Rocket Lineup

Lukas Vejdemo – Jake Evans – Charles Hudon

Matthew Peca – Phil Varone – Riley Barber

Alexandre Alain – Laurent Dauphin – Nikita Jevpalovs

Michael Pezzetta – Kevin Lynch

Gustav Olofsson – Xavier Ouellet

Otto Leskinen – Evan McEneny

Karl Alzner – Christian Folin

Josh Brook

Cayden Primeau – Keith Kinkaid

Maxim Lamarche, Will Pelletier, Ralph Cuddemi, Yannick Veilleux, Antoine Waked

Noah Juulsen (upper body), Alex Belzile (pectoral surgery), Andrew Sturtz, Hayden Verbeek, Joe Cox

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

After suffering two losses to end their three-in-three weekend last week, the Rocket had the better portion of a week to rest, practice, and get some reinforcements as Matthew Peca was returned to Laval from the Montreal Canadiens. The team boarded a plane toward the end of the week and headed to Manitoba to take on the Moose in back-to-back matinee showdowns.

The opening period was relatively quiet, but the visiting Rocket controlled the puck for the better portion of the frame, keeping the Moose hemmed into their own zone and vastly outshooting the home team. Eric Comrie was in net for Manitoba and stood his ground to keep Laval from scoring. At the other end of the ice, Cayden Primeau didn’t have much work to do with the Moose only registering seven shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes of play.

But less than two minutes into the second period, Charles Hudon finished a sweet pass through the slot by Lukas Vejdemo to put the Rocket on the board 1-0. After that, however, the teams continued to play a very defensive game and no further scoring took place in the period. Penalties did start to pile up a bit, but the netminders and defense kept the special teams from finding the back of the net.

It was in the third period that Comrie couldn’t hold on any longer and the Rocket took full advantage. Christian Folin wired a big shot in on goal from the point, which rebounded to the right of the crease. Riley Barber picked up the loose puck and lifted it over a sprawling Comrie to double the Rocket tally.

Then Alexandre Alain dropped the puck to Nikita Jevpalovs on a rush, and Jevpalovs fired a quick wrister into the Manitoba net. The Moose managed to only muster 17 shots on goal in the entire game, which certainly wasn’t nearly enough to break through a tight Laval defense. Primeau earned his third shutout of the season as a result.

These two teams will meet again in Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon for another matinee game, where the Rocket will look to sweep the weekend.

Plus / Minus

▲  Lukas Vejdemo, Christian Folin, Charles Hudon

▼  Josh Brook, Michael Pezzetta