Quenneville finishes plus-three in Canada-Russia Series debut
By Ryan McCracken on November 7, 2017.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken The Western Hockey League All-Stars leaned heavily on Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman David Quenneville in Monday’s 7-0 blowout over the Russian Selects at the CIBC Canada-Russia Series. While Quenneville did not end up on the scoresheet, the 19-year-old blueliner spent the majority of his evening chewing up minutes against some of Russia’s best, and finished with a plus-three rating at Moose Jaw’s Mosaic Place. “They have some guys who can play but I think we did a real good job of shutting them down, I think,” said Quenneville. “We’ve got to eliminate time and space. We can’t let them gain momentum and start to generate.” Quenneville is one of two WHL defenceman to lead his team in scoring through the first six weeks of the season. The 5-foot-9, 195-pound Edmonton product has 22 points in 16 games — good enough for second among WHL defencemen. Quenneville has been held pointless just three times this season. Now he’s following in the footsteps of his brother John in the hopes of reaching the IIHF World Junior Championship. “It’s obviously really exciting. My brother did it a few years back and it was really cool to watch so this has been a goal of mine,” Quenneville said of playing in the Canada-Russia Series. “It’s really fun for me because I know everyone here. I have a lot of buddies on this team.” Kelowna Rockets forward Kole Lind put the WHL on the board in the first before the floodgates opened in the middle frame. Victoria Royals’ Matthew Phillips doubled up on the lead then Lind struck again before Moose Jaw Warriors’ Brett Howden and Swift Current Broncos’ Tyler Steenbergen tacked on to chase Russia’s Vladislav Sukhachev from the crease in favour of Alexey Melnichuk. Portland Winterhawks centre Cody Glass and Rockets centre Dillon Dube rounded out the scoring with a pair of early third-period goals. Carter Hart locked up the victory with 20 stops. The WHL All-Stars and Russian Selects make the trip to Swift Current’s Credit Union i-Plex for a rematch at 6 p.m. 11
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