Remparts sweep series
The Charlottetown Islanders 2014-15 season has come to an end.
With a 5-2 loss to the Quebec Remparts on Thursday night at the Eastlink Centre, the Remparts take a 4-0 series win in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs.
“It was a great season, it’s sad to see it’s over,” said Islanders captain Ryan MacKinnon. “I can’t be prouder to end my career as an Islander.”
It was the final QMJHL game for MacKinnon, as well as veteran forwards Ross Johnston and Spenser Cobbold.
“We came to battle every night,” said Cobbold. “We just fell short. They’re a real offensive team and we couldn’t quite keep up with that.
“I’m really proud of the team and we all battled hard.”
The Islanders were once again outshot by the Remparts, this time by a score of 41-29. Isles’ goaltender Daryl MacCallum faced a total of 157 shots over the four games.
“It was a good challenge in net. Overall I felt pretty comfortable with the shots,” he said.
“It’s tough. We can keep our heads held high because we won the first series, and that was a good job, but we fell short this series.”
A hat trick by Guillaume Gauthier led the way for the Remparts, who won by a score of 5-2 for the second straight game.
Just like in game three, a penalty by the Remparts in the opening minutes of play gave the Islanders an early power play opportunity. They took advantage once again, with Ross Johnston stuffing home a rebound in front of the net to get the Isles on the board at the 2:32 mark.
But the Isles had penalty troubles a few minutes later as Guillaume Rioux-Legault was given a double minor for headbutting five minutes into the game. Raphaël Maheux’s shot from the point found its way to the back of the net late in the power play, at 8:51.
Quebec took the lead 4:49 into the second with Guillaume Gauthier stuffing the puck through the five-hole of MacCallum.
A little over five minutes later, Gauthier found the back of the net again to make it 3-1, with the rebound coming to the open man who slid it past the pads of MacCallum.
The Remparts gave the Isles some life late in the period as Vladimir Tkachev and Jérome Verrier both took penalties at the same time, giving the Islanders a full 5-on-3. With time close to running out, Daniel Sprong wound up for a big slapshot that beat Zachary Fucale at the 18:49 mark. Filip Chlapik and Johnston picked up the assists on the goal.
With the building fired up for the third period, the Remparts soon silenced the crowd by getting their two-goal lead back 2:30 into the third. Gauthier’s hat trick goal came off a quick shot that snuck under the arm of MacCallum.
The Islanders had a big power play opportunity midway through the third period, but Quebec was able to kill it. The Isles power play went 2-for-4 on the night while its penalty kill went 2-for-3.
The Remparts sealed the Isles’ fate with an empty net goal by Matt Murphy in the final minute.
The Islanders played their final game in front of a home crowd of 2,916. The Islanders would like to thank all fans for their continued support this season.