2005 National U18 Club Championship

QUEBEC 4 PACIFIC 2

Round Robin
April 21, 2005
Guertin Arena
Gatineau, QC

By/Par: Graeme Kishiuchi

In the second game of Day 4, the Levis Commandeurs looked to secure a spot in the semi-finals against the Edmonton Athletics, who were looking to get back in the tournament with their first win.  The athletics had some good chances early, until Levis’ David Chabot-Maltais beat 15-year old Brennan Haycock high glove on Levis’ first shot of the game to give them a 1-0 lead at 1:51.  Haycock responded to make a series of difficult saves and gave his team a spark.  They had a chance on a 3-on-2 break, but couldn’t lift it over a sprawled out Bobby Nadeau.  The Commandeurs made it 2-0 when François Gauthier blasted a slap shot over Haycock’s shoulder at 9:24.  Haycock was then pulled in favour of Keanan Boomer.  The Athletics picked up the pace and pressured the favoured Commandeurs, but couldn’t coral bouncing pucks in front of the Levis net.  The period ended with Levis out shooting Edmonton 11-7 and leading 2-0.

Edmonton started with early pressure and evened the shot total within the first five minutes.  From there, each team had great chances but both goalies made the saves look routine.  The athletics were rewarded for their hard work when Matt Wear scored of a pass from Bradley Tierney during 4-on-4 play, to make it 2-1 at 9:56.  More great pressure from the Athletics, as Scott Mcneill had two wacks at a rebound to tie the game but couldn’t get it past Nadeau.  Levis broke Edmonton’s bubble with 55 seconds left to play when Mickael Bedard picked a puck of the end boards during a scramble and tucked it past a helpless Boomer for a 3-1 Commandeurs lead heading into the third. 

After a few good, early chances, Edmonton found itself two men short for almost two minutes.  They dug themselves out of hole with some tenacious penalty killing, but couldn’t catch a break with some borderline calls immediately after, and ended up short handed again.  Edmonton out-chanced the Commandeurs on their own power play, but again found themselves two men short on a phantom call.  The Athletics killed the penalties and continued to pressure even strength until Taylor Fedun crossed the blue line and blasted a shot over Nadeau’s blocker to make the score 3-2 and 7:53.  With momentum on their side, Edmonton continued to pressure, getting some quality chances in the last 7 minutes, with Levis looking tired from the previous night’s battle with arch-rival Gatineau.  Jean-Phillipe Roy-Vallieres iced the game with an empty net goal in the final ten seconds, and sent Levis into the semi-finals.  Levis won, in a game where they were outplayed, by a score of 4-2.  Player of the Game for Levis was Mickael Bedard (1 Goal, 1 Assist).  Player of the Game for Edmonton was Keanan Boomer (16 saves).