Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Race For the Playoffs Heats Up

The race for final positioning is heating up in the NABHL and Shockers saved themselves from tumbling down the latter last night against the Expos.

Expos who have been struggling to find themselves a solid identity after being last season's champions have gotten a little wind in their sails as of late. No other team in the league knows what it's like to have a roller coaster season better than the Shockers who have mish-mashed line-ups all season to have a mixed bag of wins and losses.

Shockers, who are just 2 games out of being 500 for the season, knew they had to play hard last night as they were tied in the standings with the Expos and a loss would make either team play the District 5 Knights in the playoffs, a team neither the Expos nor Shockers found a great deal of success against.

Shockers came out of the gate with a 5-1 start in the first period, Ben Ducharme picking up a deuce while Andrew Stevens, Kosta Kastrounis and Alain Godard each netted one each.

Second period is where the Expos showed some sign of life scoring three but Shockers were right there with four of their own. Chris Diabo picked up a hat-trick and Godard scored his second of the game.

Third period was a quiet one, Ducharme got the lone goal to complete his hat-trick and give the Shockers a 10-4 victory.

"It was one of those nights where the ball was going our way for a change. Scoring three is a great feeling," commented Ducharme who finished off the night with 3 goals and 1 assist.

"Can't complain how we played," added Godard who had 2 goals and 3 assists.

The Shockers will take on the last place Warriors for their final two games of the season as should try to win them if they wish to hold their position for the playoffs.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Game Rescheduled

Please take note that last night's game against the Warriors that was canceled has been rescheduled to Monday, January 12th, 2009.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Tonight is Cancelled!

Tonight against the Warriors is cancelled!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Grinders Keep On Trucking



Last Monday hosted the first place Grinders and the struggling Shockers at Le Rinque. The Shockers who have been having a difficult time finding the right combination all season had another game of a mish-mashed lines with no real success in the scoring column.

Grinders jumped out of the gate with a 2-0 lead after the first and then sailed on from there potting another four before the Shockers could even mustard up a reply. 6-1 after the second and the Shockers already felt it was over but they added another only for the Grinders to add two more making the final score 8-2.

Amongst the goals were Alain Godard with a beautiful feed from Nick Sullo who made his first appearance in several games and Guillaume Cote who banged home a rebound from a Godard slapper.

Sullo played on defense and did a pretty good job keeping the powerful Grinders at bay. We would also like to mention that Sullo did not record a single penalty minute in the entire game.

Also making an appearance was Giancarlo Capaz who played a bit on defense and a bit on forward and seems to be making a comfortable impression on his teammates as the most all-around player on the team (goalie, forward and defense), what could be next? Coach? GM? Who knows!

Andrew Johnson also had a spot on the team and was seen on both forward and defense. He made a nice combination playing on the line with Capaz.

Shockers next game in this Sunday at 8:30pm against the Warriors.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Player Profile: Francois Hamelin

Francois Hamelin wasn't a household name until the day he stepped foot at Le Rinque. Hamelin liked to joke that he would be the Patrice Brisebois of the Shockers but even he underestimated his ability of determination and charisma.

Francois' unorthodox diving style during Shockers' games was inherited from who is believed to be his biological father, Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Cousteau known for his discoveries under water was quite the active man between the sheets in his prime touring-the-world days. As it is not known how many children Cousteau may have blessed the world with, there are many similarities between himself and Hamelin including such points as standing positions, eye colors, passion for diving, his obsession for love-making and his liking for small tuques.

While on a diving expedition at Roché Percé in Gaspé, Québéc, Cousteau won over the heart of a beautiful, feisty young lady who enjoyed the outdoors more than ever. Cousteau shared his stories of the world and she shared her adventures of Québéc, it was a match from heaven, until Cousteau had to move on with his career. He had to make a life decision to leave his summer love behind and a child that he did not know was on the way or to carry on with his career. He chose his career.

Francois's mother moved to Quebec City to live with her Grandmother as she was resented by her own parents for having a child without a father. While in Quebec City, she began to take interest in hockey and watched the Québéc Nordiques religiously, almost to a point of obsession. She collected hockey cards of her favorite players and tried to get autographs while players were going to practice. Francois was finally born and as a baby, his mother found that hockey was a new form of breast feeding for her child.

Her longing for bigger and better hockey lead her and her child onto a bus, enroute for Montreal. Unfortunately, she had not checked the bus number and ended up in Vaudreuil, Quebec. While in Vaudreuil, by day, she had been hired as a waitress at a local diner but by night she would headman one of the biggest youth outdoor hockey operations known to the area. This is where Francois would find his happy-medium between the game his mother got him to love and the diving that was implanted in his genes from his biological father; as a result, it developed his own brand of hockey.

Francois grew up with the game but started to see hockey differently as an adolescent. The Boston Bruins had become his favorite team and this made times uneasy with his mother was a die-hard Montreal Canadiens fan. The hardships between the two led Francois to make a move to the big city of Montreal.

While in Montreal, Francois lost his kinship with hockey and vowed to leave the game as a part of the past. His parting from the game led him into a depression which then followed a few years of alcohol abuse.

He became friends with Alain Godard, captain of the Shockers, and Ben Ducharme, also with the Shockers. As concerned friends they decided to help Francois to get out of his depression. Hockey would be the solution.

