QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — After losing a three-goal lead against Drummondville on Tuesday Quebec successfully kept their lead against Baie-Comeau at home, winning 5-3. Led by Alexandre Grenier and John Audy Marchessault with two goals each Quebec came on top at the end.
Photo by Serge Poulin
The Drakkar head coach began by giving credit to Quebec but came back on the missing call, in his opinion, by the official.
“I will give credit to Quebec, they played very well. For the first two periods our goaltender Missiaen (Jason) kept us in the game making several key saves. Thanks to him if the game remained thigh until the end. The only problem is, if you accept the game to be tough in front of the net, you should call everything, it was dull but a missing call against my number (8) Noreau prevented us great scoring opportunities with 30 seconds remaining in the third. I hope guys will look the tape and see the missing tripping call. The young players are the one penalized on that one, because, we lose a scoring chance because of a missing call. You should have a tripping penalty on that but it seem only two men in the building tonight didn’t seem to see that penalty,” Ahern said after the game.
Photo by Serge Poulin
“For the rest of the game our players were very active, I have to tip my hat to the players in the third period for their effort. The goal scored by Samuel Noreau with their first line on the ice seems to change the momentum. We didn’t skate in first two periods we were on a three games in four nights. Tip my hat off to the two persons who missed the call with 30 seconds remaining in the game.”
Both teams traded goals in the opening period. Alexandre Grenier with first of two goals for the night opened the scoring for the home team. Grenier took a rebound from a shot from the point by Quebec defenseman Alex Wall to beat Baie-Comeau goaltender Missiaen with a backhanded shot from the slot at 5:41.
Jean-Philippe Caron tied the game 1-1 with his 9th of the regular season completing great effort from Lukas Cingel and Raphael Bussieres at 17:41 also in the first.
Quebec came back in the second period and doubled their shots on goal (12-6) scoring twice to take a 3-1 lead after two. Grenier showed great hands and anticipation when he converted a great pass from defenseman Wall. Grenier’s wrist shot beat Baie-Comeau goaltender high on his glove side 3:13 into the second stanza.
“I’m very happy about what happened to me right now. It’s like a dream come true for me. I’m happy to play in Quebec Colisee; the fans are really great to me,” Grenier said about the fact he was called up to play three games.
Answering a question about why nobody heard anything from him before? Grenier simply answered, “Not at the right place at the right time.”
Forgotten in the QMJHL draft when he was eligible he has been selected only by the St. Jerome Panthers in the Junior AAA.
Talking about his experience of playing on first line with Joel Champagne and John Audy-Marchessault, one of the author of two goals performances in the game said, “Like I said to them (Champagne and Marchessault) on the bench it was easier to play with them, playing with guys who have lots of experience was easier for me. I came here with only one goal in mind, and it’s to stay here,” Grenier said.
Quebec added another goal to their lead with a power play goal. Vincent Barnard’s one-timer from the blue line following great pass from Frederick Roy beat the Drakkar netminder at 12:07. Quebec left the ice with two goal lead (3-1) and 26-16 on shots on goal.
“We have the two points at the end,” Quebec defenseman Vincent Barnard said after the game. “That’s what counted; overall I thought we played a good game. Baie-Comeau is always a tough team to play against because they work hard all the times and they just came from defeating Chicoutini twice in a home and home. We didn’t take them too lightly we couldn’t expect to face a team that is at the bottom of the standing. The important thing here is the guys are happy we will go to our respective family for the holidays and coming back ready to get back in action.”
A wrist shot from the slot by Marchessault beat Missiaen following a great pass from behind the net by Joe Dube only 1:41 into third period.
But Baie-Comeau scored the next two goals reducing the Quebec lead to one with 12:00 minutes left. First, Maxim Lamarche with a power play goal reduced Quebec lead to two goals taking his own rebound beating Quebec goaltender between his pads at 3:08. Lukas Cingel, with his 11th of the year, cut the lead to only one goal at 7:50. but before the siren sounded the end of the game John Audy-Marchessault completed the scoring in an empty net to make the final score 5- 3 in favor of Quebec.
For Patrick Roy the Quebec head coach, it was another satisfactory performance by his team, “We played a good game overall maybe the second part of the third period where we weren’t at our best, but I have to admit that I’m happy with our performance overall.”
Baie-Comeau goaltender play great game and Roy didn’t hesitate to recognize the great performance by Missiaen, “Yes he played well in the first period, we had at least four or five great scoring chances on a power play, and he was a key player for them. He made great saves to give chance to his team to stay in the game.”
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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