With the Québec Citadelles’ inaugural season behind us, it’s now possible to look, statistically, which of their players stood out.

I think it would be unfair to start with anyone other than Québec’s goaltending duo of Mat Smith and David Danielson.

While their goal against average isn’t what I would call stellar, I believe one should look at the kind of defense they had playing in front of them before judging them too harshly there. The fact that their saving percentage is above .900 with a defensive squad made entirely of rookies is proof of their talent. They are among the goalies that received the most shots in the league and yet, they were able to maintain very respectable numbers all season. The Citadelles had their share of embarrassing losses but these two are clearly not to blame for any of them. They actually kept their team competitive in games where their opponents really outplayed them.

While Smith and Danielson were (very) busy keeping their team in games, Alexander Roach took care of things offensively.

His 35 points make him the best scorer of both expansion teams (Zelma Zuntnere and Gavin Wallace led the Nevada Battleborn with 25 points). To be fair to the Battleborn, the fact that Roach was part of Québec’s roster not because of the expansion draft but rather because he was the team’s co-general manager made this contest very hard to win for them. Nevertheless, it’s an achievement you can’t take from him.

Roach didn’t only play his part offensively but his amount of blocked shots is ridiculous, especially for a forward. His 128 shots blocked actually place him first amongst forwards in that category. He is also ahead of his teammate Yuuto Kira Cloudera Jr. by a comfortable margin to lead the Citadelles in yet another category.

Something that a lot of people don’t take seriously enough is physical play and aggressiveness. Boris Petrov is not like most people. One of the three Petrov siblings on the Citadelles’ roster, Boris looks to build his career on those two things.

Playing a little dirty is part of his game and he leads the SMJHL in penalty minutes by quite a large margin. A margin of over 75 minutes. Look at it this way, in a 50 games season, Boris Petrov spent 3 and a half of those in the penalty box.

Fans may not like when Bobo takes penalties but they go nuts for all the big hits he delivers on his opponents. He also leads the league there, by over 80 hits. They also really enjoy watching him fight because very often, that would be the only win they would get to witness in their night. Boris won 9 out of the 15 fights he took, placing him first in the league again in that category.

On a purely defensive point, there haven’t been that many highlights but Yuuto Kira Cloudera Jr. did very well in her rookie season. She had great numbers in shots blocked and in hits and was one of the most useful defensemen on the team.

All in all, the Citadelles’ first season went way better than most expected. They finished ahead of not only their expansion rivals but also of a well-established franchise, the Detroit Falcons. With most of their roster being first year rookies, they will, without a doubt, keep improving and get more and more competitive as years go by.

   

Approved! +5 TPE @enigmatic