By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

Talk about a busy week.

The Lewiston Maineiacs will play three games over the next seven nights, which in itself isn’t all that abnormal.

But for two of the Maineiacs’ skaters, five games beckon over the next 168 hours, which would be enough to tire out even the toughest and best-trained hockey player.

Chad Denny and Mathieu Aubin will play in the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge, which features two games between a group of elite Russian players and an all-star team of Quebec Major Junior Hockey league players. Denny and Aubin were both selected more than a month ago, and will play as forwards in the game designed in part to help members of Hockey Canada evaluate talent for the World Junior Championship tournament.

The Ontario Hockey League and Western Hockey League will also participate as in years past, but the QMJHL team will get the first crack at the Russians.

Alexander Radulov of the Quebec Remparts is the lone QMJHL player on the Russian squad.

Maineiacs head coach Clem Jodoin will be behind the bench for the QMJHL all-stars as well, which will host the first game Monday at Drummondville’s Centre Marcel Dionne and the second on Wednesday at the Moncton Coliseum.

Three in three

No, the Lewiston Maineiacs will not play three games in three nights this week, but they will play three games in a row against the same opponent – Acadie-Bathurst. The Titan have defeated the Maineiacs in all three meetings so far, and all of the wins have been by one goal. One game, a 7-6 Bathurst victory, went into a shootout.

The first of the three games is this afternoon at 3 p.m., and the next two will be at home on Friday and Saturday.

The Titan have made a habit of playing tight games in recent weeks, with one glaring exception – an 8-1 setback at home against Moncton. Otherwise, Bathurst has allowed 17 goals and scored 22 in six games. The Titan are 6-3-1-0 in their last 10 games, while Lewiston has won four of five and is 5-4-0-1 in its last 10.

Alumni watch

Former Maineiacs forward Alexandre Picard got his first taste of the National Hockey League Friday night after being called up by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Picard had three goals and two assists for five points with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL, with all three of those goals coming on the power play.

In his first game against Dallas on Friday, Picard was called for a two-minute penalty that resulted in the Stars’ first goal in a 6-3 Dallas win. Otherwise, he skated for 13 minutes, including more than a minute on the power play, and was a minus-1. He led the team with six hits.

Murphy’s back…again

Former Lewiston center Ryan Murphy, who played the first part of the season with a junior team in Alberta, has rejoined the Saint John Sea Dogs as an overager. Murphy was selected by the Sea Dogs during last summer’s QMJHL expansion draft, but was released prior to the beginning of the regular season.

In his first game back in Drummondville Friday night, Murphy had no points and was a minus-1.

Suspensions

P.E.I. coach Yannick Jean was suspended this week for inciting a brawl between his team and Acadie-Bathurst on Nov. 2.

Three seconds into that game, all five Rocket players locked up with their Titan counterparts and started to fight them. Originally, the Titan players involved were also tossed from the game, but those suspensions were later reversed because the league felt the Rocket had started the fights.

P.E.I. was also fined $2,500.

Acadie-Bathurst’s assistant coach, Pat Daviault, was suspended for a game for stepping onto the ice during a separate conflict during the game, and Titan defenseman Kris MacDonald was suspended for a game for an inappropriate gesture toward the crowd.

In the game, the Rocket built an early 4-0 lead, blew it, and then won 5-4 in overtime.