Young Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov has found something to do with his free time while he recovers from a lower-body injury that has sidelined him in recent games.
The Russian, who led all NHL rookies in scoring last season with 62 points, is appealing a speeding infraction he pleaded guilty to earlier this year, when he agreed to pay a ticket he received during the summer for travelling well above the speed limit on the Bonaventure Expressway.
Demidov had a court date at the Montreal courthouse on Friday, where lawyer Alfredo Munoz asked Superior Court Justice Éliane Perreault to withdraw Demidov’s guilty plea to allow him to contest it in Montreal’s municipal court.
According to the Journal de Montréal, Demidov said in a sworn statement presented in court that, through an exchange with the police officer who issued the ticket, he understood that his driver’s licence wasn’t at risk if he paid it.
He also claimed in the statement that he wasn’t going as fast as was alleged. He was in a Audi RS Q8 when he was clocked doing 111 km/h on the Bonaventure Expressway. The Bonaventure’s speed limit is 70 km/h.
In the same court document, the head of security for the Habs said Demidov paid the $328 ticket online by mistake.
Demidov, 20, also paid a ticket earlier this year for doing 145 km/h while he was on a highway in Trois-Rivières on Feb. 10. The limit on that highway was 100 km/h. Municipal court records show that Demidov paid a $210 ticket and lost three demerit points by pleading guilty to the Highway Code infraction.
At the time, the NHL season was on a break while the Winter Olympics were held in Italy.
What Demidov apparently failed to understand was that by losing those first three demerit points in Trois-Rivières, he put his probationary driver’s licence in peril. In Quebec, a probationary licence has a limit of four demerit points.
When the second ticket was paid, Demidov had now lost a total of six demerit points.
In the document presented in court on Friday, Demidov said he recently received a letter from the Societé de l’assurance du Québec informing him that his licence would be suspended.
Perreault agreed to withdraw the guilty plea for the Highway Code violation on the Bonaventure, which means Demidov can drive for the time being while he contests the ticket in municipal court.
It appears a date has yet to be set for the Montreal municipal court case.
pcherry@postmedia.com
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