The three began to organize outdoor pick-up games with the neighbourhood children. Hanging out with them made him also grow in love with the Montreal Canadiens and immediately started to follow the team religiously. Hamelin, Ducharme and Godard were inseparable when it came to hockey and the Canadiens. This would be the start of a new beginning.

A couple of years later, Francois found himself in the midst of a revolution. The start of the Shockers. The birth of a new era. As a silent co-founder he found himself in similar shoes as his mother in Vaudreuil. The start of the team made him reconcile the differences with his mother and in return she guided him through the ways of starting and maintaining a hockey team. Francois' new found knowledge helped him be a large cornerstone of the team's operations and communication as well as being one of the hardest working defensemen of the NABHL.

You can see Francois diving and sliding around le Rinque next Sunday, December 21, 2008 @ 8:30pm against the Warriors.

Until then, enjoy this montage of Hamelin's best moves.


Wednesday, December 10, 2008

All-Stars Announced

The NABHL all-star teams were announced on Monday night for this year's all-star game.

From the Shockers, there were three players selected:
  • Alain Godard
  • Andrew Stevens
  • Giancarlo Capaz
The game will take place on Sunday, December 21st @ 5pm and then the Shockers will take on the Warriors the same night @ 8:30pm.

Each player had their opportunity to comment on their nomination.

"It was a surprise to me, I wasn't even aware an all-star game existed. Even though I was selected I still feel some of our defense should have made the team," commented Stevens.

"I thought it was a joke at first, it will be fun to play against [Capaz] and [Stevens]," Godard said.

"Well it was surprising for sure but it will be cool to play," added Capaz.

Here are the rosters for this season's intermediate all-star teams:

Team 1

Team 2

Alain Godard (Shockers)

Andrew Stevens (Shockers)

Chris Raffael (Warriors)

Carmelo Pilatis (Expos)

DJ Schwartz (D-5 Knights)

Chris Cormier (FW)

Greg Kates (Chiefs)

Danny Zollo (Grinders)

Javan Zawislak (Grinders)

Francis Courrion (FW

Matt Dispaldro (Grinders)

Francis Milloy (Decepticon)

Mike Hamou (FW)

Joey Cocsuna (Grinders)

Richard Quirion(Decepticon)

Marco Lavecchia (Grinders)

Ryan Schwartz (Expos)

Martin Poncelet (Warriors)

Steven Clement (FW)

Ralph Leider (D-5 Knights)

Goalie - Pino P (Grinders)

Goalie - Giancarlo Capaz (Shockers)

Monday, December 8, 2008

Figuring Out FW



Final Score

FW 8 - Shockers 3

So let's face it, when a team has your number it makes it extremely difficult to break the cycle and turn the tables in your favor. Shockers have had a 0% success rate against FW who had been pestering them since their debut season last summer and last night was another digit in the losing column.

Nonetheless, the Shockers were full of surprises, especially when everyone got to see former goaltender Giancarlo Capaz playing out as the 6th defenseman instead of in nets. Marco D'ambrosi, who was recently acquired last week, had a decent outting despite it being his first game as a Shocker and it had to be against the team that has given the Shockers the most problems in two seasons. Shawn McDermott was back in the line-up but was kept fairly quiet by FW's defense.

First period started off rocky as the Shockers fell down quickly 3-0. The second period was a bit better when Stevens and Godard potted one each but they were still down 6-2. The third was the icing on the cake when FW scored two more despite Kastrounis netting a nice feed from Sandhu.

The Shockers will have another battle on their hands when they take on the first place Grinders next Monday.

Monday, December 1, 2008

A Fresh Start

"A fresh start" is how Marco D'ambrosi described his recent signing with the Shockers as their starting goaltender this past week. D'ambrosi played the opening two games for the Grinders, and posted a 2-o record with a 4.0 GAA before the team decided to go with current goaltender Pino P.

"[Grinders] asked me to fill in for a couple of games and they seemed like they were leaning towards taking me on for the full season but that didn't work out," commented D'ambrosi.

D'ambrosi graces the Shockers with a lot of experience which includes several years of ice hockey and some outtings in ball hockey. He decided to take on the position with the Shockers after the team recently parted way with former starter, Giancarlo Capaz, who in fact stepped down after the 5-2 loss to Decepticons on November 17th. Capaz, had made an earlier statement that he would retiring after the season's end but decided to hang it up earlier due to other reasons which remain undisclosed.

Marco D'ambrosi's face is not an unfamiliar one to some members of the team as he has been a good friend of assistant captain, Andrew Stevens, for a number of years as well as he has been spotted at a couple of the Shockers practices these past few weeks.

"He's a great goalie and an even better guy off the ice. He is going to help out not only in nets but in the dressing room," Stevens spoke of the new netminder.

Marc Boucher and Francois Hamelin were both impressed by D'ambrosi during last weeks practice. Boucher explains: "He's got a good style and hardly anything gets passed him, this is a good thing!"

D'ambrosi will make his debut for the Shockers against the high flying FW who have been reaping in a great deal of success as of late, including a heart-crushing victory over the first place Grinders a few weeks ago. Afterwards, he will have to face his old team for the first time this season.

"That's the game I'm looking forward to. I know we have to take this one game at a time and i have to be focused on FW first but I want to beat [the Grinders] badly," commented D'ambrosi

Check out D'ambrosi's debut start for the Shockers at le Rinque, Sunday, December 7th when he faces Francois Courion and FW.