Login

***JR95*** · 09-13-2023, 05:06 PM

Quote:2043 words

Season 72 is soon coming to a close in the SMJHL and with the end of the season comes the end of Cormier’s junior career. It’s been a tremendous ride in multiple ways for both myself as a user and for Cormier as a player. I’ve been on the site since early 2016 and I’ve had more players than I really should have in that time frame. I’ve had a lot of different experiences in the J, both good and bad, but this one will always be very special to me. While I’ve managed to come across some personal successes that have always eluded me as a player, what really is defining this career so far for me are the people I’ve got to share it with along the way. With a new chapter about to begin in Cormier’s career, I thought it would be a good time to look back on the Juniors career that was and the people who made it so.

The Season 69 SMJHL Entry Draft

Before S69 I had been away from the league for a little while to focus on some projects in real life, and I didn’t know how feasible it would be to balance the SHL, those projects, and a kid that was on the way. After things had settled a bit and I felt more comfortable that I would have the time to commit to a player, I came back and created for the S69 SMJHL draft.

Heading into the draft, there was a lot of certainty for myself as to where I was going to go. I had some good talks with a few teams, but nothing really materialized into anything promising, and most conversations ended with me feeling like you do after an interview where you’re pretty sure you didn’t get the job. And like I said, it was only a few teams. I would say most teams didn’t reach out at all, and heading into the draft I had no strong feelings that any particular team was going to try and take me at any particular point of the draft. It was really going to be a night of watching the picks go by and actually wondering if the nameplate on the screen would have your name on it. This was a pretty stark contrast from most of my drafting experiences on this site, but it was honestly a lot of fun too. Usually, I’d know roughly where I was going, even if it was between 1 or 2 picks. This time, however, not a clue.

Given how the scouting talks went (or didnt), I wasn’t really surprised to see the first round come and go without Cormier’s name coming up on the board. Looking into the 2nd round, there were quite a few teams early on that I had had a connection to at some point or another since I’ve been around and I started to wonder if maybe any of those teams would take a chance on someone who used to have an allegiance to their franchise. Yukon had the first pick of the second round, and I had had a player on the Malamutes in the past. There was also Vancouver who I had GMed to back to back cups in the 30s, or Maine that I was on several times throughout the franchise's history, going as far back as a player on Halifax. Those picks came and went, and still no Cormier. Surely it would be one of the next 2? I had some good friends on the Raptors, and I own a Great Falls jersey in real life, those seemed like pretty safe bets at this point. Which is why I don’t gamble, because I’d have lost my money when neither opted to draft me.

It was pick 22 and the Quebec City Citadelles were on the clock. I didn’t really expect them to draft me, they weren’t a team that scouted me this go around, but I’ve had really good talks with them in the past. They are always a team that I held in very high regard but never got to know much more about than what can be observed from the outside. While I wasn’t expecting to go to Quebec City, it’s where Cormier would ultimately end up on draft day as pick 22 was revealed.

And while I wasn’t expecting to go to QCC, I certainly wouldn’t change any of that for the world.

Season 69

It didn’t take long for me to see what I was walking into when training camp started shortly after the draft. From top to bottom, this organization was just bursting with pure class and a drive to do better for everyone involved. We had top tier GMs, and we had a top tier group of players on the ice and off the ice. The recent draft was a really big one for Quebec, giving their roster an injection of young talent to hopefully complement the remaining old guard. Franchise legends such as Jack St-Clair and Redd Savage, among others, were headed into their final season of eligibility and they had a fire in them to make something of their last run in the J. That said a few good players do not make a team, and if they were going to have any chance at winning a cup before time ran out, they were going to need some help from the young guns.

And help from the young guns they got. While the vets surely had impressive seasons themselves, particularly St Clair with his 68 points in 66 games, what really gave this roster a chance and drove the team to a 6th place finish league-wide was the outstanding performances of several young draftees and free agent signings. Jiggle E Puff is the shining example, putting up an incredible 67 points in 66 games, that in their very first season in the league. Smurfunkel Dothe, Nathan Cormier, and Elena Maximova followed not far behind though at 55, 53 and 51 points respectively. Still very impressive numbers for players who have never played at this level before.

On a more personal level for Cormier, I was really happy with his 53 points in his first season. I’ve never really had a player explode in their first season, often going most of the inaugural season without a goal. Putting up 53 points in 66 games has got to be one of if not the best first season I’ve ever had with a player.

Needless to say, the regular season was a massive success for the Citadelles, but as we all know far too well, once playoffs come around, it’s a whole new ball game (or puck game?). It was time te see if Quebec was going to be able to keep it up when it mattered, and the rookies were about to undergo the ultimate test to find out.

