Corner Brook -
Brandon Hynes exploded out of the gates offensively last year during his rookie season with the Victoriaville Tigres of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Somehow he's off to an even quicker start in his sophomore campaign, with four goals in three games.
Hynes and the Tigres kicked off their regular season schedule on Sept. 11 with a home game against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
With the Huskies up 2-1, Hynes scored a power-play marker before the end of the second period to pull his team even. Then, in the third period, Hynes tallied the eventual game-winner, again on the power play, at the 4:40 mark. He amassed five shots during the game and four penalty minutes.
Zach O'Brien, Hynes' old nemesis from the Newfoundland and Labrador Major Midget League's St. John's Fog Devils, scored for the Huskies in that game.
Next up for the Tigres was another home game against the Montreal Juniors on Sept. 13, where they were defeated 4-1.
Hynes supplied the only goal for his side in the loss, another power-play goal at 10:41 of the first period which tied the game 1-1 at the time. Montreal went on to rack up three unanswered goals over the last two periods to take the victory, although they'd certainly remember the Norris Point native, who unleashed nine shots on their net through 60 minutes.
In their third game of the season, on Wednesday night, Victoriaville edged Baie-Comeau Drakkar 2-1 on the road.
The Drakkar held a 1-0 lead going into the third period, but Hynes struck with an even-strength goal with just over five minutes remaining to get his side on the board. The Tigres would score again with 41 seconds left to play to steal the win.
Again, Hynes was all over the scoresheet, picking up seven shots on goal and two penalty minutes to go with his game-tying goal.
The 17-year-old is currently tied for the league-lead in goals with Christian Ouellet-Martel of Gatineau, with whom he also shares the league-lead in power-play goals. He is also currently running away with the shots on goal category with 21. Second place is shared by four players who all have 13 shots.
His next action comes tonight against Chicoutimi.
