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‘We’re getting better’
Confidence rises in Fog Devils forward Jean-Simon Allard as team comes into its own
By DAN REID
Friday, January 11, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Talent has never been an issue with St. John’s Fog Devil Jean-Simon Allard.
From the minute he arrived in Newfoundland as a rookie in 2005, the Alma, Que. native made it clear to both his coaches and fans that he possessed the skills to succeed at the major junior level.
Pegged as the future franchise cornerstone when taken fourth overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s annual midget draft three years ago, Allard, like most 16-year-old rookies, experienced some growing pains in his first season in the Q, but matured quickly and finished the year with 17 points in 65 games.
Aside from learning the game on the ice, Allard was also busy off the ice, adjusting to the demands, both athletically and academically, that face a major junior hockey player.
Allard, 18, a 6’3 playmaker who’s enrolled in a post-secondary correspondence program to prepare him for university in Quebec, soon found out that meant serious focus and dedication.
“I learned a lot from the veteran guys during my rookie season. They helped me out a lot both on and off the ice,” says Allard, who models his game after his favourite player, Vincent Lecavalier. “I was only 16, away from home in a new city, so I think I was forced to grow up fast.”
Allard enjoyed a far more productive sophomore campaign in 2006-07, registering 50 points while playing on the team’s second line. Despite the significant increase in points over his rookie season, team officials and fans felt they still hadn’t seen his best. Labelled an enigma due to his inconsistent play, Allard would often dominate a game one evening, only to be lost in the shuffle the next night.
Fog Devils head coach and general manager Real Paiement put that down to confidence — or lack of it.
“Some people would say (about Allard’s performance last year) that he was disappointing. That’s unfair,” Paiement says. “He wasn’t disappointing at all. I mean he got 50 points in his second season in the league. Was he at his best? No, and I think he’d tell you the same thing, but he kept progressing and you could see he started to get more confidence in his own ability, which only helped his game.”
Any lingering confidence issues were put to rest last summer when he was selected in the fifth round, 147th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL entry draft, joining fellow Fog Devil T.J. Brennan, who was taken in the second round, as Buffalo property and potential future Sabres.
Allard attended both Buffalo’s rookie camp and the club’s main training camp and quickly found out what it takes to compete at the pro level — consistency, a lesson he took back with him to his third season of major junior hockey.
“Getting drafted by the Sabres and going to both camps really gave me confidence,” says Allard, who grew up cheering for the Montreal Canadiens, but admits to now being torn between teams. “It was intimidating going to my first camp, but I tried to learn from the older, veteran guys up there. I learned a lot from the experience and tried to take a few valuable things I learned back to St. John’s with me.”
With a record hovering around the .500 mark for much of the season’s first half, the St. John’s Fog Devils can probably be best characterized as inconsistent. And while the team has been up and down for much of the 2007-08 campaign, Allard has been found atop the team’s statistics in both assists and points for most of the year.
To date, he has already tied last season’s goal total and is well on his way to surpassing his assists and points tally from a year ago.
He was the recipient of the Q’s weekly Offensive Player of the Week honour in October and a week later was named to the Canadian team that represented the Q against a team of Russian-born junior players in the annual ADT Hockey Challenge.
The two accolades came as no surprise to Allard’s coach.
“We expected big things from Jean-Simon coming into his third year in the league,” Paiement says.
“This year I think he’s had more confidence in himself, too. Instead of looking at other teams and thinking ‘this guy is good,’ he now thinks that he’s on the same level as those good players in our league. I’ve talked with him and asked him what some of the best players in junior have that he doesn’t. At the end of the day, there’s not much. He’s as good as those better players and this year, especially of late, he’s playing like it with more confidence.”
Paiement’s assessment could be applied to the entire third-year Fog Devils club since the Christmas break, as the team is playing with more confidence, reeling off five wins in their last six games against some impressive company.
St. John’s enjoyed arguably their most successful road trip in franchise history just prior to the new year, a three-game trek through Atlantic Canada where the club defeated divisional opponents P.E.I., Moncton and Halifax before returning home to take two of three games from the Saint John Sea Dogs, the Q’s Eastern Division leaders.
While difficult to pinpoint exactly, it seems as if a new attitude, focus, belief or swagger has descended upon the team since returning from the holiday season, likely attributable to acquisitions made by Paiement during the league’s trading period.
The additions of Phil Mangan, Mathieu LaBrie, Samuel Grenache, and Henrick Lavoie — all character players who know their role on the team — has given the Fog Devils a new look, an identity as a hard-nosed, hard-working, in-your-face team that has seemingly eluded the franchise since its promising inaugural season.
“We’re getting better,” says Allard, when asked about the team’s recent progress. “Real (Paiement) made some positive changes at the trade deadline and it definitely seems to be working. It’s great to see the team responding to those changes.”
