QUEBEC CITY P.Q. – The Windsor Spitfires came to Rimouski with the reputation of being the best team in the Memorial Cup tournament. Rimouski put pressure on Bob Boughner’s Spitfires and defeated them 5-4 in what was certainly the most exciting game of the tournament so far. The Spitfires are now 0-2 in the tournament and contributed to digging their own hole despite knowing that no team has ever come back from 0-2 to win the tournament. Rimouski looked better using their speed contrary to being passive in their first contest against the Kelowna Rockets. The Oceanic kept control of the puck mostly during the opening period and tested Windsor goaltender Andrew Engelage by shooting from almost all angles. Patrice Cormier, Jordan Caron, Philippe Cormier had some great scoring opportunities, but Engelage answered the bell by making the saves he had to make in the first six minutes of the game. Taylor Hall, Andrei Loktionov, and Adam Henrique were the Spitfires best players. They all had some great scoring opportunities. Rimouski goaltender Maxim Gougeon, as he did in the opening game, has been solid in net. The Spitfires wasted scoring opportunities in the first period, including a two-on-one breakaway when Henrique missed a shot two feet in front of the net. Looking at the Oceanic’s play in the first period, you could clearly see the European influence when players traded passes along the ice and looked for the player in the best position player to take the shot. They are continuously in motion and circulated the puck very well. They put pressure on the Spitfires defense with speed and execution. After a scoreless first period, Rimouski came back in the second period and played without a doubt their best period of the tournament by scoring four goals, three consecutively, to momentarily taking a two goal lead before seeing the Spitfires come back with the last goal of the period. Patrice Cormier (a New Jersey Devils prospect) scored Rimouski first goal with the man advantage at 3:18. Windsor replied with a power play goal of their own when Ryan Ellis, who is draft eligible this year, saw his screen shot from the blueline find it’s way to the net, beating Gougeon over his left shoulder at 6:19. The Spitfires came back 2:31 later with a shorthanded goal by Dale Mitchell following a three-on-two breakaway. Mitchell stayed behind and acted like the trailer on the play and completed a great effort from Scott Timmins and Mark Cundari at 8:50 to give Windsor a 2-1 lead. The Oceanic came back with three unanswered goals to lead by two goals over their opponent. Jordan Caron tied the game at 2-2 when he grabbed the puck from Marc-Andre Bourdon and went into the offensive zone, taking a shot that found it’s way through the legs and stick to beat Engelage at 10:45. Everyone knows just how important a face-off win in the offensive zone can be beneficial to his team. That’s exactly what Patrick Delisle-Houde did when he saw teammate Olivier Fortier win the face-off and Mathieu Asselin made a great pass to Delisle-Houde who beat Engelage blocker side at 14:50. Rimouski came back less than two minutes later with their fourth goal of the game when Eric Veilleux found Luca Cunti alone on Engelage’s left side, beating him at 16:32. But before the horn sounded at the end of the second period, Andrei Loktionov cut Rimouski’s lead in half beating Gougeon high glove side with 2:18 remaining in the period. The Oceanic regained their two goal lead when McMillan scored Rimouski’s fifth goal when his team was shorthanded 34 seconds into the third period. Windsor came back with Loktionov’s second goal of the game at 9:34 to reducing the lead to one. Shots on goal: Rimouski 25, Windsor 39 Power play: Rimouski 1-4, Windsor 1-5 Three stars of the game: 1-Patrice Cormier (Rim.) 2-Marc-Andre Bourdon (Rim.) 3-Greg Nemisz (WND.) Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.