QUEBEC CITY P.Q. – With 41 seconds remaining in first period of overtime, Nicholas Petersen scored his tenth goal of the playoffs, his first in President Cup finals, surprised Drummondville Voltigeurs netminder Marco Cousineau between his pads to give Shawinigan a 2-1 win to force a Game 7 in Drummondville on Tuesday night. One name was on everyone lips after the first period at the Bionest center. That name was Marco Cousineau. The Drummondville goaltender faced 13 shots, stopping all of them to keep the score 0-0. The Voltigeurs had only two shots on Gabriel Girard who was between the pipes for a second straight game. Shawinigan had three power plays in the opening period but saw Cousineau make save after save to keep his team in the game, including saves from Pierre-Alexandre Vandall, Nicholas Petersen, and Matthew Pistilli. Cousineau frustrate the Cataractes and prevented them from taking the lead. Shawinigan Head Coach Eric Veilleux lost one of his players for the game when Dave Labrecque received a game misconduct after committing interference from the bench by hitting Drummondville center Danny Masse. Labrecque’s misconduct was an automatic ejection from the game. As it often happens when a team dominates a game without being able to get on the scoreboard, the other team finds a way to open the scoring. With Shawinigan center Macenauer in the penalty box, Drummondville right winger Yannick Riendeau saw his wrist shot from the slot beat Girard at 12:45 to giving the Voltigeurs a 1-0 lead. The Cataractes continued to play an excellent second period despite giving up the first goal of the game. Shawinigan defenseman Alex Grant saw Cousineau make another key save to preserve his teams lead and gave Drummondville forward Marc-Olivier Vachon a breakaway. Girard make the save on Vachon to keep his team in the game. A penalty to Drummondville right winger Gabriel Dumont proved costly for Guy Boucher’s team. Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll was left alone on Cousineau’s left side and completed a great effort from Pistilli and Charles-Olivier Rousell to beat the Drummondville goaltender at 14:51 of the second period to tie the score at 1-1 to push both teams in overtime. After three periods Shawinigan had 27 shots on goal, to Drummondville’s 26. With 41 seconds remaining in overtime, Petersen ended the suspense for Shawinigan by scoring the game winning goal and kept the Cataractes hopes alive for the QMJHL crown. Needless to say, Veilleux’s post game press conference was short and sweet after the game. Boucher was certainly disappointed of his team loss but seemed confident of winning game seven at home. He began his post game conference by trying to explain what happened on Mike Hoffman’s move at the end of the game before overtime. “He tried to make a move inside, but it resulted in a penalty. We missed three breakaways. If Benoit Levesque scores, it could have been 2-0. On Hoffman’s opportunity, the puck went between the pads of their goaltender, but hit the post instead of going in. The same thing with Lefebvre. We had lots of opportunities to add some goals, but it didn’t happen.” Boucher said. “I expected the series to go to the limit, in seven games. We worked all year to be at home in a possible game seven and that’s where we are.” “We had three shorthanded situations in the first period so it was pretty tough to get in the game to get the tempo of the game. We had lots of opportunities; we played much better in second half of the game.” “Everyone saw it. Now we need to get luckier. If the puck gets two millimeter inside the post it could be a goal. On other occasion, if the puck gets in instead of outside the goal it could be another goal, its hockey, it’s like that. They deserve as much as we are to be here and to play in game seven.” Game 7 will be on Tuesday in the Marcel Dionne Center to determine which team will be the QMJHL’s second team to earn ticket to the Master Card Memorial Cup. Shots on goal: Drummondville 35, Shawinigan 37 Power play: Drummondville1-6, Shawinigan 1-7 Three Stars: 1-Nicholas Petersen (Shaw) 2-Cedric Lalonde-McNicholl (Shaw) 3-Marco Cousineau (Drum.) Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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