After 40 minutes of play Saturday afternoon, few of the 9,342 spectators gathered at the Videotron Center would have given the Quebec Remparts the winner of their duel against the Charlottetown Islanders. The Red Devils trailed 5 to 2. They finally won 6 to 5.
In the third period, the visitors simply “ran out of gas,” analyzed their coach Jim Hulton, which allowed the Remparts to score four unanswered goals during the last 10 minutes of play.
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The Islanders were playing their third game in as many days while the locals had not played since last Sunday. “It’s disappointing, I think we were in a good position until there was 10 minutes left in the game. We are a young team that is still learning how to win and tonight is a perfect example,” added Hulton, who did not fail to emphasize that his team was facing a rested opponent.
Hat trick for Marquis-Laflamme
In the victory, Lévisien Zachary Marquis-Laflamme particularly stood out by scoring his first career hat trick in junior hockey. He was notably the author of the equalizing goal with only 1 min 20 s remaining in the last period.
After the meeting, however, he insisted that it was a “collective” gain.
“There were some slight relaxations, but between the 2nd and 3rd periods, everyone believed in it,” he said.
His teammate Mikaël Huchette, who scored the winning goal with 50.8 seconds remaining, agreed. “Leaving the Maritimes and coming to play a 3 in 3, it’s difficult, we’ve been through it. We knew that we shouldn’t stop working because good things can happen when we don’t stop working. Tonight, it was worthy of a film!”, he suggested.
Miller chased again
In the second period, goalie Quentin Miller saw his afternoon of work cut short for a second consecutive game after stopping 16 of the 20 pucks directed his way. He was sent to the showers after the visitors’ fourth goal scored by Giovanni Morneau.
Coach Éric Veilleux, however, indicated that he had given him time off in order to “change the momentum.” “It’s never fun to see one of your friends get beaten up. I did it for the team,” he explained, refusing to confirm if he would give him the start against the Voltigeurs on Sunday in Drummondville.
Smile for the photo
After greeting the crowd as is their custom, the Remparts players gathered at center ice to take a team photo before returning to the locker room. Players who were not on the roster also joined them.
Even if Vsevolod Kamarov and Mikaël Huchette should move to the Voltigeurs in the short term, the photo was nothing to look forward to according to Zachary Marquis-Laflamme and Huchette himself. Both players simply mentioned that it was intended to “immortalize a beautiful moment.”