18 juin 2014- Times & Transcript Riverview goalie Brandon Thibeau commits to Aigles Bleus

› Rookie will start the season as backup to Adrien Lemay

sean HatcHard Times & TranscripT

The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus have been quiet in this recruiting season but are set in goal for next season.

The Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey conference club announced yesterday that Riverview native Brandon Thibeau will join the team in the fall.

Aigles Bleus head coach Serge Bourgeois said Thibeau will start the campaign as a backup to incumbent Adrien Lemay.

Bourgeois has watched Thibeau perform in net over the years – he played one season for the Dieppe Commandos in the Maritime Junior Hockey League, then had a stint with the Moncton Wildcats in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and spent the last two seasons with the Pictou County Crushers back in the MHL.

“We thought he was a really good fit for us. He’s a good goaltender with good size, and I find he stays really, really calm in net, which is something a coach likes,”Bourgeois said last night.

“He’s going to need a little bit of time to get used to our league, but I think with some hard work he can be a very good goaltender.”

Thibeau, 21, logged big minutes for Pictou County in the past two years. He led the league with 26 wins and sported a 2.72 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in 43 games last season.

He will study in sciences and psychology at the Université de Moncton.

“I did grow up taking in games of the Aigles Bleus and I wanted to play for them,” said Thibeau. “I will be able to play at home, and it is an honour to dress for this team because of its past history. I know of number of former and present players.

This is a good program and a good university.”

Lemay, who played in 21 games last season, will return as Moncton’s starter.

Bourgeois said last year’s backup, Jonathan Connely, may or may not return.

“It’s still Lemay’s job at the start of the year as the No. 1 goalie to prove that he can stay there and do the job that we need him to do. We think Thibeau can be there to push him and make sure if we do have to make a change that he’ll be ready to go,” Bourgeois said.

“I think Lemay can be one of the best goalies in the league for sure, and a couple of years of experience is going to help him a lot. With Thibeau being his backup and pushing him like we think he can, I think it’s going to make him even better. I think we have a really good one-two punch that we can rely on for a few years.”

Thibeau said he expects there will be a transition from junior A to university hockey.

“I know I will need time to adjust. I will be facing men that are stronger, bigger and faster. I will do my best to make it a smooth transition,”he said.

“I will need good training. I will train with coaches Louis Guay and Dave Kennedy this summer, off and on the ice. I have been training with Guay for 10 years. I will battle to get as much ice time as possible and push Adrien Lemay for the No. 1 position.”

The Aigles Bleus have already landed forward Thierry Comtois, who spent this past season with the Dieppe Commandos after three years with the Vald’Or Foreurs in the QMJHL. Former Moncton Wildcats defenceman Danick Emond will also be in the mix. He recently underwent knee surgery, but Bourgeois expects him to be ready for regular-season play in October.

Defenceman Michael Ward, a Ship-pagan native who had transferred from Acadia University last year and red-shirted in the North East Senior Hockey

League, is not returning to UdeM in the fall.

Bourgeois said his club hopes to add two or three more players by the time training camp begins in September.

“We’re working hard on adding a couple guys. We’re looking for some size and we’re looking for some guys who can skate in our league,” the coach said.

“Last year was a big recruiting year for us. I really like the core of our team right now. We had some rookies who proved themselves last year and we’re expecting more good things out of them. We’re losing (top forwards) Eric Faille and Alex

Quesnel, so we’re looking for that one guy that can put pucks in the net.”

The Aigles Bleus went 17-11-0 in the regular season and fell to the Acadia Axemen in a semifinal playoff series in the 2013-14 campaign.

Pictou County Crushers goalie Brandon Thibeau makes a save on the Dieppe Commandos during a Maritime Junior Hockey League game last season.

PHOTO: VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT