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Panthers prospect Chris Clapperton leads Rimouski to QMJHL semi-finals

Florida Panthers prospect Chris Clapperton is tearing it up in the QMJHL playoffs. Clapperton has scored 9 goals and added 6 assists, with a +6 rating, in just 9 games, leading his team, the top-seeded Rimouski Oceanic, to the semi-finals where they await the winner of tonight’s game-seven decider between Halifax and Moncton.

After amassing 76 points in the regular season for the East Division-winning Oceanic, including a career-best 35 goals, Clapperton accounted for 4 goals and 3 assists in Rimouski’s four-game sweep of Victoriaville.

The 21-year-old followed that up with 5 goals and 3 assists in Rimouski’s 4-1 series win over Gatineau in the quarter-finals.

Clapperton joined the Oceanic this season after three years with Blainville-Boisbriand, where he racked up 194 points in 176 regular season, including a career-high 77 in 2012-13. In 44 playoff games with the Armada, he accumulated 45 points on 14 goals and 31 assists.

Last season, Blainville-Boisbriand fell in the semis to Baie-Comeau, so Clapperton, an overage-junior, will be looking to make his first trip to finals with his new team, the Oceanic, who finished with a league-best 47-16-3-2 record.

Look for the high-scoring Clapperton, a fifth-round draft choice (122nd overall) of Panthers in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, to join the fold sometime after the conclusion of the President’s Cup playoffs.

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