AUDETTE GETS ANGRY IN BIG LOSS

Angelo Esposito, Hugo Laporte, and now Mickael Audette. These here names are not the most loved among Saint John Sea Dogs fans.

Esposito was booed every time he touched the puck at Harbour Station after all the commotion at the 2005 QMJHL Entry Draft. Hugo Laporte for his academy award winning diving performance in the 2010 quarter-finals. And now Mickael Audette, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies goaltender who lost his cool in a 7-0 blowout loss versus Saint John yesterday at Iamgold Arena.

Okay, so maybe putting Audette in the same category as ‘Espo’ and Laporte is a bit harsh, but it’s a good way to start this post. Plus, unless the Huskies pull off a miracle and somehow make the playoffs and meet the Sea Dogs in the first round, Audette will not be playing at Harbour Station any time soon.

But Audette’s antics in the third period certainly raised an eyebrow among Sea Dogs fans – and probably some Huskies faithfull as well.

After allowing five goals, the Huskies netminder was pulled in favour of Jeffery Noonan at 12:28 of the second period. Noonan allowed one goal on nine shots, and was replaced by Audette to start the third.

But instead of trying to salvage what was left of a 6-0 game at that point, Audette had other plans. It started at 4:06 when he was called for roughing after going to the side of his crease and giving Sea Dogs forward Stephen MacAulay a face-wash with his hand.

Then at 16:19, Audette left his net entirely to go into the trapezoid area and try to get a MacAulay once again. It looked like a fight was going to break loose for a few minutes involving the goaltender, but things would simmer down. Audette was given another roughing penalty on the play.

Later on in the period and things continuing to get chippy, Michael Kirkpatrick was sprung on a long breakaway. Instead of staying in his crease, Audette came way out to challenge Kirkpatrick or something and missed him completely. No idea what he was doing there as it cost his team yet another goal. He was called for roughing again.

Late in the game, Audette lost his stick and didn’t seem too keen on getting a new one and played without for a short period. With 1.6 seconds left, everyone grabbed a dance partner in the corner and an official was forced to keep Audette away from the play, pushing him way back almost to the blue line.

What his problem was isn’t clear. It’s one thing to get frustrated when you allow six goals on 35 shots but it’s another to take three rouging penalties in the third period. The weirdest thing of it all was his hate for MacAulay, who didn’t do any obvious damage to Audette throughout the game.

According to his stats page at HockeyDB.com, this was the first time the 19-year old had ever taken any penalties in his career in the QMJHL.

Perhaps instead of agitating the opposing team, Audette should try and keep some pucks out of his net.