Dubeau not happy with Chicoutimi coach Jean’s rough, but expected, tactics

Moncton Wildcats netminder Alex Dubeau is a veteran in the QMJHL. He’s played five seasons in the league, won a Memorial Cup with the Shawinigan Cataractes in 2012, and has played in the post-season in all five of his seasons.

If there’s anyone actively playing who has seen it all, it’s Dubeau.

He wasn’t happy with what he’s been seeing, and more importantly, feeling through two games in his team’s series against the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. The Sags upset the heavily-favoured Wildcats 3-2 Sunday which saw the series even up at one game apiece.

“It’s flagrant,” Dubeau said about the frequent run-ins he’s had with opposing forwards so far in the series.

“The refs have to know; it’s been two games now. We want the game to be fair.”

Saguenéens coach Yanick Jean wouldn’t comment on specific game strategies, but did say that it’s the Wildcats who feel the pressure of the series. He added he was satisfied with the discipline of his team in game two, even though the Wildcats scored twice on their six powerplay chances.

The power play numbers actually favour the Wildcats by a big margin, as Chicoutimi has taken 18 minor penalties to Moncton’s 8. The Wildcats have taken advantage, scoring four of their six goals on man advantages.

Dubeau said Jean’s strategy of running the goaltender isn’t a new one from the coach.

“It’s Yanick Jean,” he said. “Everyone knows in the league he’s prone to doing that. I was waiting for it, honestly.

“But gestures like that, it’s a bit of a lack of… it’s a style in junior. It’s the style of Yanick Jean. I’ve known of it for five years, since I entered the league; it’s always been like that. In Victoriaville it was the same game plan.”

Jean has coached for three teams in the QMJHL as the main bench boss over eleven seasons. He started his coaching career as an assistant with the Sags in 2002-03, taking over head coaching duties occasionally and learning from QMJHL veteran coach Richard Martel.

He then took over head coaching duties in P.E.I. with the then-christened Rocket for two seasons before joining the Tigres, where he coached for seven seasons before moving upstairs at the start of this season.

One bizarro switcharoo later, and Jean was behind the bench for Chicoutimi, and led them to a bit of a turnaround heading into the playoffs.

Dubeau isn’t happy with getting run, but he doesn’t mind what it represents.

“It doesn’t bother me, because it keeps me in the game and keeps me focused,” he said. “I’m in the action and I love that. Some things you just have to let happen.

“Honestly, if they are planning around you, it means you bother them and they respect you. If you didn’t they wouldn’t take the time to do any of it. From the first second of the first game I knew it. The first shift they did stuff like that, so it’s going to happen the rest of the series. We just have to stay disciplined and not give in to stuff like that.”

Garland shadowed echoes a former Jean tactic

A familiar strategy reared its head for Wildcats fans in the first two games.

The league’s leading points-getter in the regular season, Wildcats forward Conor Garland, found a buddy, or rather, Saguenéens forward Landon Schiller has found him on almost every even-strength shift through the first two games.

It’s a reminder of 2013, when Jean’s Tigres employed Carl-Antoine Delisle to shadow Moncton forward Dmitrij Jaskin to great success in Victoriaville’s five-game upset over the Wildcats.

Garland had a little more fun though. A few times he would hang back in the defensive zone, allowing Schiller to follow him and giving his mates a four-on-four on offense, but that strategy disables one of the Wildcats best weapons.

“Their checking line did a great job,” Wildcats head coach Darren Rumble said. “We have to up our level.”

Rumble added a challenge to his pint-sized water bug in Garland, saying he needs to find ways to beat the defenders to get the job done.

“[If] you want to be a big player, you have to find a way to beat the big shutdown players,” Rumble said. “You have to find a way to fight through that. We may have to make some line adjustments [for Garland].

“At the end of the day, if you want to be a big-time player, you have to play against the other team’s top D and you have to play against the other team’s shutdown line.”

Five-on-five play an issue for the Wildcats

Garland and the rest of the Wildcats have struggled five-on-five as much as they’ve feasted on the power play. Garland’s three power-play assists leads the league, but Moncton has only two goals on even-strength.

All of this comes without a lack of shots, as Ivan Barbashev leads the league with 11 shots-on-goal through two games and Bronson Beaton, an occasional winger with the other two Wildcat stars, tied for second with nine.

Rumble added he’s been happy with the power play, but he wants to see better play between the man advantages.

“You can’t wait and make a living on the power play; and don’t get me wrong they’ve been great on the power play, you have to generate something five-on-five,” Rumble continued.

“It’s not just [Garland and Barbashev], it’s the other guys too.”

“We can’t see the whole picture right now,” Sags coach Jean said. “We’re playing such a good team. They’re so tough to beat that we have to make sure we keep our focus on being efficient one game at a time.”

Jean and the Sags have ‘no pressure’ to win

Jean added that his team has faced adversity all year long, including spending six days in Moncton to play games 1 and 2.

“Since we arrived, we’ve been here six days,” Jean said. “When you spend six days here, it’s so hard to come out game 2 and win.

“Our team has had lots of relentless effort. We’ve faced adversity with the number of injuries we’ve had. We’re still battling. I want to salute the character of our players to spend six days here and come out with the win.”

Jean continued that the Saguenéens don’t feel any pressure to win because the Wildcats have all the pressure

“The pressure since day one has been on them,” he said. “They finished second. They fought for the league [regular season] championship right to the finish. We have no pressure.

“They don’t have a choice. It’s been five years since they’ve won a series. They finished second in the standings. They have to win. The pressure is on them until the end.

“We have no pressure.”