No it’s not Barnum & Bailey Circus, instead it’s the Xavier Parent show happening right in front of our eyes at the Cool Insuring Arena step right up and get your tickets today.
“When a guy like that gets hot you just kinda of let him go, their lines been awesome (Parent-Broughman-Jozefek), ever since Broughman came and joined them in the middle, they seem to have fun playing together and they make a lot of plays together”. Although let’s not forget that it’s Parent’s first full professional season coming out of juniors, Pete MacArthur stated on Friday evening after the game.
“I think on the PP, we’re just keeping it simple, we didn’t try anything to crazy, we just sticked to our structure, and go in front of the net, I think we have two or three goals in front of the net, so that’s really good for us”.
That Parent-Broughman-Jozefek line has been Adirondack’s bread and butter for the past week and a day and for Parent the reason, well we’re talking about practice…practice?
“Yeah, you know that line just kinda started in practice, we just decided to get together as we worked a lot, the three of us, we stay after practice, we try to talk a lot on the ice and on the bench, and I personally think we can see it on the ice that it’s worked really well”.
Xavier in his last six games, six goals, four assists including nine shots last night against Worcester in a 4-3 victory last evening.
“The confidence that Parent has and that entire line, I think it filters through the group, so it’s good to have a line that’s going like that”.
For Parent, a 21 year old rookie with 24 professional games under his professional career he’s notched is jersey number in points with you guessed it, 24.
“To be here in (Adirondack), it’s a new league, going pro so I have to adjust but I think right now as a team we’re just playing better since maybe four or five games I just think that with our lines, we’re playing fast, we’re playing simple and we saw each other on the ice so it’s nice to get a few of those games this week too”.
The Blainville, PQ native is picking up right where he left off at the junior level at the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads and Sherbrooke Phoenix. 244 games at the junior level with 215 points. (102 G, 113A).
“It’s always nice to see my family, when I was in Trois-Rivières I wish we had more time, this year it was only three days, I was able to see my friends, family and my old billet family when I was playing junior so it was pretty nice, to play in front of them on Tuesday and Thursday”.
Parent ranks ninth out of the top ten in the league lead among rookies in goal scoring with ten goals and 14 assists. He’s currently two spots away from taken the top five in rookies scored this season in the ECHL and six away being the cream of the crop at the top of that impressive list.
“We want good starts that’s what we’re doing (referring the Thunder going two and one so far this week), we didn’t score much in the beginning of the season and that’s what we did today (Friday evening), we work really hard the other games it just didn’t go our way”.
More impressive on this rookie list is his line mate Grant Jozefek has three game winning goals in his first full professional season which puts him at number four on the list.
“I just needed somebody to give me a shot”. Jozefek stated after the game on Friday evening.
“I knew that I could contribute at this level, so playing with XP (Xavier Parent) and Broughman has been unreal and right when Broughman stepped in, he’s been our Elmer’s Glue, so I just think that if we keep going like this, there’s a lot more wins in the future”.
Parent signed his first professional deal on July 18th 2022 on a two way AHL deal after going undrafted. The 5-foot-8 170 centerman has been learning a lot in the four letter league but don’t be surprised he’s on the AHL transactions page the next time you open the app on your phone.
“I think that me and Jozefek, we’re just on the same line, we stay after practice, every time to practice every play, tipped shots or something like that, It was a bad start against Worcester but I think the last three games we’re all in the right place and I think when we work hard, we have a lot of good things happening for us, So that’s what we have to keep doing out here against Trois-Rivières (tonight).
Parent made the QMJHL Second All-Star team during the 2021-22 season.
“I thought on Thursday I think we played a really good third period, but I also think that we played two really bad periods, but our penalty kill is really good so I think that we can reflect our first period tonight (Friday) that we were ready and that’s what we want, we wanna keep building on that we’re going to get those results”.