(Saginaw) With two defeats in as many games at the Memorial Cup, the Drummondville Voltigeurs and the Moose Jaw Warriors inevitably had to win to stay alive on Tuesday as they faced off in Saginaw.
The Voltigeurs erased a three-goal deficit and dominated 52-28 in shots on goal, but were eliminated with a 5-3 defeat.
They thus became the first champion team of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) to lose all of its games at the Memorial Cup since the Moncton Wildcats in 2010.
“I’m quite proud of my group who played inspired hockey, which made me a very, very proud coach this year,” said the head coach of the Voltigeurs, Sylvain Favreau, at the outset. the press conference after the match.
“We weren’t able to play a full 60 minutes. In an environment like that with three big hockey teams, you have to play complete games. But most of all I will remember the way my team fought and behaved. »
Aiden Ziprick scored late in the third period for the Warriors. Vojtech Port, Jagger Firkus and Denton Mateychuk had previously given them a three-goal lead. Brayden Yager completed the scoring in an empty cage and Jackson Unger stopped 49 pucks.
Justin Côté, Peter Repcik and Alexis Gendron responded for the Voltigeurs, who tied the game in the third period. Riley Mercer made 23 saves.
“We didn’t start the match well,” analyzed Favreau. I found my team in the second and third periods. This is what we are used to seeing from the Voltigeurs.
“Sometimes it takes breaks to win matches. We could have had one or two more, but that didn’t happen. »
The Warriors will face in Thursday’s tiebreaker game the team that loses Wednesday’s matchup between the London Knights and the Saginaw Spirit.
Goals in sequences
After losing four times against the Knights and the Spirit, Mercer wanted to do better to keep his team in the race. He quickly sent a message to his teammates by blocking all six shots aimed at him during the first eight minutes of play.
The Warriors still opened the scoring at 13:04 when Port put the finishing touches on a passing play on a three-on-two run. Atley Calvert and Lynden Lakovic had assists.
Firkus, on a power play at 5:10, and Mateychuk, with his third of the tournament at 12:43, increased the Western Junior Hockey League club’s lead to 3-0 in the second period .
“There was, whether we like it or not, a little nervousness at the start of the match,” admitted Favreau. But the Voltigeurs had not said their last word.
Côté and Repcik closed the gap with two goals in 57 seconds before the end of the period to keep the team’s hopes alive. They both scored their second goal in the end-of-season Canadian junior hockey tournament.
The Voltigeurs started the third as they finished the second and Gendron tied the game at 3:13.
After a missed opportunity on the power play in the last five minutes of the game, the Voltigeurs saw Ziprick cut with a shot from the center of the offensive zone at 18:26.
Yager put on the finishing touches while Mercer was on the bench with 10 seconds left on the clock.