QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — What should have been another easy win against the worst team in the QMJHL ended in shootout victory 3-2 for Quebec over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
The game was only 0:46 seconds old when the Remparts took a 1-0 lead, thanks to German rookie Mirko Hoefflin. The center, who plays right wing on the second line beat Baie-Comeau goaltender Jason Missiaen on the short side.
John Audy-Marchessault added a second goal to the Quebec lead 5:49 into second period when his wrist shot rolled over Missiaen’s blocker. Already leading 2-0 with only five minutes gone in second period against the worst team in the league players thought it would be easy but the visitors replied with two goals inside three minutes bringing to square one.
Jean-Philippe Caron at 10:07 and Kevin Fiset at 13:04 (unassisted) stunted the crowd’s enthusiasm in the Colisee. With the scored 2-2 Patrick Roy’s team seemed surprised to see their opponent being able to get back in game even if Baie-Comeau played good game against the best junior team in Canada after earning the first place in the top ten ranking.
“History repeated itself, we hit three horizontal post in third period,” visiting head coach Stephane Hains said after the game. “Again, tonight, we still missed lots of opportunities notably a three against one. Our goaltender played really well in the third he gave us a chance to win this game. In a shootout it can go one side or the other. Tonight in two periods in a half I can’t ask for more to my players we played good game. Collectively we were disciplined, we never let it go, and we came back from 2-0 deficit. I can’t count the number of times we came back in a game since the season began. Justice will come on our side things will turn around. We will win games. We played very well against two of the best teams against Bathurst and Quebec; we lost a point in shootout.”
Neither team was able to score in the third period leading to overtime where again the score still 2-2. The shootout turned in favor of Quebec to win 3-2.
Veteran Quebec center Joel Champagne who ended the game with one assist was the first to recognize the team wasn’t ready to play the game.
“We weren’t ready to play this game tonight; we have to learn from this game. We can’t be happy after a game like this; we didn’t work as hard as we should. We didn’t have good practice over last week; we know that if we didn’t work it won’t go anywhere. We need to learn from this game make a reset and be ready for tomorrow game (Sunday) against Chicoutimi in Chicoutimi,” Champagne said after the game.
A surprise awaited Quebec starting netminder Jimmy Appleby who played all sixty minutes when his head coach Patrick Roy called him to the bench sending veteran goalie Louis Domingue.
“Louis is the best in the league in these circumstances, with us I think he never lose a shootout. When you consider having the best goaltender in these circumstances I can’t see why I can’t use him,” Roy said defending the goaltender move.
Talking about his team’s performance Roy also admitted he would prefer to see his team player better hockey.
“I don’t know if we fell in the trap but we have to recognize Baie-Comeau played good game. We knew the Drakkar has exemplary work ethic, that’s what they gave us tonight,” Roy added.
“We didn’t play our best hockey game tonight, we didn’t work as well as we did in the other games but in third period we began to play much better. That’s the thing that can happen. The good news is we found a way to win. Like I said to the players, it was a good lesson for us; we must respect each team in the league we can’t think it would be easier on certain night. Baie-Comeau played a solid game, they worked really well. Defensively they work with three men deep down in their zone, so it was more difficult to create offense. For us it’s sure we would like to play a better game in front of our fans but at the end fans had for their money, we moved the puck much better,” Roy in his post game press conference.
In the shootout, Tomas Filippi gave Quebec a 1-0 lead when he beat Missiaen. Pierrick Martel saw Louis Domingue who had been sent to face Baie-Comeau shooter made the save. Rookie Axel Rioux saw the former OHL Peterborough Petes goaltender make the save. Raphael Bussieres wasn’t able to beat Domingue on his shot and Ryan Bourque closed the light for Quebec beating Missiaen for the goal that made the difference in Quebec’s favor.
The team will play in Chicoutimi against the Sagueneens on Saturday. The game is an chance to redeem themselves against an arch-rival.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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