QMJHL: Churchill Never Surrenders

Jason Churchill has been a workhorse for the Halifax Mooseheads this season, appearing in 44 of 49 games. We have player notes from around the QMJHL this past week including Churchill, Petr Vrana, and a pair of highly-touted '05 eligibles in Guillaume Latendresse and Luc Bourdon.

Jason Churchill (SJ), G, Halifax

Enjoying turnaround season with Mooseheads, recorded 24 of club's 29 wins .. a very competitive goalie with excellent work habits .. plays a strong hybrid style blending both standup and butterfly .. displays decent lateral movement for his size .. however, his recovery is average at best and he struggles at times with his positioning and rebound control .. makes the first save look easy, but tends to give up avoidable rebounds when down that should otherwise be easily controlled .. doesn't always square up to shooters efficiently and can lose his positional bearings which forces him to rely heavily on his spacious 6-foot-3 frame to cover the puck and regain composure .. also needs to improve his puckhandling .. fairly solid all around when he's on his game, yet has some weaknesses that need to be addressed.

Petr Vrana (NJ), C, Halifax

Finished second in scoring on Czech WJC entry with five goals and eight points in seven games, but has struggled in the Q, in fact has gone nearly two months without a goal .. natural leader, team captain at a young age .. highly-skilled pivot who possesses excellent speed and hockey sense .. plays responsible, advanced defensively and is often double-shifted .. very hard worker, has developed into a noticeably pesky player .. tough to knock off the puck despite being undersized and often sacrifices his body to make plays in the slot .. a solid puckhandler with a powerful wristshot .. fiercely competitive though he lacks a major physical presence .. aside from the height issue, the main hole in his arsenal is goal scoring .. lacks quality in-close moves and finishing skills, produces 2-3 breakaways any given night without capitalizing .. may never be a great point producer at the NHL level, but has a shot at maturing into a solid second or third-liner who can get dirty in the corners once in a while and also put up points.

Guillaume Latendresse (2005), LW, Drummondville

Began season slowly, but now appears fully recovered from offseason injury and scoring at over a point-a-game clip since mid-November (28-11-25-36) .. possesses terrific puck movement for his size .. displayed excellent vision in this contest, consistently making smart reads and finding open teammates .. picked up three helpers on the night .. kept his feet moving and drove hard to the front of the net using his size advantage to gain and hold scoring positions .. surprisingly fast and nimble on his feet once he gets moving, however his first step needs to get more explosive .. takes too long to reach top gear .. not as physical as he could be either, especially given his massive frame although he did throw some decent checks in this game .. also must make more of an impact at even strength as he has scored over seventy percent of his goals on the power play this season (11 of 16).

Luc Bourdon (2005), D, Val d'Or

Shaping up to be a solid all-weather blueliner who can be used in all situations .. a mobile skater in all directions who moves fluidly with big strides .. an intense, hard working player .. strong defensively, particularly in front of his net .. possesses good size and a willingness to play the body .. tends to allow his checks to roam free along the boards, instead trying to lure them to the front of the net to do battle .. displays good hockey sense, doesn't try to do too much .. focuses primarily on his defensive duties, yet has demonstrated that he has some decent offensive skills as well .. has shown at times that he can join the rush and make things happen, but does so only sporadically .. poised and confident handling the puck with sound quarterbacking abilities.