The proof is in the results. In their last game, Jan. 6, at Mile One, St. John’s dismantled a highly ranked Saint John Sea Dogs team 6-1 with first star honours going to Allard, who had three assists.
From the minute he arrived in Newfoundland as a rookie in 2005, the Alma, Que. native made it clear to both his coaches and fans that he possessed the skills to succeed at the major junior level.
Pegged as the future franchise cornerstone when taken fourth overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s annual midget draft three years ago, Allard, like most 16-year-old rookies, experienced some growing pains in his first season in the Q, but matured quickly and finished the year with 17 points in 65 games.
Aside from learning the game on the ice, Allard was also busy off the ice, adjusting to the demands, both athletically and academically, that face a major junior hockey player.
Allard, 18, a 6’3 playmaker who’s enrolled in a post-secondary correspondence program to prepare him for university in Quebec, soon found out that meant serious focus and dedication.
“I learned a lot from the veteran guys during my rookie season. They helped me out a lot both on and off the ice,” says Allard, who models his game after his favourite player, Vincent Lecavalier. “I was only 16, away from home in a new city, so I think I was forced to grow up fast.”
Allard enjoyed a far more productive sophomore campaign in 2006-07, registering 50 points while playing on the team’s second line. Despite the significant increase in points over his rookie season, team officials and fans felt they still hadn’t seen his best. Labelled an enigma due to his inconsistent play, Allard would often dominate a game one evening, only to be lost in the shuffle the next night.
Fog Devils head coach and general manager Real Paiement put that down to confidence — or lack of it.
“Some people would say (about Allard’s performance last year) that he was disappointing. That’s unfair,” Paiement says. “He wasn’t disappointing at all. I mean he got 50 points in his second season in the league. Was he at his best? No, and I think he’d tell you the same thing, but he kept progressing and you could see he started to get more confidence in his own ability, which only helped his game.”
Any lingering confidence issues were put to rest last summer when he was selected in the fifth round, 147th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL entry draft, joining fellow Fog Devil T.J. Brennan, who was taken in the second round, as Buffalo property and potential future Sabres.
Allard attended both Buffalo’s rookie camp and the club’s main training camp and quickly found out what it takes to compete at the pro level — consistency, a lesson he took back with him to his third season of major junior hockey.
“Getting drafted by the Sabres and going to both camps really gave me confidence,” says Allard, who grew up cheering for the Montreal Canadiens, but admits to now being torn between teams. “It was intimidating going to my first camp, but I tried to learn from the older, veteran guys up there. I learned a lot from the experience and tried to take a few valuable things I learned back to St. John’s with me.”
With a record hovering around the .500 mark for much of the season’s first half, the St. John’s Fog Devils can probably be best characterized as inconsistent. And while the team has been up and down for much of the 2007-08 campaign, Allard has been found atop the team’s statistics in both assists and points for most of the year.
To date, he has already tied last season’s goal total and is well on his way to surpassing his assists and points tally from a year ago.
He was the recipient of the Q’s weekly Offensive Player of the Week honour in October and a week later was named to the Canadian team that represented the Q against a team of Russian-born junior players in the annual ADT Hockey Challenge.
The two accolades came as no surprise to Allard’s coach.
“We expected big things from Jean-Simon coming into his third year in the league,” Paiement says.
“This year I think he’s had more confidence in himself, too. Instead of looking at other teams and thinking ‘this guy is good,’ he now thinks that he’s on the same level as those good players in our league. I’ve talked with him and asked him what some of the best players in junior have that he doesn’t. At the end of the day, there’s not much. He’s as good as those better players and this year, especially of late, he’s playing like it with more confidence.”
Paiement’s assessment could be applied to the entire third-year Fog Devils club since the Christmas break, as the team is playing with more confidence, reeling off five wins in their last six games against some impressive company.
St. John’s enjoyed arguably their most successful road trip in franchise history just prior to the new year, a three-game trek through Atlantic Canada where the club defeated divisional opponents P.E.I., Moncton and Halifax before returning home to take two of three games from the Saint John Sea Dogs, the Q’s Eastern Division leaders.
While difficult to pinpoint exactly, it seems as if a new attitude, focus, belief or swagger has descended upon the team since returning from the holiday season, likely attributable to acquisitions made by Paiement during the league’s trading period.
The additions of Phil Mangan, Mathieu LaBrie, Samuel Grenache, and Henrick Lavoie — all character players who know their role on the team — has given the Fog Devils a new look, an identity as a hard-nosed, hard-working, in-your-face team that has seemingly eluded the franchise since its promising inaugural season.
“We’re getting better,” says Allard, when asked about the team’s recent progress. “Real (Paiement) made some positive changes at the trade deadline and it definitely seems to be working. It’s great to see the team responding to those changes.”
The proof is in the results. In their last game, Jan. 6, at Mile One, St. John’s dismantled a highly ranked Saint John Sea Dogs team 6-1 with first star honours going to Allard, who had three assists.
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