Skip to content
Your daily dose of hockey
News

Jakub Dobes is saving the Laval Rocket’s season

 Dose
Share : facebook icon twitter icon
Jakub Dobes is saving the Laval Rocket’s season
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot
While it was a quiet night in the National Hockey League last night, all eyes of Montreal Canadiens fans were on the Laval Rocket.

The Habs’ club-école was playing an all-important game at Place Bell against the Belleville Senators.

They needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, and that’s exactly what the Rocket did, winning 2-1 in regulation time (a VERY important detail).

Laval thus picked up two big points in the standings against its direct rival in this playoff race, allowing the Rocket to hang on to the fifth and final playoff spot in the North Division.

(Credit:TheAHL.com)

In short, it was a huge win for the Rocket last night, but it wasn’t a great game for Jean-François Houle’s team.

Indeed, the Rocket was dominated throughout by the Senators, as evidenced by Belleville’s 37-17 shootout victory.

You could say that the Rocket were lucky, but no, in the end we have to give all the credit to goalkeeper Jakub Dobes, who was simply excellent.

The 22-year-old Czech goaltender was simply dominant last night, turning aside 36 of 37 shots, earning him the AHL’s first star of the evening.

So Dobes saved his team once again.

I say again, because for the past few weeks, Dobes has been practically single-handedly saving the Laval Rocket’s season.

Apart from two anomalies in March (losses to Springfield and Toronto), Dobes has been unstoppable for just over a month.

(Credit: TheAHL.com)

Incidentally, what we’re also noticing is that Dobes is playing a LOT of games, and still managing to hang in there, carrying the team on his shoulders.

With his 46ᵉ start of the season last night, Dobes ranks first in the entire American League.

He went with his best French, too, in a post-game interview.

We love you too, Jakub.

Dobes is the goalkeeper with the most games played this season, which is excellent news for his development in his first professional season.

Despite a difficult start, we’ve continued to put our trust in him, and it’s paying off handsomely at the moment, as Dobes is feeling very confident.

The Czech goalkeeper is really in playoff mode, like the rest of the dressing room.

“When you get into playoff mode, there’s not much else that matters except winning. In the dressing room, we all want to fight for each other and that’s what gives me energy.” – Jakub Dobes

It’s really the youngsters who are driving the club at the moment, and that’s great news.

In fact, since the arrival of David Reinbacher, the Rocket have allowed just nine goals in five games.

Of course, Reinbacher isn’t the only one to be complimented, but the young Austrian has been doing VERY well since his arrival on North America’s smaller rinks.

“His adaptation to the team structure is excellent. We’ve done some video, but not that much. We talked mostly, and he’s learning very quickly. We show him things, and very quickly, he understands them” – Jean-François Houle

And let’s not forget Logan Mailloux, who once again picked up a point last night, further consolidating his place in the AHL’s top-3 defensemen scoring charts.

Mailloux is the only rookie in the top-10.

In short, the Rocket is hanging on to the playoffs, and it’s thanks to the excellent performances of its youngsters.

It’ll take another solid performance today, when Laval takes on the Belleville Senators again at 3pm.

It’s another game the Rocket must win.


En Rafale

– Happy Birthday Slaf!

– Of note.

– The Hurricanes goaltender is undefeated in seven games since returning from injury.

– Read more.

– A fine performance.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!
More Content