He's Back!

If there was one thing that the Aalborg Pirates had last season, it was a clutch scorer in Peter Quenneville. That's not to say that they haven't been getting solid contributions from the lineup this season, but it was announced on Thursday that Quenneville had rejoined the Metal Ligaen team after stints with Czech HC Dynamo Pardubice and Finnish SaiPa. Getting a proven goal machine like Quenneville back will be crucial to the Pirates' success in the second-half of the Metal Ligaen season!

Quenneville finished the season last year having scored 30 goals and 19 assists in 45 games, and he was especially lethal on the power-play. His 30 goals were more than double that of Aalborg's second-highest goal-scorer Martin Hojbjerg from last season. This season, Hojbjerg leads the Pirates in goal-scoring, but expect Quenneville to come in and add the second-half of the one-two punch that Aalborg featured last season.

"We know Peter, and we know what we get in him, and he knows what we expect from him," sports director Ronny Larsen told hockeymagasinet.dk. "We get a player into the team who is hungry for success, which should not be underestimated in ice hockey. Peter possesses a good and accurate shot that can be used both in the 5-on-5 game, but especially in the overall, where it gives us more options."

His season in Aalborg last season was his best as a professional in terms of points when looking at his ECHL, Czech League, and Finnish League stats. If he can find the chemistry with the Pirates he had last season, the third-place Pirates will have added another layer to their improving scoring on which they can rely. His 30 goals in 2016-17 represents the highest total Quenneville has posted in any season since he lit the lamp 33 times with Dubuque of the USHL in 2012-13.

The excitement of getting Peter back on the roster was not lost on Pirates CEO Thomas Bjuring, and he used the opportunity to thank sponsors in helping make this addition happen.

"It's a Christmas present in its clearest sense," Bjuring told hockeymagasinet.dk. "We have had the same offensive success, and therefore it is natural that we've been looking for reinforcements. No matter how much [the addition of Quenneville] makes sense, our budget has been used for the current season. That a group of good and loyal sponsors has increased our budget to pick up Pete is truly a Christmas present."

We'll see how "Pistol Pete" settles in with this younger Aalborg team, but I suspect he'll find his groove quickly. The Metal Ligaen's fourth-leading scorer from last season will help the Pirates in their post-Christmas push, and that's good news for this writer's favorite Danish club!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!