Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Breault captured on film in Junior

Two seasons ago en route to being tabbed by the Sabres in the 2006 draft, Benjamin Breault and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar teammates spent some time with a pair of Canadian filmmakers for the project titled, Junior. The french language documentary, filmed completely behind the scenes with zero game footage, intensely depicts the demanding lifestyle of the Canadian junior hockey player. It's been met with good reviews since its November premier. (Read an interview with the filmmaker here) Often we hear of highly regarded teens sliding in their draft years. Breault, the 57th ranked North American skater in CSB's 2006 final draft rankings, was one of four players trailed by cameras away from the rink. Through the course of the season, the viewer gets to watch the Pembroke, Ontario native deal with the pressure and emotions of being a star prospect while navigating social life as a teenager. A point-per-game player with 30 goals and 68 points that season, the talented center slid to the 7th round on draft day. Heading into play this week for first-place Baie-Comeau, Breault has collected 47 points in 43 games after a 40-40-80 campaign in 2006-07. In October, he was named to represent the QMJHL in the ADT Canada/Russia Challenge but missed the series due to injury (he was replaced by Sabres prospect J.S. Allard). The Sabres own his rights through June, and he'll likely be in Buffalo's camp this fall given the dearth of Amerks offense and the Sabres need to ice a full roster as a single affiliate in 2008-09.