It is often said that in great moments, great players rise. Not only did the big guns of the Laval Rocket do the job in the home stretch of the season, but those who play second fiddle too.
A player who understood the importance of the match and who was decisive was Pierrick Dubé. His double allowed the Laval club to take the measure of the Syracuse Crunch 4-3, Friday night in season curtains and thus qualify the Rocket for the playoffs.
Like his team, which has won its eighth win in its last nine outings, Dubé was all fire and flame during the final sprint of the Canadian school club. The Lyon native has scored 14 goals and 11 assists in his last 26 games and lived up to his reputation as a big-time player.
Dubé was decisive throughout the conquest of the President Cup in 2022 for the Shawinigan Cataractes. He notably scored the winning goal in overtime and then landed a professional trial contract with the Trois-Rivières Lions. Here he is ready to fill a key role for the playoffs.
The Rocket will also be able to thank the Utica Comets since they defeated the Cleveland Monsters, the Laval club’s closest pursuer. If the Comets won the last three games, they qualified for the playoffs. So the Comets gave the Rocket the boost they needed.
Downstream of Laval
For the occasion, the Rocket broke its mark of the largest crowd with 10,222 fans for the game. To meet the demand of supporters he had to add folding chairs, but still.
And this crowd, excited, tense and always ready to cheer or boo the decisions of the officials, was there. From the start of the game, fans shouted the name of their favorite team at the appropriate time in The Star Spangled Banner. It set the tone.
During each score update between the Monsters and the Comets, fans warmly cheered the news. In fact, they didn’t even need the confirmation on the big screen to shout again, and the rounds of applause quickly drowned out the noise of the action.
If playoff fever swept through Laval last spring, the Rocket will have another chance to provide some relief for Habs fans. Jean-François’ troops finished fifth in the North section and will face one of the following three teams: the Comets, the Rochester Americans or the Crunch, in a best-of-three series that will begin Wednesday.