MONTREAL, QC.–While the Shawinigan Cataractes procured themselves a 4-2 win over the Quebec Remparts to force a Game 7 this Tuesday night, the Montreal Juniors’ bid to extend their season did not turn out so favourably after a 6-3 loss in Lewiston. The second-seeded favourite is thus eliminated from President’s Cup contention after six games while the MAINEiacs will face the 2010-11 league champions, the Saint John Sea Dogs, in the semifinals.
Lewiston opened the scoring thanks to Jess Tanguy’s second goal of the post-season, but Louis Leblanc evened the mark briefly before Pierre-Olivier Morin restored the MAINEiacs’ lead. Juniors’ captain Nicolas Chouinard knotted things at 2 midway through the second period, but with a late period tally by Stefan Fournier and Morin’s second of the game at 7:42 of the third, suddenly Lewiston had padded themselves with a two-goal lead that the Juniors were hard-pressed to respond to. Leblanc was off serving a penalty that ultimately cost his team, as Fournier brought the score to 5-2. There was some hope when Chouinard scored again shorthanded, but Michael Chaput found the net as it was left empty by Jean-François Bérubé with just 15 seconds remaining in the game.
Philippe Lefebvre, along with Juniors’ leading scorer Trevor Parkes, each came away with a -3 rating. Meanwhile, Canadiens’ development and rookie camp invitee Nicolas Champion, tending goal for the MAINEiacs, made 36 saves on the night.
Over in Shawinigan, Michaël Bournival‘s fifth of the postseason proved to be the game-winner as the Cataractes scored four consecutive goals, beginning with Benjamin Casavant’s ice-breaker at 17:23 of the first period, to be met only by Matthew Brown and Joël Champagne in the end, as Cataractes’ netminder Gabriel Girard stopped the 31 other shots he faced. Bournival added an assist on Yannick Veilleux’s second period goal, finished +2 and won 14/28 faceoffs, leading him to capture first star honours of the game.
The Shawinigan Cataractes/Quebec Remparts series is the only remaining one in Round 2, and resumes at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City on Tuesday night, beginning at 7:00 p.m. EST. The winner will face the Gatineau Olympiques in the league semifinals.
