QUEBEC CITY P.Q. — For the second time in as many games Remparts left winger Olivier Hinse played the role of hero scoring the game winning goal in overtime.
Commenting on his performance in a very noisy locker room Hinse said, “I’m very please, I didn’t believe this at first but I worked very hard and I think it’s the key of our success tonight. In doing that (working hard) with my teammates it clicked, we didn’t have as many points as we wanted but in overtime we gave all we have and in the first shift we scored.”
Captain Marc-Olivier Vallerand, who had been criticized by his head coach the night before, played much a better game ending with two goals.
“I didn’t come out strong last night so the two goals tonight helped the team and helped me on a personal standpoint. It was two important goals and kept us in the game when we were losing 2-0. We never had the lead but we came out strong tonight.”
Talking about the team performance he didn’t hesitate to admit that it was better. “It was much better tonight, we still have work to do, and Bathurst is a team that will never give up we saw it tonight. Maybe some people expect they could come out with less intensity but it’s a team that never give up, it’s up to us to work harder.”
The game began with a fight with only 0:02 second into the game between Danick Paquette of Quebec and Vincent Arseneau. The crowd got into the game but Bathurst gave a cold shower silencing the home crowd with the first two goals in the game.
Bryce Nilson found Sebastien Trudeau after winning his battle along the board and the former Remparts winger came out from behind the net to beat Quebec goaltender Louis Domingue scoring first Bathurst goal at 9:17.
A penalty to Quebec’s Patrick Cusack opened the door for the second Titan goal of the night. Eric Faille saw Remparts’ goalie make the first two saves but Domingue wasn’t able to make the third one on David Gilbert who beat him for his third goal in two games.
Marc-Olivier Vallerand broke the ice for Quebec with a man advantage scoring his first of two goals in the game. Vallerand’s goal was scored at 13:32. Quebec ended the first period trailing by one and in shots on goal, 10-15.
Vallerand came back in the second period with his second goal, also with a man advantage, tying the score at 2. Ryan Bourque found his teammate alone in the goalmouth and just had to poke the puck into an empty net with 7:35 gone.
Bathurst came right back regaining the lead at 10:59. Unable to control the puck after making the first save Taylor Lembke picked up a loose puck in Domingue’s crease and made scored for Titan’s third goal taking the lead 3-2.
Quebec replied less than five minutes later with Bourque’s first of two goals in the game (he ended his night with 2-1) at 15:43. Bourque’s wrist shot beat Titan starting netminder Francois Lacerte.
But with 0:46 seconds left in the second period Jonathan Lessard found a way to beat Domingue giving a 4-3 lead to Bathurst.
Quebec missed a golden opportunity when with already a man in penalty box the referee Stephane Tremblay gave Bathurst goaltender Francois Lacerte a penalty for tripping giving to Quebec a two men advantage for 0:24 seconds with 12:44 gone in third period. The Titan successfully killed both penalties.
But with his second goal in the game the son of former Boston and Colorado defenseman Raymond Bourque made the crowd jump from their seats with Quebec’s fourth goal tying the score with less than four minutes left in the third.
Hinse wristed the puck high in the net to give Quebec a 2-game lead just 40 seconds into the first overtime period.
Bathurst head coach Choules was disappointed but not discouraged after his team lost.
“They didn’t beat us tonight, we lost the game. We lived an experience we go one game at a time, it’s a progress out, kids rolling up you know. Our kids need to learn how to win, it doesn’t come like that,” said Choules.
“We got a couple of bad breaks tonight, we were there until the end, I’m proud of my guys, we will rest, we will go back home, we hope to have lots of fans at home,” Choules said.
Talking about the mistake that led to Quebec’s tying goal Bathurst head coach agreed saying, “Exactly it was like the thunder felt on us, we runs here and there, a bad bounce we should freeze the puck. But it was a bad bounce, that’s how it played.”
The Titan coach continued, “We have nothing to lose, like I said last night we play good hockey, we work hard, and we do what we have to do. The effort was there, the bad bounce came to haunt us tonight. We had two shots in that series it could have been 2-0 for us, we will go home and see which team gets the most character.”
