Halifax Mooseheads winger joins elite company as he hits century club | CBC News

Dumais said the stat was in the back of his mind, but he had other priorities when the puck dropped at Scotiabank Centre on Saturday.

“I was just trying to win the game,” Dumais said, adding that the team is in a tight playoff race. “Our team’s playing well now so that helps, obviously.”

The five-point effort also brings the L’Île-Bizard, Que, native’s point total level with Nikolaj Ehlers’ in 2013-14 and within one of Jonathan Drouin’s 105 in 2012-13. Dumais now joins the two Mooseheads-turned-NHLers as one of only three 17-year-olds in the club’s history to hit the century mark.

With two games left in the regular season, Dumais said he’s confident he can surpass Drouin’s historic season.

“I’d be pretty disappointed if I didn’t get one or two points in my next two games,” Dumais said. “But yeah, I mean, it’d be cool if I did pass it.”

Dumais is now third in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League scoring behind Joshua Roy of the Sherbrooke Phoenix and William Dufour of the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Rising draft stock

Mooseheads head coach Sylvain Favreau said Dumais’s 100th point was inevitable given his recent hot streak — he’s recorded 32 points over his last 10 games — and the number of games that remained before Saturday.

“I think, you know, the full body of work speaks for itself,” Favreau said. “Jordan is a guy that [has] a high compete level and outworks his opponents game in and game out.”

NHL Central Scouting has Dumais ranked 72nd among North American draft-eligible skaters and projected him as a third round pick in their mid-term rankings released in January. But Favreau said the right-winger is making a strong case to outperform the rankings come July’s draft.

“Jordan was not really high on the radar to start the season just because he took a different route to the Quebec league,” he said, noting Dumais went to prep school in the United States instead of playing midget AAA like most players in the QMJHL.

“Smaller-type players, like Drouin — and the list can go on — in the NHL, they’re having a lot of success.”

Favreau said the NHL has adapted to favour smaller, skilled players like Dumais, who stands 5-9 and weighs 165 pounds, according to the team’s website.

Gathering momentum before playoffs

After losing many games in March, Favreau said the team turned a corner this month and he hopes they carry that momentum into the playoffs.

“This is the first time that we’ve had five straight wins all year,” he said. “We’re gonna be using the last two games of the season to fine-tune a couple things and make sure that we’re ready.”

Dumais gave much of the credit for the team’s recent turnaround to his linemates. Along with Dumais, the team’s top line features captain Elliot Desnoyers and rookie Mathieu Cataford.

“Cataford jumped on our line a few games ago and as a 16-year-old he’s definitely very mature and … showing up to play every single game,” Dumais said, adding that Desnoyer’s leadership has been instrumental to the line’s success.

The Mooseheads are sitting in fifth place in the QMJHL’s Eastern Conference, out of reach of the fourth-ranked Acadie-Bathurst Titan. But just three points behind the Mooseheads are the Rimouski Océanic, who have four games left.