QUEBEC CITY P.Q.— Gabriel Dumont played the hero by scoring at 13:23 of overtime to send the Drummondville Voltigeurs to the Memorial Cup semifinals in a 3-2 victory over the Rimouski Oceanic, and will now face the winner of the tie-breaker game on Thursday night. Rimouski on the other hand will have to return to action Thursday to face the Windsor Spitfires.
Drummondville celebrats their overtime victory over Rimouski (photo courtesy of the mastercardmemorialcup.com)
The Voltigeurs began the game slowly, but as the game went on, they found a way to play their hearts out and win the game. With 39 saves on 41 shots, Marco Cousineau was simply sensational. He made some great saves to keep his team in the game, especially in the opening period where his team was dominated in shots 11-4, and in the third period 13-4. The sellout crowd in Rimouski was the first sellout of the tournament (5,062). The home fans saw their favorite team lose for the second time against Guy Boucher Voltigeurs. The Oceanic were swept 4-0 in the QMJHL playoffs by the Voltigeurs. Wednesday nights game in Rimouski was an all QMJHL affair. For the Oceanic, the game had an odor of revenge to it. Rimouski played a very strong first period. The game was scoreless after the first twenty minutes of play, but it wasn’t because Rimouski didn’t tried to break the ice. The Oceanic had three power plays and plenty of quality opportunities, but thanks to Drummondville goaltender Marco Cousineau, who was the star of the game, Rimouski couldn’t capitalize. Cousineau was simply brilliant stopping Olivier Fortier, Philippe Cornet (twice), Jordan Caron, and Emmanuel Boudreau during the Oceanic’s power plays. After Rimouski’s first loss of the tournament, Oceanic Head Coach Clement Jodoin placed all of his players’ jerseys on the floor before Game 2 and asked all of his players one by one to pick up their jersey. Jodoin wanted to teach his players that even if we have one knee down, we have to get up. Seeing how they played in the first period, it was clear everyone clearly understood the head coach’s message. Drummondville stepped on the ice in the second period and played much better. Rimouski opened the scoring when Luca Cunti picked up the rebound from Felix Lefrancois’s shot and beat Cousineau 1:39 into the second period. Jonathan Brunelle replied for Drummondville by picking up his own rebound to beat Maxim Gougeon at 6:07. Rimouski forward Patrice Cormier went to the penalty box at 10:08 for checking from behind and the Voltigeurs didn’t waste their second power play opportunity. Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who was a minus 4 in the game against Kelowna, scored Drummondville’s second goal in the game. Kulikov’s shot from the blueline found his way between Gougeon’s pads at 11:56. Third period was possibly the best one of the game even if neither team was able to score goals. After going 0-4 on the power plays, Rimouski saw their fifth power play pay off. With Marc-Antoine Desnoyers in the penalty box, Patrice Cormier tied the game at two by beating the Drummondville goaltender on his left side at 5:23. Both team’s found their reserves and played their hearts out and offered up some exciting, intense hockey heading into overtime. Two questions were on everyone lips after the regulation: Who would play the role of hero and how long would overtime last? Dumont got his chance when he slammed home a rebound for his second goal of the tournament. Shots on goal: Rimouski 41, Drummondville 20 Power play: Rimouski 1-5, Drummondville 1-3 Three stars of the game: 1-Patrice Cormier (Rim.) 2- Yannick Riendeau (Drum.) 3-Marco Cousineau (Drum.) Contact the author at:
serge.poulin@prohockeynews.comRelated
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