Sherbrooke wins big over Drummondville in preseason action
Mackinnon records hat trick and an assist in 6-2 win
Sherbrooke Phoenix sophomore Evan Mackinnon was the story of preseason action against the Drummondville Voltigeurs Saturday, scoring three goals and recording an assist in the 6-2 preseason win.
Kevin Gilbert kicked off the scoring with the first of four powerplay goals for the Birds in the game with a tally at 5:38 of the first period assisted by Samuel Poulin and Thomas Grégoire. Mackinnon closed out the first period’s scoring with a goal assisted by Grégoire and Nicolas Roy at 9:30.
Sherbrooke scored three more goals to go up 5-0 before Drummondville had a goal of their own in the second period.
Félix Robert scored a powerplay goal assisted by Poulin and Brock Mcleod at 4:25 followed up by a Benjamin Tardif goal at 6:14 and Mackinnon’s second goal at 10:51, coming on the powerplay. Gregory Kreutzer scored for the Vols at 11:21 to cut the Birds’ lead to 5-1, closing out the scoring for the second period.
In the third period Mackinnon got his third goal on the powerplay, completing the hat trick, assisted by Robert and Olivier Crête-belzile at 7:40. Brandon Skubel closed out the game’s scoring with a goal at 13:44 for Drummondville making it 6-2.
Evan Fitzpatrick stopped 38-of-40 shots in the game for the Birds in a full 60 minutes of playing time. Drummondville split their goalies’ playing time with William Lavallière stopping just 15 of 20 and Jonathan Cournoyer stopping 11 of 12.
Sherbrooke’s special teams were near perfect scoring on four of five power plays and killing all five penalties. Grégoire (3A) and Tardif (1G, 2A) were also very strong performers for the team recording three points each in the win.
The Birds’ next preseason games will be a home-and-home series against the Victoriaville Tigres on September 8 and 10, with Sherbrooke hosting the latter of the two, before closing out the preseason September 15 at Drummondville.