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Coaches engage in war of words after rough Wildcats-Screaming Eagles contest leaves defending QMJHL leading scorer injured

Wildcats star forward Conor Garland was injured after a fight against the Screaming Eagles Friday, and that prompted some nasty comments between bench bosses Darren Rumble and Marc-Andre Dumont. (QMJHL Images)
Wildcats star forward Conor Garland was injured after a fight against the Screaming Eagles Friday, and that prompted some nasty comments between bench bosses Darren Rumble and Marc-Andre Dumont. (QMJHL Images)

Back-to-back home-and-home series always bring the best out of rivalries, and the rivalry between the Moncton Wildcats and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles is no exception.

After an opening night of theatrics in a 7-3 Cape Breton win with 100 penalty minutes dolled out in Sydney, N.S. on Wednesday, the encore at the Moncton Coliseum was every bit it’s equal, with a 5-2 Moncton win and 112 more minutes in the box.

Basically, circle October 16 on your calendar for the next one. The Moncton Coliseum will be buzzing.

The tension came to a fever pitch late in the third period, when Wildcats star Conor Garland squared off with Screaming Eagles forward Phélix Martineau.

Martineau got the better of the fight, and knocked Garland’s helmet off. After about five seconds of wrestling, Martineau sent Garland to the ice, where Garland hit his head on his discarded helmet and landed, laying motionless on the ice.

Both team’s trainers came to tend to the QMJHL’s defending scoring champion. A stretcher was called, but ultimately not needed as Garland left the ice on his own power.

Wildcats physical therapist Graham Black said that Garland will be tended to for a couple of days, but will be fine. He was not sent to the hospital for observation.

TVA's Mikael Lalancette reported Garland will be out for at least a week with a concussion.

Garland’s fight seemed to be the crescendo both coaches needed to sound off at each other, as a war of words between the benches began as Garland was being treated and escorted to the dressing room.

Wildcats bench boss Darren Rumble stood on the boards in front of his players' bench, challenging Cape Breton head coach and GM Marc-André Dumont to a fight mano-a-mano, and Wildcats director of hockey operations Roger Shannon slammed the glass between the benches and turned the Coliseum air blue before being escorted towards the dressing room by the Wildcats training staff.

“I’ve been 8 years in the league it’s the first time a coach stands up on the boards to ask me to fight and there was no call made,” Dumont said, complaining that Rumble’s challenge went without a response from the men in stripes.

Rumble didn't confirm that he asked Dumont to dance, though he curiously didn't deny it, either.

“I let him know how I felt about him, most definitely,” Rumble said. “If he’s going to target our best player, then he’s going to hear about it.

“I was very angry. I’ll leave it at that.”

Garland, 18, had three goals and an assist in the game to give him 13 points in four games since returning from Arizona Coyotes training camp. The pint-sized forward had 129 points in 67 games last season to lead the QMJHL in scoring.

It was his fourth regular season fight in his third year in the league, according to hockeyfights.com. It was Martineau’s first in the QMJHL, according to the site.

Moncton and Cape Breton, as division rivals, will meet six more times this season.

“They play like cowards”

Rumble didn’t end his message there. He asserted that the officials should have stepped in when Garland and Martineau squared off.

“I have no idea why somebody didn’t step in and break the fight up,” Rumble said. “You can’t have the leading scorer in the CHL getting taken advantage of.

“Then the helmet comes off and there’s still no effort to break up the fight. It’s embarrassing.”

Rumble added that the rough play against his star player should lead to league discipline.

“They got numerous guys who should be suspended,” he said. “Their coach should be suspended. I hope the officials can learn from it. When a guy’s helmet comes off, you can’t let a guy fall on his head.”

The frustration of the treatment of Garland in the last two games against the Screaming Eagles came to a boiling point Friday, and it was clear in Rumble’s comments.

“I know the league wasn’t happy with the game [Wednesday],” Rumble said. “Apparently [the Screaming Eagles] didn’t get the message. It’s coward hockey. They play like cowards. You keep that up and there may be some issues.”

Dumont said that the penalties his team took were legitimate, but he felt more penalties should have been called against Moncton.

"I feel that the powerplays they earned, the majority [of them] were good calls," Dumont said. "Maybe even all of them were good calls. I'm surprised we didn't earn more powerplays."

Dumont was very clear that his team doesn’t set out to injure players.

“The injury is very unfortunate; hopefully he’ll be okay soon,” Dumont said. “It was good that he was able to leave the ice without a stretcher. We don’t like to see any player in our league get hurt for any reason.

“I’ve been 8 years in the league. My players don’t intend to hurt anyone.”

Fights from clean hits frustrate Dumont

Dumont’s frustrations Friday stemmed from fights after hits, of which there were several in the game.

He maintained that a good clean check doesn’t need the grandstanding of defending a teammate. Hard hits are part of the game.

“You can’t fight every time there’s a good bodycheck,” he said. “I’m not blaming anyone here. All teams, all parties involved. You can’t fight every time there’s a big bodycheck, and that’s all that I’m seeing.

“It’s generalized around the league that as soon as there’s a good bodycheck, someone comes up to defend his teammate. When there’s cheap contact then I can understand that we want to stand up for a teammate, but right now, there’s too much fighting for just a solid bodycheck.

“We have to deal in this league about it, and we’ve had discussions about it several times at the GM and coaches meetings. We’ve asked our coaches to educate on that.”

Dumont added that it’s a matter of teaching players that good clean hits aren’t cheap.

“Players in this league need to read the play,” he continued. “The game is so fast now. You have your head down for half a second and you’re going to be hit. It’s not that if you get hit, you fall on your butt, that it’s automatically a cheap hit. It’s just a simple bodycheck.”