Newcomer man of the hour as Bobcats win opener
Opening-night hero Esteban Cinq-Mars made his AJHL debut a memorable one as he scored two goals to help the Lloydminster Bobcats christen the Cenovus Energy Hub with a 4-2 victory over the Fort McMurray Oil Barons.
Read more: Bobcats beat MOB 4-2 in Hub home-opener
The 19-year-old defenceman from Longueuil, Que., skated past a summertime hand injury that derailed his hopes of a tryout in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
Esteban Cinq-Mars scored two goals Friday to help the Lloydminster Bobcats defeat the Fort McMurray Oil Barons 4-2 in the Hub opener. John MacNeil Meridian Source
“Well, I guess it’s good — I scored two goals,” a smiling Cinq-Mars said about his recovery from a broken hand. “It’s all good right now. It’s in the past.”
The future looks promising for the Bobcats as 1,827 fans showed up Friday (Sept. 19) for the inaugural regular-season game at the 2,500-seat Cenovus Energy Hub.
“It feels amazing,” said Cinq-Mars, whose opening goal goes down as the first for a Bobcat in Hub history.
“We’ve been working a lot during the past few weeks — like, two practices a day, mostly. All the boys just want to win and today it just showed. Everybody was there. Everybody was putting on pressure.
“Scoring two goals tonight, I’m really happy, but the win is more important, that’s for sure.”
FORT MAC SCORES FIRST
The Bobcats owned the ice almost from the outset, even though the Oil Barons scored the historic first Hub goal when Trennen Redlick slipped the puck between Sam Madgett’s pads 3:25 into the game. Lloydminster quickly regained pressure and didn’t let up most of the night. Cinq-Mars scored at 6:15 on a wrister that beat Logan Cunningham on the blocker side.
After their early opening goal, the Oil Barons didn’t muster another shot for the next 15:25 as they were outshot 15-4 in the first period and 46-20 overall.
The Bobcats had a would-be goal called back in the opening period after the referees ruled the play had been whistled dead.
Lloydminster broke open a 1-1 game in the second period on one-timer goals from Matthew Hikida (on a power play) and Cinq-Mars, respectively. Hikida and fellow returning forward Jack Ferguson each added a goal and an assist for the Bobcats.
Fort Mac’s 16-year-old rookie centre, Jaggar John, broke in alone to score the game’s final goal against Madgett, one of the three new goaltenders on Lloyd’s season-opening roster.
The first game in the Hub was played on a summer-like evening warm enough for a ball game in the nearby Legion fields. The boat in the arena parking lot didn’t look entirely out of place.
Cinq-Mars and the rest of the Bobcats fired up the big crowd, with some fans sounding cowbells for the special occasion.
QUEBEC CONNECTIONS
New surroundings seem to agree with Cinq-Mars, who turned 19 in August. Last year at mid-season, he was traded from the OJHL to the MJHL, where he joined the eventual-champion Northern Manitoba Blizzard under the direction of coach and GM Eric Labrosse, now the Lloydminster coach.
“We had a really great year,” Cinq-Mars said. “We won the (MJHL) championship and everything.”
After an ordinary sixth-place finish in the regular season, Northern Manitoba rose to the occasion in the MJHL playoffs, including a triple-overtime victory in Game 7 of the final against the Dauphin Kings.
The Blizzard coaching staff included Paul-Antonie Deslauriers, now one of the Bobcats’ assistant coaches.
Cinq-Mars followed fellow Quebecers Labrosse and Deslauriers to Lloydminster this summer, after his anticipated QMJHL shot was wiped out because of injury.
“I never got drafted (into the Q), but I just wanted to cause a surprise or something (at a tryout),” he said.
“I wanted to go and play in the QMJHL, but I broke my hand this summer. But I saw Eric going to Lloydminster, so it just happened (that I came here).”
It comforted Cinq-Mars to know that he has been reunited with Labrosse and Deslauriers — the new coaches on a Lloyd staff that includes returning assistant Matt Brassard.
“It just meant that I knew exactly who the coaches were going to be and what type of season (was ahead) and what the demands were going to be,” he said. “I think they’re really good.”
Cinq-Mars, six-foot-two and 200 pounds, might not have envisioned his two-goal night in the season-opening victory. Not to mention his Hub history-making marker. It all amounted to plenty of good news when he called home later that night for his daily chat with his family.
“Oh yeah, it’s really special,” said Cinq-Mars, who scored three goals and 25 points in 55 games with the Blizzard and the OJHL’s Niagara Falls Canucks.
“Last year, I didn’t have a lot of goals, so starting this year strong was really important for me. And the fact that it was the first (Bobcats) goal in the new Hub, it was special, that’s for sure.”
For his offensive outburst in his AJHL debut, Cinq-Mars might have drawn on his forward-thinking instincts as a former centre. He played up front until three or four years ago, and he deduces that his switch to defence during his QMJHL draft year might have contributed to him not being selected.
Either way, he’s fitting in well on defence.
“I really like it,” he said.
PART OF CAPTAINCY GROUP
On and off the ice, Cinq-Mars has made an early impact as a Bobcat. He was the lone newcomer named to the captaincy group, which includes fellow assistant captains Gus El-Tahhan, Jaxan Hopko and Lucas Magowan and captain Kade Fendelet.
His inclusion is a measure of the respect that Labrosse and company have for Cinq-Mars.
“Esteban is someone that does everything at 100 per cent, whether it’s off-ice training (or) on-ice practices and games,” Labrosse said.
“He’s very dedicated and passionate about what he does. When you look at him, he’s always doing the right things. For his first game in the AJHL, it turned out well for him — he scored two goals. That’s not the reason why we brought him here. I didn’t bring him here for his offence. It did turn out for that game, but I brought him here for his defensive play and how good he is in one-on-one battles versus opponents. Yeah, a hot start to his first game in the AJHL.”
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