | fourth place | 4-2-1 | 24GF 19GA
1978 – Moncton Flyers | fifth place | 4-2-0 | 19GF 13GA
1979 – Moncton Flyers | ninth place | 1-3-1 | 15GF 21GA
1980 – Moncton Flyers | eighth place | 2-3-0 | 17GF 20GA
1986 – Moncton Flyers | fifth place | 1-4-0 | 24GF 34GA
2009 – Moncton Flyers | fifth place | 1-4-0 | 15GF 32GA
2012 – Moncton Flyers | fifth place | 1-3-1 | 17GF 22GA
2018 – Moncton Flyers | fifth place | 1-4-0 | 8GF 17GA
PLAYERS TO WATCH
LUKE PATTERSON
Two-way ahead … playmaker with nice up-ice imaginative and prescient … fast launch shot
PRESTON LOUNSBURY
Places up a variety of factors … expert puck possession … excessive hockey I.Q. … creates offensive alternatives
QMJHL DRAFTED PLAYERS
Jack Martin – RisePEI Mooseheads 2021 (third spherical, fifty fifth total)
Luke Patterson – Cape Breton Eagles 2021 (4th spherical, 59th total)
Preston Lounsbury – Moncton Wildcats 2021 (4th spherical, 62nd total)
Philippe Collette – Titan de Acadie-Bathurst 2021 (fifth spherical, 81st total)
Xavier Farrah – Cape Breton Eagles 2021 (sixth spherical, 96th total)
Jean-Philipp Boudreau – Remparts de Québec 2021 (eleventh spherical, 194th total)
