Michal Korenko hadn’t played for the Lewiston Maineiacs in nearly a month. Kevin Marshall had been gone since Dec. 18, and Jakub Bundil skated Thursday for the first time since the 18th as well.
All three players were finally back on the ice wearing Maineiacs gear Saturday night, giving the Maineiacs its full complement of players for the first time in nearly a month. Particularly needy was the Maineiacs’ blue line, which thanks to a Sebastien Piche injury (he’s still listed as day-to-day) was down to just three regular skaters.
“There’s been no chemistry on the point,” said Harding. “Jonathan Paiement, (Brandon) Roach and Chad (Denny) are playing an enormous amount of minutes and it’s unhealthy for them to do that. Injuries, obviously, were a concern, but this separate tournament, I’m not in favor of this separate tournament.”
Also returning to the fold is Lewiston head coach Clem Jodoin, who helped head coach Brent Sutter lead Team Canada to the country’s second consecutive gold medal at the World Junior Championships last week.
Say goodbye
Another Lewiston skater has gone home.
Mathieu Ricard, who saw little ice time as a defenseman when everyone was healthy, but more in recent weeks as a fill-in, has gone home to play AAA hockey in Canada.
“We had a meeting with him, where we kind of mutually agreed that he’s not going to be able to play at this level how he wants,” said Harding. “He wants more ice time, and he’s not going to get it at this level right now, so we made a decision where he’s going to go back and play Junior AAA.”
In 15 games this season, Ricard had no points, nine penalty minutes and was a minus-2.
As Aubin goes…
There is little doubt that Mathieu Aubin has one of the better scoring touches on the Lewiston Maineiacs. His 27 goals and 30 assists for 57 points through 40 games are solid numbers, and they do lead the team.
But how important is Aubin to the team’s overall success?
Of Aubin’s 40 games this season, he has scored at least one point in 32 of them. In the eight games when Aubin didn’t get at least one assist, the Maineiacs are 2-6, with losses to Moncton (three times), Acadie-Bathurst, Cape Breton and Shawinigan. Both wins came against the Saint John Sea Dogs.
Streaking
The Maineiacs’ second line of Stefan Chaput, Stefano Giliati and Chris Tutalo has been performing well since Tutalo’s arrival nearly two weeks ago. In those five games, Chaput has recorded at least one point in each and totaled eight. Giliati has seven points in that same stretch.
And speaking of streaks, Maineiacs 20-year-old defenseman Jonathan Paiement has recorded eight goals and four assists for 12 points in his last eight games, including a hat trick against Rouyn-Noranda on Dec. 18 and two goals and an assist against Saint John on Dec. 30.
The longest point-scoring streak the Maineiacs have seen so far this season was Aubin’s 12-game streak to start the year. Chaput’s five-game run is currently the team’s longest active streak.
Deadline draws near
By the afternoon today, teams will no longer be allowed to make general trades across the league. Following the trade deadline today at noon, teams will only be allowed to trade 20-year-olds and draft picks. Rosters for everyone freeze for the playoffs on Feb. 11, at which time teams may add or subtract players from their 55-player roster accordingly.
So far, the Maineiacs have not announced any major trades. Only Olivier Legault has been traded to date in a deal for a fourth-round pick to Drummondville.
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