Fortunately for Quebec, the entire team, rookies included, were up to the task and never broke under the pressure. It was a grueling playoffs, with both rounds 2 and 3 going to 7 games. Round 1 wasn’t particularly short either, having gone to 6 games. By the time the Citadelles made it to the finals, they had played a total of 20 out of 21 possible games. Thats a lot of hockey in such a short time span. Comparatively, their opponent in Detroit had the first round off, a 2nd round sweep and a 6 game victory over Carolina in the 3rd round. They tallied up 10 out of 14 possible games in the 2 rounds they played, and got to watch us from the comfort of 8-mile in the first round. It definitely seemed like a daunting task for Quebec, but they had made it this far and they were determined to prove they had what it took to take it all the way.

What many people thought was going to be an easy dispatch for the president trophy winners ended up being anything but. In a shocking turn of events, even for those involved on the Quebec side, the Citadelles went on to win the series in 5 games, and in commanding fashion as well. 3 of their 4 victories came with 5 or more goals scored for the citadelles and they managed to tally 23 goals in the 5 game series to eliminate the Falcons and take home the four star cup.

For me, this was the first time I ever had a player win the cup. As I mentioned earlier, I had won back to back cups in the J before with Vancouver as a GM, but the four star has always eluded my players. For the first time in over 7 years, I finally had one. And while not quite as impressive as his regular season performance, Cormier still performed extremely well, notching a respectable 7 goals and 11 assists in 25 contests. Overall it’s really hard for me to complain about the numbers he put up in both the regular season and the playoffs, and it was really nice to be able to contribute to the team’s succes and actually have it culminate in the team winning the cup.

The S70 SHL Entry Draft

SHL drafts always feel a little more weird to me than SMJHL ones, and it definitely has everything to do with the many many years I GMed the West Kendall/Baltimore Platoon. Honestly, even today it’s hard to ignore the urge to scroll down to Platoon Player Updates when updating my player. Trying to imagine myself on any other franchise as a regular piece is a little difficult, even after having kinda been on a few. I say kind of because I don’t think my players on WPG or LA made it to the big leagues as that’s when I took my break. So going into the draft I was a bit nervous but also a bit excited to experience something new again. I had some good chats with a few teams and I admittedly felt like I knew a little more about where I’d go compared to the J draft. I didn’t have anyone tell me outright they were going to draft me at any specific spot, but a few teams had confirmed that they were at least somewhat interested in me if I was available a little outside the top 10. One of those teams was the Toronto North Stars, and after a series of great chats with Wally before the draft, I ended up being drafted to Toronto with the 14th overall pick, originally owned by the New Orleans Spectors.

For the sake of this article/series though, I will be keeping most of the writing focused on Cormier’s career in the Juniors. While Toronto was his new SHL home, it would be many seasons until Cormier would get called up to the rebuilding North Stars, if that time were to ever come.

The Citadelles

I spent a little more time talking about the teams on ice endeavours than the off ice ones and wanted to make sure I took the time to properly highlight the people that made this season what it was. Quebec City is nothing short of a phenomenal organization in every way and they play a huge role in my reinvigorated long-term interest in the league. I’m not going to tag everyone because there’s just too much awesome to go around in qcc and it’d be a crime to forget one of you, but if you’re reading this, you know who you are. Thank you for making S69 and beyond what it has been for me, it’s really been one of the better experiences and communities I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of in this league.

Although that brings an end to QCC’s chapter in season 69, Cormier still had a few more seasons of SMJHL left to go and we’ll be taking a look at those in the next part of this series. While his junior career isn’t quite over yet at the time of writing, it will be within a few hours of the article being published. I’ll be back next week with seasons 2 through 4 for Nathan Cormier.

***lore*** · 09-13-2023, 05:23 PM

So so happy we were given the chance to have you with us this to around. Lub u <3

spidey · 09-13-2023, 08:21 PM

Congrats on a hell of a junior career. Good luck in the SHL see you there in a season.

***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 09-14-2023, 01:08 AM

Newfie poutine babyyyy

***Evok*** · 09-14-2023, 11:15 AM

@JR95 im not crying ur crying
It was such an amazing call we make to decide to draft you even without talking with you this time around, we remembered our amazing talk with you a few seasons before and decided to throw a shot in the dark, hoping you wouldn't hold it against us and having a franchise so close to home with users you knew since forever could speak to you. I'm very glad it was the case and you enjoy your time here Smile

To many more years!

***MikeLiut*** · 09-14-2023, 10:59 PM

Superb article!

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us