The Montreal Militia start the season off with a tough schedule highlighted by top tier SMJHL teams. They have struggled early, but have flashes of great hockey at times. The hard working front office has been grinding their gears, trying different combinations in practice to put the most competitive team on the ice that they can. This resulted as Patrick Brumm Jr. moving all the way up to the top pairing despite being a rookie. Brumm Jr’s at defense of rating 74 hasn’t seemed to be a huge cog on the first pairing. The real glaring issue is his skating that has let him be exposed by a few fast breaks thus far.

Looking forward Montreal is working with Brumm Jr. to improve his skating rating of 60 so he can help limit fast breaks, and be more effective in the large role the Militia have thrown him into. Look for Montreal to make a mid to late season surge towards the 4 star cup. As the youngsters gain familiarity with the system in place in Montreal we should see the team start to surge in the stats and become a real contender. This will inturn get them coveted 4 star cup they fell so short of last season.