The Drummondville Voltigeurs beat the Baie-Comeau Drakkar 4-3 on Tuesday and won the Gilles-Courteau Trophy in the final of the playoffs of the Maritimes Quebec Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).
The Voltigeurs swept the series in four games, winning top honors in front of their fans at the Center Marcel-Dionne.
The Guy Lafleur Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player in the playoffs, was awarded to Vsevolod Komarov. The defenseman scored 15 points, including five goals, in 19 playoff games.
In four games, the Drakkar, the best team on the circuit in the regular season, will have scored only five goals against Voltigeurs goalkeeper Riley Mercer.
It was a second QMJHL championship for the Voltigeurs, who also won top honors in 2009.
Sam Oliver scored two of the Voltigeurs’ goals in the victory. Ethan Gauthier and Matteo Rotondi also found the back of the net.
Luke Woodworth and Justin Côté each collected two assists, while Mercer made 23 saves.
Niks Fenenko, Justin Gill and Matyas Melovsky made the red light shine for the Drakkar and Charles-Édward Gravel blocked 26 shots.
Mercer had to make his presence known in the second minute of play, making two quick saves against the Drakkar attackers who were circulating near his semi-circle.
Angus Booth gave the Voltigeurs the first numerical advantage of the game and the Drummondville squad wasted no time before making the latter pay.
Gauthier completed a nice passing play at the point, firing a powerful shot from a good distance to beat Gravel on the glove side, at 5:28 of play. It was already the 14e net of the Gauthier series.
After a few offensive breakthroughs, the Voltigeurs found the back of the net again at 9:30 of the second period.
Mikael Huchette missed a great opportunity, alone in the slot, when his shot missed the target. Oliver, however, made up for his teammate’s missed chance when he scored in the following seconds. The attacker accepted a cross pass and threaded the needle with his eighth goal of the playoffs.
Fenenko reduced the gap at the end of the period with a precise shot from the glove side. The defender took advantage of the space left in the slot to thwart Mercer.
The Voltigeurs regained the lead by two goals in the second minute of play in the third period. After a superb save from Gravel, which caused him to lose his stick, the puck ended up near the blue line and defenseman Rotondi shot into the top of the net to make it 3-1.
Oliver hurt the Drakkar by adding a fourth goal for his team, at 8:20 of play. His shot beat Gravel between the pads.
Gill deflected Booth’s point shot with less than two minutes remaining, while Gravel was on his team’s bench in favor of an extra player, to make it 4-2.
Melovsky then fired from the top of the faceoff circles and cut the lead to 4-3 with 22 seconds remaining in regulation, but it was too little too late for the Drakkar.