McHugh finds home in Quebec…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Another week, another signing. This time we are going to the LNAH where former Blazers defenseman Oriel McHugh has signed with the Sherbrooke Saint-Francois squad.
The LNAH stands for Ligue Nord Americaine de Hockey and was founded in 2004. According to its wiki, it’s unofficially known as the roughest league out there. Huh. It also doesn’t set a limit on the number of veterans that can sign with a team.
McHugh was (in my opinion) the most consistent defenseman for the Blazers last season. He played every game until a leg injury hampered him in the final weekend and into the playoffs.
He was deadly on the power-play with a slap shot that you couldn’t pay me enough to try to stop and is a solid team player.
Here is some of what was said about McHugh in the Sherbrooke Record:
The 6-foot-3 McHugh is now returning to his home province and will be attending Bishop’s University while he mans the Saints’ blue-line.
“We’ve gone out and found another leader,” said Saint-François general manager Jean-François Grégoire of the former university hockey captain, adding that the right-handed defenceman has “always been his teams’ leader in plus/minus.”
Though there has been little scouting of McHugh in the LNAH or other Quebec leagues in the past, he drew the attention of the Saint-François’ organization when he indicated to the club that he wanted to move to Sherbrooke and play hockey in the area this year. He will be attending the Saints training camp at the end of August.
McHugh will bring size and presence, both physically and in terms of his leadership abilities, to a Saints team that will be populated with both young hockey players at the beginning of their careers as well as experienced veterans.
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This weekend is the Blazers merchandise sale at the Blazers Ice Centre as well. It will run Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday from 10 to 6 and Sunday from 10 to 3. There will be caps and jerseys and miscellaneous items up for sale. I don’t want to say it’ll give Blazer fans some closure, but maybe getting some final items will help the process.
