Sunday, April 3, 2005 | By Philip Croucher, Halifax Daily News

Justified or not, Francois-Pierre Guenette and Marc-Andre Bernier have taken plenty of heat from Cape Breton fans for their performance in last seasons playoff collapse with the Screaming Eagles.

Guenette and Bernier were two of several highly skilled players for Cape Breton who, according to critics, didn't play their best when it counted most. The end result was the Eagles, ranked second in the Canadian Hockey League, fell to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the second round of the playoffs. The series lasted just five games.

Jump ahead 12 months, and the two forwards are entering another post-season with the Halifax Mooseheads, who they helped bring to within a game of a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship two seasons ago.

Guenette said he and Bernier have put last season behind them, but it seems the sting of that criticism still lingers.

'Need a whole hockey team to win'

"I mean the fans have to blame someone. If they want to blame it on two players, then they can feel free and go ahead," said Guenette, after a Mooseheads practice last week. "But I think you need the whole hockey team to win. You lose with the whole hockey team. So it doesn't really bother me.

"Anytime we play in Cape Breton, we like to show (the fans) that were still good players," he added. "They saw us play all year. They were cheering for us all year. And just because of what happened in the playoffs, were not good players anymore. But it's something that's not on our mind."

Bernier had a goal and three assists in the playoffs with Cape Breton. Guenette had just two assists.

Alexandre Picard, the final member of the boomerang boys - a trade that saw the three skate for Cape Breton last season only to return to Halifax this year - avoided much of the criticism by having what was seen as a solid post-season.

"I didnt take as much heat as the two other guys, but (the fans) can say we didn't give it our all or those two guys didn't give it their all," Picard said. "But I don't think they were in the room to see it ... There were some other guys who didn't take the blame.

"But whatever. It's always going to be like that - the fans. But it's over."

If there was anything good to come out of last year's playoffs for the trio, it's that they learned no matter how good a team you have, if you don't play as one, the post-season will be very short.

The Mooseheads go into the playoffs ranked second in the QMJHL, behind only the Rimouski Oceanic.

"They got more experience. They know exactly what could happen," said Mooseheads general manager Marcel Patenaude.

"To put blame only on kids, I think is unfair. I think those three will be more experienced players and they'll be coming into the playoffs with a lot more knowledge."

The playoffs is the last try at a Quebec league championship for Guenette, a 20-year-old draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks.

'No regrets'

Picard and Bernier are both 19, but could play pro next season.

"My goal for the next couple of months is to go home this summer having no regrets about what we did - not having to say if we did this, maybe we would have won this," Guenette said.