QMJHL: Antoine Lafleur - Big Goals Ahead

It takes a special player to score a goal in their QMJHL debut. Looking back, this achievement even eluded Mario Lemieux. Therefore, when Antoine Lafleur accomplished the feat, you could conclude he would have a prolific offensive career ahead, right?

"It's fun, but it's lucky too," he says, laughing. "It was in the second period, they first shot the puck and I stopped it. It went in the corner and by then we took a penalty… so when they took the puck and tried to pass it to his defenseman, it went in the net. I was the last one to touch the puck, so that was pretty fun."

The goal credited to the 17-year-old goaltender from Gatineau, Quebec, is the sole in QMJHL history by a netminder – one he was able to pair with a 4-3 win over the Halifax Mooseheads. The victory on September 25, 2005, was one of only a pair Lafleur would earn in 18 appearances as a rookie; but he has since emerged as a top-ranked talent for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

"I think I am a big guy compared to them and I am pretty patient," he says of what separates him from his competition. "I have to work on my movement more, but I have a pretty good butterfly and am big in the net. You see the new NHL and a goalie like Theodore, they are too small and they don't make the saves anymore. The game changed."

Lafleur currently ranks fifth overall in several goaltending categories including save-percentage (.908), goals-against-average (2.98) and wins (24). He says his improved play stems from the improved play of his team - the Prince Edward Island Rocket. In their last 10 games, the Rocket is 8-1-1 and currently sits in fifth place – which gives Lafleur confidence they will go far in the playoffs.

"Since Christmas we've improved a lot, and we're a big team now. We're playing big offensively and when the goalie plays good we're going to win the hockey game," he says. "Teams don't know that we've improved a lot since Christmas and they don't look at our statistics after, they look more before Christmas. We had a couple losses before we made those trades (for Luciano Lomanno, Brett Morrison and Benoit Gervais), and we have a good chance to go to the final and surprise everyone."

While it is beyond the scope of his present focus, Lafleur has given some thought to where he would like to end up in the draft. While he hesitates at the thought of crossing the bridge from his native Quebec into neighboring Ottawa to suit up for the Senators, he is more than willing to impress for anyone who believes in his abilities.

"When you're a guy from Quebec you got to go for Montreal," says Lafleur. "But you have to look at any team, Ottawa would be good."

Moreover, perhaps the skills he's honed from growing up watching his heroes in the QMJHL, and playing for the Rocket, will be a strong basis for any forthcoming success – and we're not talking of the goal scoring variety.

"I patterned my style pretty much after Roberto Luongo. He's a guy from Quebec, so I grew up looking at him," he says. "He played in Val d'Or which is a couple of hours from my place and I saw him play when I was young. He's a big guy like me too."