19 mai 2016 – Times & Transcript Samuel LeBlanc to suit up with Aigles Bleus
Moncton adds four players for next AUS men’s hockey season SEAN HATCHARD TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Samuel LeBlanc has been on the radar of the Université de Moncton Aigles
Bleus for quite some time now.
Head coach Serge Bourgeois watched LeBlanc when he was a member of the Moncton Flyers major midget team and later when he played for the Halifax
Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
LeBlanc is one of four recruits the Aigles Bleus have landed for the next Atlantic
University Sport men’s hockey conference season.
LeBlanc, a 20-year-old forward from Moncton, wrapped up his junior career with the Summerside Western Capitals and Amherst Ramblers in the Maritime Junior Hockey League this past season. He played for Halifax in the QMJHL for the previous two seasons.
“We’ve known him for a long time. He’s a good player, a good skater and he plays a good two-way game,” Bourgeois said yesterday.
“We expect him to come in and work hard and push the guys to play better in front of him.”
LeBlanc tallied 13 goals and 37 points in 40 MHL regular-season games with Summerside and Amherst this past season. He recorded 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) in 95 QMJHL regular-season games with Halifax.
“There was no question of me attending another university. The choice was easy because I live here. I attended a number of Aigles Bleus games growing up, and it is the only AUS Francophone university,” LeBlanc said in a news release.
“I want to contribute to the team’s success. The transition should go well with faster and bigger players. My style of play will help me make the jump. I will focus on my speed and my defensive and offensive play.”
Other additions to the Aigles Bleus lineup are forward Carl Marois, defenceman
Justin Guénette and goaltender Alexi Thibaudeau.
“We said after the season that we wanted to build more depth and create more competition on the team,” said Bourgeois,“and I think these four guys can help us.”
Marois, a 20-year-old from Montmagny, Que., suited up with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Victoriaville Tigres in a four-year QMJHL career. He was with
Victoriavile for the last three and a half seasons.
Marois scored 19 goals and 38 points in 61 games this past season. He finished with 109 points (54 goals, 55 assists) in 221 QMJHL regular-season games.
His best offensive season came in 2014-2015 with 42 points, including 17 goals, in 58 games.
“He’s a really good skater who is very conscious of his defensive play. We’re hoping he can help us a little bit on the offensive side, but he’s a good two-way player,”Bourgeois said.
Guénette is coming off playing for the Drummondville Voltigeurs this past season in the QMJHL.
He played the previous four years with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and was
Rouyn-Noranda’s first-round draft pick, fourth overall, in 2011 as a 16-year-old.
The 20-year-old native of Sainte-Agathe, Que,. registered 101 points in 270
QMJHL regular-season games.
“He’s a good puck-moving defence-man and I think that’s something we were lacking a little bit last year, so he adds depth and a little competition to our defence,” said Bourgeois. “I think he’s the guy who can do that for us.”
Thibaudeau will join returnee Brandon Thibeau to form Moncton’s goal-tending tandem next season. The 21-year-old from Gatineau, Que., played the past three seasons with the Notre Dame Hounds in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey
League.
He appeared in 132 games with a record of 59-56-14.
Thibaudeau has been coached by Aigles Bleus goalie coach Louis Guay in the past.
“Louis Guay knows him very well and talked very highly of him, so we’re excited to see him come in and push Thibeau to play the best he can,”Bourgeois said.
The Aigles Bleus finished fifth in the AUS regular season with a 13-13-2 record this past campaign. They were swept by the Saint Mary’s Huskies in a quarter- final playoff series.
Forwards Alex Emond, the team captain, Pier-Antoine Dion, and Alex Noël of
Moncton and goalie Adrien Lemay are not returning next season.
Bourgeois is continuing to work the recruiting trail and is hopeful to add a few more players for next season.
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Forward Samuel LeBlanc, a Moncton native who played two seasons with the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL, will join the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus next season. PHOTO: TIMES & TRANSCRIPT ARCHIvES