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Hamilton Bulldogs player of the week: Louis Leblanc

By now everyone has heard the saga of Louis Leblanc; first round pick challenged to earn his place on the Montreal Canadiens. After a slow start to the season Leblanc exploded this past week and is a major factor in the Bulldogs current first place standing.

Leblanc would begin his incredible week by setting up Nick Tarnasky’s 3rd goal of the season against the Rockford IceHogs then adding another assist on Akim Aliu’s last second game tying goal in the same game. However Leblanc was not finished as he would put home the game winning goal in overtime to finish with 3 points on the night.

Leblanc would follow up his 3 point performance by being what many would call “clutch” in the game versus the Rochester Americans. Leblanc would take a feed from Ben Duffy and Magnus Nygren in the high slot and put Hamilton up 2-0 early in the 2nd period. However the Bulldogs would be unable to hold the lead and would go into overtime where Leblanc would once again be the hero by wiring a wicked backhand shot into the far corner past Nathan Lieuwen for the victory.

Finally the night after winning it in overtime Leblanc would put home the Bulldogs second goal of the night against the Utica Comets bringing his total points to the week to 6….in just 3 games it’s quite an impressive feat. This hot streak has earned Leblanc a call up to the big club where he will most likely be in the lineup against the New York Rangers.

Honorable Mentions: Nick Tarnasky and Sven Andrighetto: The pugilistic veteran and rookie sniper take home the honorable mention this week with performances that would have earned both player of the week honors had Leblanc not put up such fantastic numbers

Tarnasky posted 3 goals on the week to give him 5 on the year which has already surpassed both Zack Stortini and Kyle Hagel’s combined goal scoring numbers from last season…I doubt the production will last but it’s nice to see scoring coming from unexpected sources.

Andrighetto would post 2 goals and 3 assists this past week including a wicked slapshot from the top of the circle against Rockford while shorthanded. Andrighetto is the Bulldogs leader in points through 8 games this season with 7 points and with Leblanc called up the team will look for the Swiss rookie to continue his scoring run.

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