Canadiens 1996 1st Half Season in Review Part 4

 

MONTREAL – Over the last 3 days, we've looked at the Habs NFHL season so far.

Today, we look at the future of the Habs, most of which is sitting in Laval.

The Laval Rocket’s objective going into the season was to compete for the NMFHL Calder Cup.  After a few up and down seasons, the Canadiens farm club have taken a huge step up this season, despite the development and graduation of overage prospects such as Vyacheslav Butsayev and Ed Ward and losing key young prospects to the pro club such as Cory Stillman, Roman Hamrlik, Chris Osgood, etc. 

The Rocket currently sit in 1^st place in the Wales Conference and 3^rd overall with a record of 24-12-4 for 52 points with 297 goals for and 242 goals against (last year 21-17-2 with 294 goals for and 241 goals against).  They started the season with a record of 13-4-3 (29 points) with 122 goals for and 91 goals against so the last 20 games have represented a record of 11-8-1 (23 points) and 175 goals for and 151 goals against. 

Following them in 2^nd place in the Wales Conference is Albany (NJ), who are once again contenders with 48 points in 39 games. Atlanta (Tampa) are 3^rd  with 47 points. In the Campbell, Springfield (Chicago) and Long Beach (LA) lead the way with 54 and 53 points respectively.

The Rocket once again this season has been more about a team affair rather than any individual contributors. There are no Rocket players in the top 30 scorers. Rob Niedermayer leads the team with 51 points in 40 games, followed by Radek Bonk with 49 points, and Sean Pronger with 48 points in 40 games.  Allan Egeland is 4^th with 47 points and Todd Harvey is 5^th with 43 points in 40 games.  All team members who have played the full season have at least 15 points on the season. Corey Foster has been the top offensive defenseman with 37 points in 40 games.

Cam Stewart is the leader in goals with 21 so far.

In nets, Jamie Storr and Marcel Cousineau have excellent GAAs of 1.00 and 2.00 respectively but they both have played in 1 game only.  Wade Flaherty leads the way with a GAA of 6.46 in 37 games.

The Rocket's objective to win the league is certainly possible at this stage but it will be a challenge.

This concludes our 4 part series reviewing the Habs after 1/2 of the season has passed.

-The Montreal Gazette