Carozza the hero in Quebec OT win
The Quebec Remparts are one win from their first President Cup since their return to the QMJHL ranks in 1997, and first for Quebec City since 1976, thanks to a dramatic 3-2 overtime victory on Friday night in Rimouski.
The overtime period had barely started when Remparts’ forward Massimo Carozza sped down the wing, and sent a perfect shot over the shoulder of Rimouski goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon, the winning goal coming at the 10 second mark of overtime.
The Remparts’ dramatic win also gave the road team a remarkable fifth straight win in the series.
As has been the case in the past three games, Quebec opened the scoring in game five. On the power play early in the opening period, Adam Erne used a one-timer off of a Guillaume Gauthier pass to beat Guindon.
Rimouski evened the score on its own power play in the second frame on a similar play to the Quebec goal. Alexis Loiseau found a wide open Christopher Clapperton, who used a one-timer to get the puck past Remparts’ goaltender Zachary Fucale.
With the teams playing four-on-four after roughing penalties later in the second period, the Océanic took a 2-1 lead. Clapperton found Jan Kostalek coming in from the point, who scored his sixth of the playoffs, giving hope to the 4,732 fans jammed into the Colisée Financière Sun Life.
Quebec were not done, and evened the score at 13:01 of the third period, as Erne added his second goal of the game and 19th in the playoffs, jamming a loose puck past Guindon. The final seven minutes of that period were goalless, but the overtime was over and done very quickly thanks to Carozza’s winning goal.
Remparts’ goaltender Fucale faced a total of 36 shots, allowing two goals. Meanwhile, Guindon was targeted 26 times, allowing the three goals.
Quebec will try to end the QMJHL championship series on Sunday afternoon at home, where they also be looking for a first win in the final. The game is set for 3 pm EDT at the Colisée Pepsi. The Remparts last reached the QMJHL final in 2006, losing that series to the Moncton Wildcats. Quebec did get its’ revenge, capturing the MasterCard Memorial Cup as host team only a few days later.
The MasterCard Memorial Cup will be back at Quebec City’s Colisée Pepsi from May 22-31. In addition to Rimouski and Quebec, who are already ensured of being there, the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets and the OHL’s Oshawa Generals have now also booked their spot by winning their league titles.
