QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — What looked like Quebec’s first win at home against archrival Chicoutimi Sagueneens with 1:50 remaining in the game turned out to be a 4-3 loss in OT. After a first period where both teams seemed to study each other like
Chicoutimi head coach Marc-Etienne Hubert praises his players for their character and the effort against arch rival photo taken by Serge Poulin
If Quebec head coach Patrick Roy had something to say about his players’ effort after first two games, he came in front of the press not satisfied about the final result but seemed satisfied with his players’ effort even if his team lost.
“The effort was far better from the first two games,” answered Roy to the first question about his players’ effort in that game. “I must say I adored our second and third period. In first period, we ended up with six shots on goal and we finish the game with 30, we have had 13 shots in second and 11 in third so if we continue to play like that we will score goals and we will become a harder team to play against.”
“What hurt us tonight was, the diving on the other side and our undisciplined effort,” recognized the Remparts head coach after the game. “We took some bad penalties at key moments in the game but you still stay with sour taste in your mouth, when you see things like you saw tonight. You don’t need that. It’s hard to lose a game the way we lost tonight but we expected to have a tough time like that but like I said I think we are going in the right direction,” Roy said about his team effort especially in last forty minutes.
The fans had to wait almost the entire first period before seeing a score. A penalty to veteran Quebec forward Frederick Roy for cross checking was the opportunity the visiting team waited for before opening the score. With 30 seconds remaining to the Quebec penalty Chicoutimi defenseman Dominic Poulin saw his shot beat Quebec goaltender Francois Brassard at 18:54 of the opening period.
Quebec forward Alexandre Contois play key role on Quebec second goal with great pass to Martin Lefebvre photo taken by Serge Poulin
Quebec replied with two goals in 1:03 in the second to take the lead for the first time in a game this season. The combination of Mikael Tam, Roy and Kurt Etchegary ended with goal scored by rookie Etchegary (first career junior goal) when he just had to put the puck behind Chicoutimi goaltender Francois Desrosiers at 12:01.
After playing key role in Quebec first goal in the game, Remparts Captain defenseman Tam beat Sagueneens goalie over his left shoulder at 13:04. Both Remparts goals were scored at even strength.
Quebec seemed to take control of the game in last portion of second period, but before the siren sound announce the end of second period, Chicoutimi tied the game 2-2 at even strength, with Guillaume Vermette first of the regular season at 17:30.
Adam Erne, another Quebec rookie, who successfully earned a place on the team at 16-years of age, scores the first goal of his junior career, giving the lead to Quebec for the second time at 11:22. Erne goal was scored with the man-advantage.
Having the lead (3-2) with 1:50 remaining, Quebec head coach called his time out to make sure all his players on the ice knew their tasks. Quebec missed two excellent chances to get the insurance goal, rookie Erne tried to make a play instead of simply shooting the puck in an empty net and Axel Rioux also missed his chance to seal the victory for his team.
Instead, Chicoutimi jump on their last opportunity when Alexandre Lavoie took his chance by shooting the puck that went through players in front of Quebec goalie giving no chance to Brassard to make the save, seeing the puck behind him forcing both teams to go in overtime. Lavoie goal came at 19:28.
And with only 1:32 gone in fourth period a shot by Chicoutimi left winger Charles Hudon ended the game in favor of the visiting team.
After the game the Chicoutimi head coach Marc-Etienne Hubert gave credit to his goaltender Desrosiers but talk about his team character.
“The players didn’t give up, our goaltender played very well and we were opportunistic in certain occasions. Quebec also was opportunistic when they had chances but I’m very, very satisfied by the way our players ended the game,” Hubert said.
Chicoutimi goaltender Francois Desrosiers played solid game between Sagueneens pipes making 29 saves on Quebec 32 shots photo taken by Serge Poulin
Talking about his goaltender the Sagueneens head coach praise his goalie, “Francois has been very solid tonight in front of his net, he was the man we know he showed lots of character tonight.”
Quebec next game will be on the road when they will face the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Sunday afternoon.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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