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Extended journey takes Barrie's Philippe Daoust on path to NHL draft

Barrie native passed over in OHL draft, but landed with the Quebec League's Moncton Wildcats and was eventually selected by the Senators

The road less travelled often isn't the easiest way to arrive at one's destination.

For Philippe Daoust, it's meant having to navigate a few extra miles and turns when it comes to his hockey career. So far, so good for the Barrie native, who has managed to steer himself closer to his dream of one day playing in the National Hockey League.

Passed over in the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection, Daoust has gone from being a free-agent invitee to training camp last season by the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to an NHL prospect after the talented forward was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the sixth round (158th overall) of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft held in early October.

"It was probably the most special night for me and my family," the 19-year-old said of draft night. "We were very happy for me to be drafted, especially by an organization like Ottawa, which is one of the closer teams to home.

"I was very excited and it's really a feeling I couldn't describe," Daoust told BarrieToday. "Still to this day, I couldn't be any happier and I can still remember that day with my heart."

The road to get there may have taken a little longer and taken him a lot farther away from home, but Daoust remains grateful, especially for a Moncton organization that believed in him.

Passed over in the OHL draft, he joined the French River Rapids of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League for the 2018-19 season and lit it up there with 20 goals and 39 assists to lead the team in scoring with 59 points in 56 games.

That drew the interest of several teams, including receiving a couple of training camp offers in the OHL.

But he would find his true junior hockey home in New Brunswick.

"As a little kid, all hockey players dreams are playing in the OHL or playing major junior somewhere," said Daoust, who is in his second year with the Wildcats. "For me, it was obviously trying to get drafted in the OHL. That's all I really knew at that time, but as I got older I was watching more games and I saw games from the (QMJHL) and was really intrigued by it, so when I got contacted by some teams in the (QMJHL), especially Moncton, I was really excited."

Daoust earned a roster spot and finished his first season in Moncton with seven goals and 29 points in 58 games.

This season, the second-year forward stepped into a bigger role and he responded with four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 13 games before the QMJHL suspended all activities through the month of December to Jan. 3 as a result of the pandemic.

"So far, it's been an unbelievable experience. Moncton is a high-class organization," said the six-foot 162-pound centre, who flew home to Innisfil last Friday. "I've been treated so well here and if I could let kids know that are younger than me that the 'Q' is a very good league and it's an underrated league. Some people think the 'Q' is not as good as the OHL, but I truly think the 'Q' is a very good league. It's a good experience for sure for any 17-, 18- or 19-year-old."

Daoust knew it was going to be a young Moncton team coming into this season, and with more expected of him he wanted to come in and be a leader from the opening of camp.

"(I wanted to) try to guide the way for those young players and kind of show them what it takes to win and how this league works," he said. "Obviously, I wanted to have a big year personally. I finished with 29 points last year and I really wanted to come into this year and double that, knowing that I'll be getting a lot more ice time this year and that I'll be one of those guys that is playing on the power play, so I wanted to be that guy that runs the offence for Moncton this year.

"There's a lot of things that I still need to improve on, I'm young," the Wildcats alternate captain added. "Ottawa's going to be helping me out a lot with that and so is Moncton, but I think what I can bring to a team is just a kid that cares a lot, that wants to put up points on the board, that wants to score and wants to create offence.

"As time goes on, as I mature, I'll be learning how to play more defensively and get better defensively and hopefully get on the penalty kill," he said.

There's little doubt Daoust's strengths lie on the offensive side of the game, where he says he can control play when the puck is on his stick. He feels he's able to slow the game down and see the ice well. Normally more of a playmaker, he's tried to shoot more to provide more offence for the younger squad.

Daoust says he knew after his first season he had to improve his two-way game and work to get bigger and stronger.

"I think every player, doesn't matter how good a skater, you got to keep working on your skating," he said. "So those were kind of the three things I worked really hard at during this off-season."

He trained two to three times a week in the summer with Mariposa School of Skating coach Paul Matheson.

"It was really good," he said. "He's obviously a great skating coach and helped me a lot the last couple of years."

Despite the delays this season due to COVID-19, Daoust says he and other QMJHL players are fortunate to be the lone major junior league in the country to play this season. It's allowed them greater exposure to scouting and, despite the latest stoppage, he says the league is doing all it can to get the teams on the ice.

"We knew coming into this year it wasn't going to be perfect and there was probably going to be some stops once in a while," said Daoust, who explained players basically go to the rink and then back home. "It's obviously a little more difficult as a player. All you want to do is play games and win your games and be on the ice with your teammates, so it's been tough.

"But I think the way the QMJHL has arranged things, they've been doing their best to keep the players and the staff safe, and trying to make us play hockey because at the end of the day that's all the kids want.

"We just want to play hockey."

Daoust is eager to get playing again, but in the meantime he's grateful that he'll at least get to see his family a little more this holiday season.

"That's the bright side of it," he said.


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Gene Pereira

About the Author: Gene Pereira

An award-winning journalist, Gene is former sports editor of the Barrie Examiner and his byline has appeared in several newspapers. He is also the longtime colour analyst of the OHL Barrie Colts on Rogers TV
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