THE BEST COULD BE YET TO COME FOR THE WILDCATS       

By Dan Robertson

January 27, 2010

 Considering the injury problems they’ve experienced this year, the Moncton Wildcats record has been remarkable.

As of this writing, Moncton is in 2nd place in the QMJHL standings. They’ve won 33 of their first 48 games and have won ten in a row, including an impressive weekend sweep on the road of Victoriaville, Quebec and Drummondville, three of the top five teams (along with Moncton and first place Saint John) in the league. “Last year we were basically injury free,” says Wildcats Head Coach and General Manager Danny Flynn. “This year, it’s been one significant injury after another. At one point, we had nine guys out. This past weekend, we had no Simon Jodoin and no Kirill Kabanov. Brandon Gormley got hurt early in the trip. The depth of the team has really been tested this year.”
During the Christmas trade period, Flynn took steps to appreciably upgrade that depth. He also turned the offensively-challenged Wildcats into a team with a cast of forwards that can rival any in the league. Gabriel Bourque (Baie-Comeau), Nicolas Deschamps (Chicoutimi) and Kelsey Tessier (Quebec) were all added to the roster for the second half of the season. The impetus behind Flynn’s buying spree came in the form of an early Christmas present for the organization. When it was announced on December 17th that goaltender Nicolas Riopel would return to the club after beginning the season with the Adirondack Phantoms of the AHL, the wheels were set in motion. “I think we would have been far less aggressive at the trade period (without the return of Riopel).  We were happy with our goaltending. Both guys (Louis Domingue and Wendell Vye) were playing solid hockey, but when you get the league MVP back and arguably the best goalie in the CHL, it causes you to rethink your plan. At the same time, we were looking at our defense. David Savard’s a fourth-round pick of Columbus, Mark Barberio’s a sixth-round pick and Brandon Gormley’s going to be a top ten pick. So we were sitting here and saying that if we wait until next year (to make a run) because of the season they’ve had and if they all turn pro next year, perhaps we would have missed both windows of opportunity. We decided we would try to make our team older and more competitive.”

As is the case with the best organizations, Flynn and the Wildcats were looking for quality players who are character kids. “There’s a big difference between assembling talent and assembling a team,” says Flynn. We did a lot of research at the type of people we were going to bring in. We had such a good group in the room it was important that we added people that had the same dreams and goals that we have here. Three of the people that we added were captains. Alex Wall (a defenseman acquired from Montreal) is a rock solid guy. Spencer Metcalfe was a character guy in Halifax…they’ve all made real solid contributions on and off the ice.

One of the last trades Flynn made is potentially an expensive one. He moved Louis Domingue, a goaltender with star potential and heart-and-soul forward Matt Brown to Quebec for versatile centre Kelsey Tessier, a player long coveted by the organization. “In Kelsey’s draft year of 2007, we went to the draft with only a third and fifth round pick. He was talking about playing NCAA hockey and we didn’t have the picks to gamble to see if we could recruit him. Assistant Coach Darryl Seward coached him on championship teams in Pee Wee and Bantam. We knew he was a competitor, a leader and had significant playoff experience. Along with the other guys, he’s made significant contributions so far.”

Among those “other guys” Flynn mentions as key contributors are goaltender Shane Owen, a free agent pick up from the OHL who could be the number one guy in goal next year; hulking Tyler Howe, who had been playing Junior ‘A’ in Saskatchewan, and former Mooseheads defenseman Alex MacDonald.

Thanks to a blistering start by Saint John which included a 22-game winning streak, the ‘Cats can’t seem to close ground on the Sea Dogs for first overall. But Flynn says that his players certainly aren’t consumed with catching their provincial rivals. “More important than catching Saint John is that we’ve been in a torrid battle with Cape Breton to secure second place in the Atlantic Division so we can get home ice in the first round of the playoffs. You have to give Saint John a lot of credit for staying in first….their consistency since day one has been remarkable. Our focus is on the process. We can’t control how Saint John does, we can only take care of things we can control. We’re looking at PEI and Cape Breton. We know that when you get down to the short strokes, there are six to eight really good teams in this league. We know how tough the first round alone is going to be.

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