The Laval Rocket saw its winning streak end at eight on Saturday in Belleville, but beyond that, it is having an exceptional start to the season.
For Alex Barré-Boulet, this defeat serves as a good lesson for Pascal Vincent’s team, which sits at the top of its division in the American League.
“At the beginning of the year, it was can give to string together victories, it helps for team spirit. But I don’t think that having lost in Belleville is necessarily a bad thing, it makes us a little more humble,” indicated the Quebec striker to 5 to 7. “Of course we would have liked to win, but that tells us that if we don’t bring our best effort every match, we can be beaten. It’s up to us to learn from this. »
After two games of absence, Barré-Boulet returned to action last Friday against the Senators and he picked up where he left off, so much so that he has three goals and eight assists in seven games. The chemistry works on the first line with Brandon Gignac and Joshua Roy.
“Things are going well so far. I had good chemistry going with Brandon and Josh. These are players I already knew, I knew what they are capable of doing. We found each other quite easily at the start of the season and it still continues.
« [Josh] is a very good player. He has a very good sense of the game and a pretty phenomenal throw. It sits well on the ice when open. I like to make plays, Brandon is a guy who skates super fast and creates space, while Josh puts the finishing touches. With his throwing, my vision of the game and Brandon’s speed, our line is doing very well. The stats Josh has at 21 years old are pretty impressive. »
Indeed, Roy is the team leader with 12 points in 11 games, including 7 goals. It’s easy to find the positives during such a series of successes for the Rocket, who has yet to experience any adversity at the start of the campaign. Despite these successes, experienced coach Pascal Vincent intends to ensure that no one sits on their laurels.
“Everyone loves him, he’s fair “, says Barré-Boulet. “If you work, he will give you opportunities. But so far no one has given him reasons to reduce his ice time, everyone is working hard. There are role guys and others who play more because of the special teams, but we play with four lines. He gives it to you if you gave it to him. He’s very honest to tell you if you’re not playing well enough or to give you a slap on the back when you’re playing well, the guys appreciate that a lot.
In Montreal, however, the failures gave rise to reshuffles and a few recalls. Who knows when Barré-Boulet’s turn will come, but in his case, he prefers not to let himself be distracted by assumptions while waiting for a call and he speaks from experience.
“It’s certain that being in Laval, we watch a lot of Canadian matches. We try to see what they do. Often there are guys we know, like [Lucas] Condotta currently, and we hope things go really well for him. But I try not to think about that. Having experienced it in the past, when you hope the phone rings every day, it doesn’t happen, and then you start playing badly because you get nervous, stressed. So I play my game. For now I’m in Laval and I’m happy to be there. I have fun with the guys and we have a good team. If they need me, I’ll be ready.
“This is not my first professional year. My parents and friends asked me this question at the start of my career, it happened more in Syracuse than now. I think they are just happy being in Laval to be able to come see me play on a regular basis. Of course there is always noise from outside, but so far things are going really well and the fact that we are playing well keeps things quieter. »
