After some strong outings, and in part due to Alex Sousa’s dismissal from the team, Marc-Andre Crete is close to becoming a full-time member of the Lewiston Maineiacs’ defensive corps.
“He’s about 95 percent sure,” said Maineiacs assistant coach and assistant general manager Ed Harding. “We still have to work out the final details with him and his parents, mostly related to school.”
Crete had been a call-up last season for a few games, and impressed the team then, and he had also done well during this season’s training camp, but his commitment to school led to his return to the Junior AAA ranks.
“He did a fantastic job for us in Shawinigan when we had injuries last year,” said Harding, “and we like him in training camp this year, too.”
In four games this season with Lewiston, Crete has two assists, both of which came last Wednesday against Rimouski in a 6-1 Lewiston win.
“He’s been a very smart player and we’ve like the way he moves the puck,” said Harding.”
Short-handed offense
With two short-handed goals against Baie-Comeau on Friday, the Lewiston Maineiacs seem to have found a penchant for scoring with their backs against the wall.
Or have they?
Despite the buzz created when, in particular, Stefano Gilati and Stefan Chaput are on the ice, the Maineiacs are actually only 10th in the league in short-handed goals scored with nine.
“It’s more about smarts than speed with Giliati and Chaput,” said Harding. “They are able to create some odd-man rushes by playing smart.”
Giliati leads the team with three shorthanded goals on the year, while Chaput has one. Chad Denny and Marc-Andre Cliche have two each.
Quebec leads the league with 19 short-handed goals, and league leader Alexandre Radulov of the Remparts has five.
Special teams specials
One thing the Maineiacs have been able to do on their penalty kill is actually keep the puck out of their own net.
In 364 short-handed chances, the Maineiacs have allowed 60 goals, good for second overall in the league at 83.5 percent. Only Halifax has a better penalty kill so far this year, by just three-tenths of a point.
Compared to last season, the whole league is down slightly, but the Maineiacs, who finished third last year, are right on par, just four-tenths off of last year’s 83.9 percent.
On the power play, Lewiston has moved into sixth place overall in the league at 20.9 percent, a full four points higher than last year’s final total of 16.9 percent.
Rest for the weary
After a grueling road trip during which the Maineiacs went from one extreme edge of Quebec to the other, the team will get some extra time off this week.
“After that road trip, this is a good thing,” said Harding. “That was a tough one, to have to go from Rouyn-Noranda and Val d’Or all the way to Rimouski and Baie-Comeau.”
The team is taking an extra day off Monday and will be back at work Tuesday to prepare for its next set of games, a pair of home games against P.E.I. (Sunday, Jan. 22) and St. John’s (Wednesday, Jan. 25).
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