In the middle of the elimination race, Laval Rocket certainly didn’t expect to lose their lead scorer with only five games to play this season.
Posted at 10:22
Updated at 1:34 PM.
But since there was a good reason, no one was grumbling. The Canadian announced Wednesday morning that he had recalled Raphael Harvey Benard from his school club.
The announcement made perfect sense for CH, as injured Paul Byron couldn’t finish Tuesday’s game, Joel Armia had to miss out for family reasons and Michael Pezzetta still had to serve in the suspension game. By adding Jake Evans (ill) to this list, there are only 11 forwards left in Montreal. So we can expect Harvey-Pinard to wear a uniform on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“He’s worked so hard, he deserves everything that happens to him,” Rocket quarterback Jean-Sebastien Dea said on Wednesday morning.
After a shy start to the season (5 points in 17 games), Harvey-Pinard turned into second place. And so, since 1Verse In December, he produced almost 1 point per game – 46 on 47. His last 12-point streak in 8 games left management in doubt when calling up the striker, although the timing is far from ideal for a rocket.
Head coach Jean-François Hall recalls, “Major League, we are there to develop the youth of the NHL. When I called him [mardi soir] To tell him the news, I was really happy for him. Someone will have to take charge of the upcoming matches. »
This is the second call-up of the season for the 23-year-old skater. He spent days with the big club at the end of December, playing three matches and scoring one goal. He is currently playing the second campaign of his professional career.
Despite his small size (5 feet 9 inches and 182 pounds), Rafael Harvey Benard has honed his reputation through his hard work. He has repeatedly said that his childhood idol was Brendan Gallagher.
At Laval, he has established himself as an effective offensive contributor, but he has also been busy refining his defensive game. His difference of +28 puts him fourth in the MLS.
“It’s all well and good scoring points, but you have to play more than 200 feet,” insisted Jean-Francois Hall. He plays so well defensively that he never gets into trouble. »
Holly said the youngster set up a good training camp with the Canadians last fall and thus attracted attention. Although there is no development plan yet in his case with the new management of CH, he believes Harvey-Pinard, at this point in his career, should play a lot of games as a priority and take on major responsibilities in the MLS before moving onto the stage. next. And that is what happened, because he is now playing the game of power and reduction.
His coach wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a job in the NHL at the end of the next camp.