Rocket Lineup

Lukas Vejdemo – Jake Evans – Charles Hudon

Yannick Veilleux – Phil Varone – Riley Barber

Alexandre Alain – Laurent Dauphin – Joe Cox

Nikita Jevpalovs – Kevin Lynch – Ralph Cuddemi

Gustav Olofsson – Xavier Ouellet

Otto Leskinen – Evan McEneny

Karl Alzner – Christian Folin

Cayden Primeau – Keith Kinkaid

Antoine Waked, Maxim Lamarche, Michael McNiven, Josh Brook, Michael Pezzetta, Garrett Mitchell

Phil Varone (wrist), Noah Juulsen (upper body), Alex Belzile (pectoral surgery), Andrew Sturtz, Hayden Verbeek

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After winning on home ice last Saturday against the Syracuse Crunch, in a game which Joel Bouchard admitted his team probably didn’t deserve to win, the Rocket took to the road to begin a three-in-three weekend against those same Syracuse rivals.

Laurent Dauphin would make his season debut with the Rocket, as would Christian Folin who cleared waivers earlier this week. Phil Varone also returned to the lineup after an extended period of time out due to injury.

The first period seemed like a carbon copy of the weekend: the Rocket were pinned in their own zone, unable to create any sustained pressure in the Syracuse end, and the Crunch ended the period up 2-1. Riley Barber scored the temporary equalizer in between Cory Conacher and Taylor Raddysh‘s tallies.

Bouchard must have had some pretty pointed words for his team in the dressing room, however, because the Rocket came out of the gate on fire in the second period. Folin scored 37 seconds into the frame to even the score at 2-2. 

Less than two minutes later, Alexandre Alain potted his eighth goal of the year and chased Spencer Martin from his net. With Mike Condon taking over in the crease, it only took Kevin Lynch 16 seconds to find the back of the net and give Laval a 4-2 lead on seven shots.

Syracuse tried to climb back into the game with a goal by Ross Colton, but then, on a Laval power play, Charles Hudon set up shop in the right circle and blasted home his 11th power play goal of the season to restore the Rocket’s two-goal lead.

The third period was more evenly played as the teams started to run out of energy. But Syracuse found a second wind and Daniel Walcott scored to bring them within one yet again. 

Hudon took their hopes away with just about six minutes left in the game, and Karl Alzner scored his first goal of season when he potted an empty-netter. With 10 seconds remaining, Cameron Gaunce fought his way to the net to give his team one more goal, but their fate was already sealed.

The Rocket now head to Lehigh Valley where they will take on the Phantoms Saturday night, before heading to Bridgeport on Sunday for an afternoon matinee against the Sound Tigers.

Plus / Minus

▲  Charles Hudon, Jake Evans, Riley Barber

▼  Laurent Dauphin, Evan McEneny