The Olympiques are ahead 2-0
GATINEAU – The second game in less than 24 hours between the Saint John Sea Dogs and the Gatineau Olympiques took place yesterday afternoon. The first game was won by the Gatineau Sea Dogs by a score of 7-1 thanks to a hat trick from St. Louis Blues prospect Zach Dean.
An offensive festival
As in the first game of the series, Antonin Verreault opened the game and this time, he wasted no time in doing so! With only 39 seconds left in the game, Olivier Nadeau sent a pass from behind the net to Antonin Verreault left alone in the slot and slid the puck into the net. The Olympiques had every intention of starting the game strong, and just 9 seconds later, Alexis Gendron scored his second of the series when he took advantage of a long pass from Vincent Maisonneuve before firing a shot that beat the Shingarov goalie.
Also in the first period, Charles-Antoine Pilote sent the ball to Gendron who fired a shot that found the back of the net! Gendron’s second of the game tripled the lead for the crowd favourites with 7:53 to go in the first period.
After a hat trick from Zach Dean yesterday, it’s Alexis Gendron’s turn to make it rain! Sam Savoie sent a cross-crease pass to Gendron who came up with speed to face the goalie and finally completed the hat trick with a shot that beat the Sea Dogs goalie between the pads.
At 6:13 of the second period, Charles-Antoine Pilote sent a long pass to Olivier Boutin who took advantage of a bad turnover by the Sea Dogs to pass to Cole Cormier who found himself alone in front of the goalie. Cormier sent a cannonball from the left circle and scored his first of the series to make it 5-0 Gatineau.
The offensive fest was far from over when Riley Kidney forced a turnover and passed to Zach Dean who put the puck in the net at 4 on 4.
Louis Robitaille’s team would score three goals (MacDonald, Kidney and Nadeau) in the third period for a final score of 9-0, giving Gatineau a 2 game lead in the round of 16.
Francesco Lapenna earned the shutout by stopping all 25 shots he faced, good for 3rd star. Riley Kidney finished the game with an impressive record of one goal and five assists earning him second star honors and finally, Alexis Gendron got the first star of the game with a hat trick!
Fans on fire!
A packed house of 5,000 fans at the Slush Puppie Centre was once again on fire with energy that caught the attention of head coach Louis Robitaille:
“Once again they were incredible, they are starting to like it in the national anthem, I think it’s Gatineau, we need them because they are good for us” – Louis Robitaille, Head Coach of the Gatineau Olympiques
Direction Saint John
The Gatineau team will fly to the Maritimes to play games 3 and 4 of the series (and 5, if necessary). Game #3 will be played next Tuesday at 6pm and will be followed by game #4 the next day, April 5th at 6pm.
