Brassard back in Mariners crease

PORTLAND, Maine – The Maine Mariners have locked up their first goaltender for the 2019-20 season, announcing the re-signing of Francois Brassard. The rookie netminder was a sixth round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and played six games for the Mariners at the end of the 2018-19 season.

The Mariners are the ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Rangers and the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolf Pack.

A native of Gatineau, Quebec, Brassard signed with the Mariners on March 20 and went on to appear in six of the team’s final seven games, posting a 1-4-0 record, a 3.28 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

Prior to signing in Maine, Brassard had been playing collegiately in Canada for Carleton University (USports), where he posted a 2.02 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage in three seasons. Before that, he played for the Quebec Remparts, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, and Gatineau Olympiques over a four-season career in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In his final three seasons, Brassard played an average of over 52 games a year in which he was involved in two deep President’s Cup runs.

Although he joined the Mariners from the college ranks, Brassard played five games professionally in the 2015-16 season for the Peoria Rivermen of the Southern Professional Hockey League. That season, he went 2-2-0 with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. His ECHL debut came with the Mariners on March 29 at Reading, where he stopped all four shots faced in relief. The following night, Brassard made his first ECHL start, and suffered a tough luck loss at Adirondack, making 43 saves on 46 shots in a 4-2 defeat.