Preview: October 15 vs. Moncton
October 15, 2022 – Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) – Charlottetown Islanders News Release
The QMJHL regular season is in full gear and the Charlottetown Islanders are impressing fans early on. They’ll have their next chance to continue impressing tonight in a cross-Confederation Bridge battle with the Moncton Wildcats at the Avenir Centre.
The Islanders (3-2-0-0) are coming together as a team and displaying the work ethic that fans have come to expect from teams coached by Jim Hulton. They’re coming off a dramatic 4-3 overtime victory against the Cape Breton Eagles this past Thursday night. Charlottetown got out to a 3-0 lead before the Eagles clawed back with a last-minute game-tying goal. The comeback was for naught, however, as the Isles would score just a minute into the extra frame.
The force behind Charlottetown’s performance was the returning Jeremie Biakabutuka. The 20-year-old defenseman, who turned heads at Detroit Red Wings training camp, was a man amongst boys on Thursday night with a 3-point performance, including scoring the game-winning goal. A veteran of over 200 QMJHL games, Biakabutuka will bring a steady presence to a defensive group that is largely very fresh in this league. He played over 29 minutes in Thursday’s game and will likely face similar deployment going forward.
In goal, Francesco Lapenna proved once again that he’s the toast of the league between the pipes. Lapenna made 24 saves in the victory, including a number of high-danger opportunities that prevented any momentum swings in Cape Breton’s favour. The 20-year-old veteran now sits third in the QMJHL with a 0.943 save percentage.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats (2-3-0-0) are returning home after their first Quebec road trip of the season. It was a less-than-ideal trip, only grabbing 2 out of a possible 6 points, but they wrapped the trip up with a strong performance against the Drummondville Voltigeurs, picking up a 6-3 victory.
Statistically leading the charge for the Wildcats is Yoan Loshing. The third-year player has grown in leaps and bounds since entering the league as a rookie in 2020. The speedy winger has picked up eight points in five games thus far, including a sterling four-point performance in the victory against Drummondville.
Moncton will also have a new face in the lineup tonight as Wildcats fans will get their first look at Cole Bishop. Bishop is a 17-year-old forward standing 6’1 from Franklin, Tennessee. He was signed as a free agent after requesting his release from the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs. Bishop was a sixth-round pick of the IceDogs in the 2021 OHL Draft.
As always, you can tune into the action live on Max 93.1 with Cory Arsenault and George Matthews! The pregame show starts at 6:45 with a game preview and interview with Isles head coach and general manager Jim Hulton. Listen online.
• Discuss this story on the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
