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Rocket Captain Josh Currie scores ‘trick in opener: Friday’s Three Stars

No. 1 Star: Josh Currie, P.E.I. Rocket (QMJHL)

It was a fairly big day for the P.E.I. Rocket. Well, soon to formerly be the Rocket. The team announced Friday night that they'd chosen a name for the start of the 2013-2014 season, the "P.E.I. Islanders", which is a little redundant much like "YAC yards" or "PIN number".

Also a redundancy on Friday night: Josh Currie's ability to find the back of the net. The Rocket had a tough season a year ago as the only QMJHL team to miss the playoffs, but won their opener. Currie not only scored three goals, but he also hit for the cycle, scoring a shorthanded goal, a powerplay goal, and an even strength tally that sealed the game late in the third for a 6-2 win over the Moncton Wildcats.

Currie also had a powerplay assist on a Victor Provencher goal, led the team in shots with four, and face-off wins with 14. As an overage, you can expect him to contribute in every situation. As a Rocket player, well, this was probably a bigger game than for most.

No. 2 Star: Brandon Alderson, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)

It was quite a track meet in the Soo tonight for the opener between the Greyhounds and the Plymouth Whalers. The rebuilding 'Hounds got off to a quick 3-0 start in the first period, Alderson scoring the sandwich goal, a quick five-hole shot whilst shorthanded. The Soo would give up the lead (Sergey Tolchinsky and Jared McCann scored their first career goals for the Greyhounds in the middle of this) and the teams were tied 5-5 going into the Overtime frame.

There, Alderson finished a play set up by Andrew Fritsch and Darnell Nurse, giving the Soo the victory in their home opener and, like in P.E.I., a nice treat for the packed house who suffered through a losing season a year ago.

No. 3 Star: Ty Rimmer, Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)

We move to the WHL, where Ty Rimmer, top goaltender in the league last season for Tri-City, moved across conferences to a team susceptible to giving up a lot more shots. By rights, this game shouldn't have been close: Lethbridge was out-shot 10-4 in the first period and 38-22 in the game by the up-tempo Medicine Hat Tigers, but the Hurricanes managed a 4-2 win.

How? Well, anybody who watched a game in Tri-City game last season would know two things: They were powered on offence by their overage players, and they got championship-calibre goaltending every night. While the Hurricanes didn't have any '92-born players score, Rimmer held strong and did his part, allowing a goal 1:18 into the game, 1:32 into the third on the powerplay, and held off a late fury from the Tigers.

Honourable Mention: Riley Sheen, Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL)

How many of us expected the Portland Winterhawks, a favourite for many to win the Western Conference, to drop their home opener to the Seattle Thunderbirds? Even moreso, how many of us expected a late-1994 draft pick to provide the offence? Young Riley Sheen, joining the T-Birds from Medicine Hat in the offseason, scored two consecutive late goals in the second period to put the 'Birds up 3-0 and 4-0.

We can also give an Honourable Mention to goaltender Brandon Glover, who stopped 55 of 57 Winterhawks shots, an insane workload for a goalie who faced on average 27 last season in Calgary.

Honourable Mention: Tim Bozon, Kamloops Blazers (WHL)

Thanks to a late comeback by the Kelowna Rockets, this game was sent to overtime. Montreal Canadiens prospect Tim Bozon already had two goals going into the extra frame, before giving meaning to the term "unassisted goal". He undressed three Rocket defenders and firing a low shot past Jordon Cooke for a 6-5 home opener win.

Potent Notables: Phenom Connor McDavid scored his first OHL goal Friday, and added an assist... Seth Griffith scored thrice for London in that game, however, and the Knights won 8-2... Two more hat-tricks in the "Q" tonight, Anthony Duclair for Québec, Jean-Sébastien Dea for Rouyn-Noranda... Nathan MacKinnon scored the OT winner for Halifax in Cape Breton... John Gibson shutout the Mississauga Steelheads, while Spencer Martin only allowed a 5-on-3 goal in his "loss" to Kitchener... Matt Finn had three assists for Guelph... Back to the "W", Landon Cross nearly matched his point performance from last season in Kamloops's first game, scoring 1 goal and 3 points... Draft-eligible Nic Petan had 1 and 1 for Portland... Mat Dumba took 20 minutes in penalties and was ejected for a hit to the head...