(Halifax) Pier-Olivier Roy broke the deadlock late in the third period and the Quebec Remparts beat the Halifax Mooseheads 5-4 on Sunday to win the Gilles-Courteau Trophy.
When overtime seemed necessary, Roy accepted a pass from Kassim Gaudet on a two-for-no climb and gave his troops the lead with just 58.5 seconds remaining.
This goal by Roy allowed the Remparts to defeat the Mooseheads in six games and be crowned QMJHL champions for the first time since 1976.
“I can’t describe how I feel. I saw that a player tried a cross pass so I took a risk. Kassim gave me the pass and I just redirected the puck into the net,” Roy explained during his television interview on the ice.
Gaudet, Zachary Bolduc, James Malatesta and Evan Nause also moved the ropes for the Remparts, who will represent the QMJHL at the Memorial Cup tournament in Kamloops, British Columbia.
“It is a league in which it is difficult to win. I’ve been lucky enough to coach a lot of good players and a lot of good teams in my career, but this group we had today, which had quite a season, showed extraordinary resilience. A championship is not given, it has to be won and you had to go get it on the road, ”said Remparts head coach Patrick Roy.
William Rousseau allowed four goals on 25 shots for the winners.
Malatesta was named the playoffs most valuable player, winning the Guy Lafleur trophy. He had 14 goals and 20 points in 18 playoff games.
Jack Martin, Alexandre Doucet, Josh Lawrence and Zachary L’Heureux replied for the Mooseheads, who were chasing a first QMJHL title since 2013.
Mathis Rousseau blocked 31 pucks in a losing cause.
Both teams had a few scoring chances in the first period, but the Mooseheads finally opened the scoring in the third minute of the second period.
During a battle along the boards in the territory of the Remparts, Markus Vidicek grabbed the puck. He waited for defender Jérémy Langlois to compromise and made a pass to Martin, who hit the target on reception.
A little over three minutes later, Remparts forward Justin Robidas lost the puck to the opposing blue line and the Mooseheads resumed the attack quickly. Jordan Dumais joined Doucet, who broke away from Nause before surprising William Rousseau on the short end.
Nause looked a little better a few minutes later, allowing the Quebec team to close the gap. His shot from the point snuck through traffic before surprising Mathis Rousseau.
Dumais did it again before the end of the period. The Columbus Blue Jackets prospect accepted Doucet’s hand-in and delivered a superb pass to Lawrence, who found the back of the net on his second down.
The Remparts, however, took advantage of a numerical advantage to return to the locker room with a one-goal delay. In the corner of the rink, Bolduc sent the puck into the slot and Malatesta lodged it in the top corner with a violent wrist shot.
Bolduc also stood out in the third period, when he deftly outflanked Jake Furlong, before slipping the disc between Mathis Rousseau’s pads at 5:18.
L’Heureux thought he had scored the game-winning goal when he circled the net to give the Mooseheads the lead with 3:13 to go, but Gaudet tied the game 65 seconds later.
Pier-Olivier Roy then played the heroes.
“The Mooseheads played a very good game and we have to respect them. But that’s it, the Remparts. We score goals at the right time and now we’re going to lift the trophy,” said forward Nathan Gaucher on the ice.