On Quebec side, Patrick Roy was much happier about his players’ effort in the second game. Most of the veterans who he criticized publically last night answered with much better efforts.
“I’m certainly much happier of my players’ effort tonight,” Roy said after the game. “Even if it began harder that we hope for, We have to give credit to Bathurst they came out playing very well they had lots of confidence on their side. They certainly believed in their chance to win tonight game they even think in their chance to win the series.”
“Some of our players stepped up their game, guys like Marshessault, Bourque, Hinse. We saw what we like to see tonight from them. What I like the most from last night is, tonight we had a better for checking, we put lot more pressure, two times in third period, Titan defensemen had to shoot the puck in the crowd, that’s a sign that we put more pressure on them than we did in first two periods,” added Roy.
Speaking of Hinse Roy said, “First I have always had respect for Hinse since the time he played Midget. He needed to get his confidence back, he had a very bad injury in the past but since he been with us his game has progressed and we have more confidence in him. He works very hard every time we send him on the ice. He has an irreproachable work ethics he scored big goals in last two games. It’s fun to see he take his opportunity.”
Next game in the series will be next Tuesday night in Bathurst.
Elsewhere in the QMJHL.
Cape Breton vs. Moncton: The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in their series winning 6-3 over the Screaming Eagles. Kelsey Tessier with four points (3 goals), Randy Cameron with 2 goals and Daniel Petersen picked up Moncton’s goals. Taylor MacDougall, Nick McNeil and Morgan Ellis replied for the Screaming Eagles.
In Victoriaville, the Tigres won 6-2 over the Cataractes taking a 1-0 lead in that series. Philip Michael Devos with four points (1g-3a), Chris Doyle (2g-2a) and Tomas Kubalik with (1g-2a) were the best offensive leaders for Victoriavile. Andrej Nestrasil, Travis McIsaac completed the offense on the board for Yanick Jean. Pierrick Martel and Maximilien Le Sieur scored Shawinigan goals.
In Rimouski, the Oceanic needed to go in overtime for their first win and take a 1-0 lead. It was a goal by Gleason Fournier with 8:10 gone in the extra period that made the difference for Clement Jodoin’s team giving to Rimouski a 4-3 win. Beside Fournier, Ryan Kavanagh with 2 goals, Felix Lefrancois with 1g-3a, were the best offensive players. Dominic Jalbert, Antoine Roussel and Emrik Guillemette replied for Richard Martel’s team.
In Drummondville, the Voltigeurs trounced Lewiston 8-2. Marc-Olivier Vachon notched two goals with the others coming from Philippe Levebvre, Christopher DiDominico, Gabriel Dumont, Sean Couturier and Marc-Antoine Desnoyers. For Lewiston, defenseman Samuel Carrier and Michael Hlinka scored goals for the MAINEiacs.
In Saint John, the Sea Dogs won their first game, 8-3, against Prince Edwards Island Rockets. Eight different players scored Sea Dogs goals. Mickael Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nicholas Pard, Pierre Durepos, Mike Hoffman and Nathan Beaulieu. Jimmy Oligny, Michael Stinziani and Louis Philippe Lacroix scored PEI goals.
In Rouyn-Noranda, Val-d’Or caused the surprise of the night by defeating the Huskies 7-4. Players who scored for the Foreurs were Simon Lacroix with two goals, Vincent Couture, Alexandre Touchette, Olivier Dalaire, Marco Scandella and Jonathan Hazen. Jordan Caron Christophe Losier, Gabriel Levesque and Nicholas Deslaurier replied for Rouyn-Noranda.
In Montreal the Junior won in overtime 3-2 over the Gatineau Olympiques. For Montreal Nicholas Chouinard, Eliezer Sherbatov (overtime goal) and Trevor Perkes scored goals. Mitchell Porowski and Adam Janosik replied for Gatineau.
All these series will continue with second game Saturday.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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