John MacNeil
SaltWire Network
For the first half of last season, Jason Imbeault and Alexis Lafreniere were teammates with the Rimouski Oceanic.
A year later, Lafreniere is fresh off a world junior hockey championship after an MVP performance with Team Canada. The Rimouski wunderkind is the top-rated prospect for the NHL entry draft in June.
Imbeault, who is two years older than Lafreniere, joined the Truro Bearcats early this month as one of three trade-deadline additions to the Maritime Hockey League team. The 20-year-old forward came from the Miramichi Timberwolves as one of the top scorers in the MHL.
“He’s a very good hockey player,” Imbeault said of Lafreniere. “I learned a lot from him, even if he was younger. He brings a lot to the table and you can learn a lot from him.
“I was looking at him in practice and trying stuff he was doing. I’d even look at him sometimes when he was playing world junior or (major) junior hockey in the Q and I’d try to do it in practice and maybe even bring it to the game.”
Imbeault left the QMJHL to rekindle his junior career in the MHL. Although he had played parts of four seasons of major junior with Rimouski and the Sherbrooke Phoenix, he wasn’t happy in a limited role with the Oceanic, the team he cheered for as a child.
“It’s always tough leaving guys and it’s my hometown team, too,” Imbeault said. “But I wanted to play hockey. I didn’t want to be on the bench or in the stands. So that’s why me and (Rimouski coach Serge Beausoleil) both thought it was better for me to play than to be in the stands.”
Imbeault found his niche in Miramichi and became captain of the Timberwolves. He departed that team as the seventh-leading scorer in the MHL this season. He has three goals and three assists in his first four games with Truro and overall has 32 goal and 18 assists for 50 points.
For his final few months of junior hockey, Imbeault wants to make the most of his time in Truro.
“My main goal is to win,” he said. “I play to win. That’s what I’m looking for. Also, for after, I’m looking for offers to play university hockey. But, for now, I’m really concentrating on winning.
“I’m not coming (to Truro) for no reason. I was pretty tired of losing in Miramichi, so when I saw that opportunity to come here and win, and hope for the playoffs and have a run, (I welcomed it).”
The Bearcats believe their chances of winning are greater with the addition of offensive talents Imbeault and James Walker, who was also part of the trade with Miramichi, and 20-year-old defenceman Jacob Bourchier, whose rights were acquired from the Melville Millionaires of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
“I like the team,” Imbeault said after his first weekend with the Bearcats. “They have a really good team spirit. There’s no bad people, I’d say. Everybody talks to everybody and everybody has fun. I’ve just been here for a couple of days and that’s what I saw. I think that’s a plus for the team. The teammates look like they could be my friends.”
Imbeault, six-foot-two, 200-pounds has played right wing on a line with Walker on the left side and Bryan Laureigh in the middle.
“Offensively, I can be a threat sometimes, but also I’m a 200-foot player,” Imbeault said. “I’m very good defensively, so I can bring some stability on the defensive side. And sometimes I can be physical, too.
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