Rocket Lineup

Yannick Veilleux – Jake Evans – Charles Hudon

Lukas Vejdemo – Phil Varone – Riley Barber

Alexandre Alain – Laurent Dauphin – Antoine Waked

Michael Pezzetta – Kevin Lynch – Nikita Jevpalovs

Gustav Olofsson – Xavier Ouellet

Otto Leskinen – Christian Folin

Karl Alzner – Josh Brook

Cayden Primeau – Keith Kinkaid

Maxim Lamarche, Evan McEneny, Will Pelletier, Ralph Cuddemi

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

Game Report

Game Report written by Amy Johnson

On Saturday night, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms snapped the Laval Rocket’s five-game winning streak by keeping them completely off the scoreboard for just the second time this season in a 2-0 loss.

The Rocket moved on to Bridgeport, CT on Sunday for a matinee matchup against the Sound Tigers, the final game in one of two three-in-three weekends for Laval. The Sound Tigers entered this game in 30th place in the American League, on a seven game losing streak.

But it was Bridgeport who made an immediate impact in this game. Ryan Bourque got the scoring started early with a shorthanded goal about two minutes into the game. Then, with Antoine Waked in the penalty box, Otto Koivula shot the puck from below the goal line, banked it off of a Laval player and into the net past Cayden Primeau.

Koivula then scored an even-strength goal on a partial breakaway where he lost control of the puck but it still managed to slide through Primeau five-hole. That goal would chase the rookie netminder from the crease and Keith Kinkaid came into the game in relief.

Before the end of the opening period, Alexandre Alain managed to get the Rocket on the board when he made a quick shot from the low slot that beat Jared Coreau. Riley Barber added to that early in the second period when he scooped up a rebound in the crease and lifted the puck up and over a sprawling Coreau.

But Koivula completed a hat trick soon after that when Kiefer Bellows passed the puck back to him from behind the net and he found mesh on his quick release. Bellows then buried a snap shot off a faceoff to give the Sound Tigers a 5-2 lead.

Laurent Dauphin scored his first goal in a Laval uniform, his eighth for the season, with a well-placed shot from the point to bring the Rocket back within two goals. It was an afternoon of firsts, as Phil Varone also found the back of the net for the first time this season on a wrister from the point. Varone looked visibly relieved to finally get that first goal off his back.

As much as the Rocket pushed to tie things up and force overtime, Nick Schilkey fired a shot that went practically the entire length of the ice after Kinkaid had been pulled for the extra attacker. The empty-netter gave Bridgeport a final score of 6-4 to defeat Laval.

It wasn’t a pretty weekend for the Rocket, as they head home only earning two of six possible points on the road. They’ll have a few days of rest and practice before they head back out on the road again, this time with a trip to Manitoba for two games against the Moose.

Plus / Minus

▲  Phil Varone, Evan McEneny

▼  Cayden Primeau, Michael Pezzetta, Kevin Lynch