Rocket Weekly: Onto The Final Week
Laval finished up the home portion of the 2025-26 regular season schedule last week with a pair of games against the Senators. They managed to get three of four points but the one they left on the table could come back to bite them.
The Week That Was
Apr. 10: Belleville 7, Laval 6 (OT) – This game is the definition of leaving a point on the table. The Rocket had two separate two-goal leads, including one in the third period. The Senators tied, only for Laval to take the lead again. However, Arthur Kaliyev tied it in the last minute of regulation, then potted the overtime winner for good measure.
Apr. 11: Laval 5, Belleville 2 – Things weren’t looking too good early as the Sens scored twice on Hunter Shepard in the opening period. But from there, the Rocket held Belleville to just seven shots the rest of the way. The offence came around in the second period with a pair of power play goals while Florian Xhekaj potted the eventual winner late in the frame. Joshua Roy picked up a pair of empty-netters to secure the hat-trick and the split for Laval.
Skaters:
| # | Player | GP | G | A | +/- | SOG | PIMS |
| 2 | Marc Del Gaizo | 2 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | Luke Mittelstadt | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 4 | 0 |
| 4 | Tobie Bisson | 2 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Nathan Clurman | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Tyler Thorpe | 2 | 1 | 1 | E | 2 | 9 |
| 10 | Joshua Roy | 2 | 5 | 1 | -1 | 12 | 0 |
| 15 | Sean Farrell | 2 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 5 | 2 |
| 17 | Alex Tuch | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 2 | 7 |
| 18 | Vincent Arseneau | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 17 |
| 19 | Samuel Blais | 2 | 2 | 5 | +1 | 8 | 2 |
| 22 | Alex Belzile | 2 | 1 | 4 | E | 3 | 10 |
| 26 | Will Dineen | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 0 |
| 28 | Josh Jacobs | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 1 | 2 |
| 42 | Lucas Condotta | 2 | 0 | 1 | E | 2 | 0 |
| 48 | Filip Mesar | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 1 | 0 |
| 49 | Jared Davidson | 2 | 0 | 0 | E | 4 | 2 |
| 62 | Owen Beck | 2 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 3 | 0 |
| 63 | Florian Xhekaj | 2 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 1 | 14 |
| 64 | David Reinbacher | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 1 | 6 |
| 84 | William Trudeau | 1 | 0 | 0 | -4 | 1 | 0 |
| 91 | Dillan Bentley | 1 | 0 | 0 | E | 5 | 2 |
Goalies:
| # | Player | Record | GAA | SV% | SO |
| 32 | Hunter Shepard | 1-0-0 | 2.00 | .875 | 0 |
| 34 | Kaapo Kahkonen | 0-0-1 | 6.85 | .781 | 0 |
Team Leaders:
Goals: Alex Belzile (29)
Assists: Laurent Dauphin (44)
Points: Laurent Dauphin (62)
+/-: Marc Del Gaizo (+27)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (166)
Shots: Joshua Roy (181)
News and Notes
– Laval welcomed back Tobie Paquette-Bisson to the lineup after he missed more than a month with a neck injury. However, the defensive surplus was short-lived, with David Reinbacher being recalled to Montreal. To get some extra depth in place, Darick Louis-Jean was recalled from ECHL Trois-Rivieres.
– Another blueliner was brought in as the Rocket signed Aiden Dubinsky to a tryout agreement. The 21-year-old played his senior year at Wisconsin, picking up six points in 38 games. A right-shot defender, he’ll look to make a case for a full-season contract in 2026-27.
– Laval also added some extra depth up front. The Habs re-assigned Vinzenz Rohrer to the Rocket after his season in Switzerland came to an end. Rohrer had 12 points in 41 games with Zurich this season, seeing his production and playing time drop from a year ago.
– The Rocket enter the week with a three-point lead on Syracuse for the North Division title with both teams having two games remaining. With the Crunch having the tiebreaker, Laval’s magic number to clinch the division and home ice for a couple of rounds is two.
Last Game’s Lines:
Farrell – Belzile – Roy
Blais – Beck – Davidson
Dineen – Condotta – Tuch
Arseneau – Xhekaj – Thorpe
Mittelstadt – Reinbacher
Paquette-Bisson – Clurman
Del Gaizo – Jacobs
The Week Ahead
Friday/Saturday at Toronto – The season wraps up with a pair of games against an archrival, one who has something to play for still. The Marlies sit one point out of third place in the division; if they can gain that point, they don’t have to play the best-of-three first round of the postseason. To that end, expect the Maple Leafs to send down several players for this set, including former Hab Michael Pezzetta who has been up in recent weeks but has played sparingly. Defenceman Vinny Borgesi was one of the better blueliners available in college free agency and recently signed a deal that allowed him to join the Marlies down the stretch on a tryout agreement.
Final Thought
More often than not, late-season additions in the minors are depth players or prospects a team wants to look at to see if they could play a role next season. It’s not often they get players who step in and contribute right away. Luke Mittelstadt has done just that on the back end and Laval’s newest addition up front, Vinzenz Rohrer, may very well have a chance to do so as well.
Yes, he’s coming off a disappointing year in the NL but he’s still the versatile player who can fill a bunch of roles. He can play on a checking line. He can play on an energy line. He can at least hold his own on a scoring line if you go back to previous years. And he can play all three forward positions. That type of versatility has to be very appealing to Pascal Vincent, who can also lean on Rohrer having a fair bit of playoff experience in his time with Zurich.
Going into training camp, I thought Rohrer had an outside shot at doing what Oliver Kapanen did last season and make the big club out of nowhere. He didn’t really get a chance to do so, though, to be fair, he didn’t do well enough to warrant a long look either. Now, the goal will be to make a good first impression on Laval’s staff and lock down a spot in the lineup for the playoffs. If that doesn’t happen and he winds up in a depth role, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him on the move again next month and be loaned out to play at the Worlds for Austria to ensure he’s playing somewhere. I think he’ll find a way to make a mark on the Rocket before long, though.