A blowout win moves the Jr. Sens on to the RBC Cup
JR. SENS 10, COLLEGE FRANCAIS 1
Well no one saw that coming.
After a tight round-robin portion of the Fred Page Cup that included a 3-2 shootout win by the Ottawa Jr. Senators over College Francais de Longueuil Friday night, everyone and their dog were expecting another close game when those two teams met again Sunday in the championship game.
Everyone and their dog were wrong.
The Jr. Sens had scored just two five-on-five goals in their first three games, but Sunday they scored two in the first period and routed Longueuil 10-1. No need to rub your eyes in disbelief, that was the score.
“I thought we were the better team from start to finish,” Jr. Sens coach Martin Dagenais said.
“Seven of our top eight goalscorers during the regular season didn’t have a goal in this tournament before this game. Today the leaders really stepped up.”
Six players scored their first goal of the series for Ottawa on Sunday, including Gabriel Morin who had his first three, two of which gave the Jr. Sens a 2-0 lead after the first period.
Nick Lalonde scored his first to make it a 3-0 game before William Lemay got Longueuil on the board seven minutes into the second and just seconds after they were unsuccessful on an extended five-on-three power play.
They continued the pressure and started to take over the game after that goal, but three goals in just over three minutes toward the end of the period by Ottawa took away any doubt as to the outcome.
Owen Guy, Darcy Walsh and Pierre-Luc Veillette had those goals for a 6-1 Ottawa lead after two periods. Veillette, Morin, Isaac Anderson and Ethan Manderville closed out the scoring in the third period.
The Jr. Sens will now represent Eastern Canada at the RBC Cup starting next Saturday in Chilliwack, B.C., as they try to become Junior A national champions.
One thing that can’t be overlooked in the win was the fact that the Jr. Sens had the day off Saturday because of their win over Longueuil Friday night. Longueil had to play a semifinal game Saturday and ended up playing five games in five days.
The Jr. Sens trailed 2-0 in the third period Friday before winning 3-2 in a shootout during which Connor Hicks stopped the final eight Longueuil shooters. He allowed only six goals the entire tournament.
“Mentally, for our guys to have Hicks in the net is huge. We have two very good goalies, but to bring in a guy with three years’ OHL experience, it’s huge for our team,” Dagenais said.
Hicks only faced 89 shots in the four games with 31 of those coming Thursday night in a 3-2 win over the Carleton Place Canadians.
“Our team played great all week. We’ve been looking forward to this all year and once the time came, we were ready to go,” Hicks said.
“Having the break (Saturday) was huge and it showed why it’s so valuable. (Longueuil) is a great team and we didn’t expect this coming in, but we worked hard and were rewarded for it.”
Jr. Sens forward Finn Evans had four assists in the final Sunday and was named tournament MVP. He said the big goal differential, while unexpected, was certainly welcomed.
“Obviously a little less pressure, but no matter how we won, it’s just an unreal group of guys and we always believed in ourselves,” he said, deflecting credit for the MVP award toward his team
“It’s awesome, but it’s a team game and I wouldn’t be getting that award if we didn’t win the championship. It was a team game, every guy put in their all. We knew we would win if we played our game and I’m really proud of the guys in that room.”
Dagenais said he hadn’t put any thought into heading to Chilliwack because he didn’t want to get ahead of himself.
“I guess I’m going to get a call from Hockey Canada (Monday) and we’ll go from there, but we’re very happy to be going,” he said.
They will open the RBC Cup when they face the Central representative Wellington Dukes next Saturday.
I thought we were the better team from start to finish ... Today the leaders really stepped up.