Strong start to season continues in home opener
SHAWINIGAN – It the was the Cataractes home opener Friday night as they hosted the Quebec Remparts. 3,345 fans packed into the Centre Gervais Auto to catch the Cataractes 6-1 thumping of the Remparts.
The scorin began with just under six minutes left in the first period as James Phelan scored his second of the season off a pass from Samuel Girard.
30 seconds later, Mathieu Olivier potted his first of the year to extend the Cataractes lead to 2-0. Brandon Gignac scored his second goal this season in the final minute of the period to give the home side a 3-0 advantage going into the second. Samuel Girard got his second helper of the night on the powerplay marker.
In the second period, Samuel Asselin scored a powerplay goal at 8:29 to keep the scoring wave rolling. Giovanni Fiore and 2015 first round pick Jocktan Chainey had the assists.
Lucas Thierus got the Remparts on the the board seven minutes later with his first of the season. Jesse Sutton got the lone helper as the lead was cut to three.
Before the end of the first 40 minutes, Brandon Gignac netted his second marker of the evening to restore a four goal lead. Fiore got the only assist as the Cataractes carried a 5-1 lead into the locker room.
It was Fiore who scored just under two minutes into the final frame to account for the 6-1 final score. Gignac and Gabriel Slight assisted on Fiore’s first goal of the season.
Antoine Samuel stopped 20 shots en route to the victory, while Julian Galloway and Sandro Silvestre split duties for Quebec turning aside a combined 33 shots.
Next game for the Cataractes is Saturday afternoon as the host the Victoriaville Tigres at Centre Gervais Auto. Puck drops at 4pm.
