Archambault is selected by Val d'Or

Press Release

MONCTON, Saturday, June 6, 2009 – The 2009 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Entry Draft officially got underway this morning at Moncton Coliseum with several thousand Wildcats fans in attendance.

Offence was in high demand in the early going. The first six picks were forwards as were seven of the top ten.

The Val-d’Or Foreurs took Olivier Archambault first overall. The Shawinigan Cataractes then picked Yannick Veilleux second while the Lewiston MAINEiacs selected Francis Beauvillier third.

The Foreurs also owned the fourth overall pick, which they used to select Jean-François Leblanc.

The fifth pick, which belonged to the Moncton Wildcats, got the hometown crowd excited. The Wildcats rested their hopes on winger Raphaël Bussières.

The P.E.I. Rocket broke the trend by selecting defenseman Jimmy Oligny seventh.

A few interesting trades were made during the first round with some teams flipping some picks. The Saguenéens traded pick #8 to the Cataractes for picks #13 and #17. Then, the Mooseheads sent Gabriel O’Connor (1990-12-14) to the Huskies for pick #15.

Chicoutimi used the seventeenth pick on Robin Gusse, the lone goaltender selected in the first round.

Finally, the Huskies and the Océanic completed a major trade. Rimouski sent Philippe Cornet (1990-12-22) and Tommy Perreault (1990-12-22) to Rouyn-Norana for Alex Émond (1991-09-16) and Étienne Boutet (1992-06-01). A fair amount of draft picks also changed hands in the deal.


(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)