Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel’s season didn’t end when the clock struck zero last year for the Quad-City Mallards.

Nine days after the team’s Central Hockey League season was ended by Allen in the semifinals, Dieude-Fauvel was on the ice in Minsk, Belarus, playing defense for the French national team in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship. It was there he got the opportunity to play against some of the top players in the world, including Jaromir Jagr, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin.

“That was a lot of fun, to play against great players,” Dieude-Fauvel said. “It’s a good experience. It shows you what you have to do and, they’re men, you know? They just make better decisions, they don’t make mistakes and they seem pretty fast.”

The Bordeaux, France, native didn’t tally a point and had a plus/minus rating of minus-2 in the tournament, but played in all eight games as the team reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 1995, where it lost to tournament champion Russia 3-0. For Dieude-Fauvel — who has been in the French national team’s system since 2002 when he skated in the U-18 team — that team success, which included an upset win over Canada, was an added bonus.

“That was really awesome,” he said. “We had a great group, a lot of guys played really well. It was just awesome.”

Entering the tournament, Dieude-Fauvel, 28, was coming off the best season of his career, setting highs in goals (11) assists (29) and points (40) while playing in all but one of the Mallards’ 66 regular-season games last year. He’s off to a good start this season, tied for the team lead with two goals and four points. Already solid offensively, where he’s noticeably improved so far this year is in his defensive play.

While Dieude-Fauvel’s defensive numbers from last year look good on paper — he was second on the team with a plus/minus rating of plus-17 — he would frequently be caught out of position, leading to favorable scenarios for the other team. Through the first five games this season — in which he has a rating of plus-1 — that doesn’t seem to be as big an issue.

“He’s moving the puck better,” head coach Terry Ruskowski said. “Last year, he came up with the play so much, he got caught up in the play and left his teammate with a 2-on-1 or a 3-on-1 break. This year, he’s more aware and conscientious about coming up the ice or staying back, and that’s the part of the game he’s really improved in. It shows and I like it.”

Ruskowski said those lapses held him back from receiving looks from the higher leagues, and this preseason, Dieude-Fauvel’s growth earned him a chance with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, where he scored a goal and added an assist. If he continues to refine his game, Ruskowski doesn’t think it will be long before Dieude-Fauvel receives a call-up.

“Catching a break,” Ruskowski said. “He just has to have that opportunity of somebody seeing him and recognizing what his talent is and giving him an opportunity to show it at a higher level.”

After re-signing in August, Dieude-Fauvel came back to the Mallards with a unique experience, one he’s trying to share with the other players on the team.

“They ask me questions, how it was, how those players were and it was just a great experience,” he said. “I tried to play hard every game and now I play hard here … trying to do the system and when the goals come, one day you score and another day somebody else scores. That’s the only way we win and that’s the most important thing.”