GRANBY, Québec – The Ligue nord-américaine’s final is down to a best of three series after the Saint-Georges CRS Express won 5-4 in double overtime, Sunday, at the Centre Lacroix-Dutil. The Sherbrooke Saint-François and Saint-Georges are tied at two games apiece.
Kevin Cloutier scored his 12th goal of the playoffs (in 16 games) at 13:18 minutes of the fifth period of play. Cloutier beat Maxime Daigneault on a backhand shot.
“This is a huge victory”, said Cloutier in Québec City’s Le Soleil daily paper. “We had to win because it would have been tough to go back to Sherbrooke trailing 3-1 in the series.”
Saint-Georges’s coach Carl Fleury said Cloutier had a virus and wouldn’t have played if it would have been a regular season game.
“We recognize great players in those situations”, he said. “Kevin had to skip many shifts because he was so sick. But he stood up for his team and his teammates. We really had to win this game.”
Yvan Busque, twice, Éric Bertrand and Jean-François Laplante also scored for Saint-Georges. Mathieu Dumas, Éric Perricone, Bobby Mazerolle and Yannick Tremblay did the same for Sherbrooke.
Saint-François came from a 4-1 deficit after two periods of play.
“We just began to play too late”, said coach Éric Dandenault. “It’s really disappointing.”
Two days earlier, Sherbrooke took the lead in the series with a 6-3 win at home. Alexandre Gagné and Jean-François Boutin each scored twice for Sherbrooke.
So far, the Ligue nord-américaine’s big final is as good as people thought it would be. It’s fast, intense and robust hockey. But it’s all Montréal Canadiens right now in the Province of Québec and crowds are disappointing. Game three drew 2200 spectators at Sherbrooke’s Palais des sports Léopold-Drolet (seating capacity 4300) and game number four drew 1950 fans at the Saint-Georges’s Centre Lacroix-Dutil (seating capacity 3000).
Game five will be held in Sherbrooke on Thursday and game six will take place in Saint-Georges on Friday. If an ultimate matchup is necessary (and you can bet on it), it’s going to be in Sherbrooke on Sunday afternoon.
Contact Michel.Tasse@prohockeynews.com
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