Phoenix earn two points over their weekend
Sherbrooke gets one win in three straight games
The Sherbrooke Phoenix had a set of three games in three days against tough opponents this past weekend, earning themselves two points in the standings.
Sherbrooke took on the Victoriaville Tigres on the road Thursday night coming away with a 7-4 win. The next day the Birds hosted the Rimouski Océanic in a hard fought 5-2 loss. Finishing off the weekend the Birds hosted the Maritimes division’s Halifax Mooseheads with a 3-1 loss.
Storming ahead to a 5-1 lead against the Tigres. Sherbrooke got goals from Hugo Roy, two from Marek Zachar, Yaroslav Alexeyev and Nicolas Poulin by halfway through the second period.
The Tigres tried to make a late push scoring three goals in the last half of the game but Sherbrooke responded with two more goals from Mathieu Olivier on the power play and Alexandre Joncas to keep the game out of reach for the Black and Gold.
Evan Fitzpatrick made 28-of-32 stops against Victoriaville in the win and both teams were 1-of-4 on the power play.
The next day against the Océanic, Sherbrooke came up short. After getting ahead with a 2-1 lead, Rimouski scored four straight goals to take the win at the Palais Des Sports.
Sherbrooke’s goals came from Thomas Grégoire on a power play with a hard point-shot after picking off a Rimouski clearing attempt. The Birds’ second goal also came from the special teams’ unit when Hugo Roy broke up the ice for a shorthanded breakaway goal on Jimmy Lemay.
Thomas Sigouin was in net for the Birds for his first career QMJHL start, giving up five goals on 24 shots in the loss.
In their final game of the weekend, Sherbrooke hosted the Maritimes division’s second ranked team. Both teams came out fast and heavy trading chances. The first two goals of the game went to Halifax with scores from Filip Zadina and Maxime Fortier, shorthanded. In the third period, Sherbrooke got on the board cutting the Mooseheads lead in half with a dazzling goal from Benjamin Tardif.
Tardif breaking up the ice one-on-one with Halifax defenceman Cooper Jones, Tardif beat his man with speed and a smooth toe-drag from his forehand to his backhand. Once Tardif got himself around Jones, the second-year forward quickly released a backhand-shot top corner on Mooseheads netminder Alexis Gravel, making it 2-1.
Pushing for a tie and with their net empty Sherbrooke’s chance to force overtime was taken away when Fortier scored on the empty cage to make the game 3-1.
Fitzpatrick stopped 16-of-18 shots in the loss while his opponent, Gravel, stopped 27-of-28.
Sherbrooke next will take on their rival Drummondville at home Thursday night before hitting the road to take on the Océanic and the Quebec Remparts Saturday and Sunday.
This past Friday Evan Fitzpatrick was named to team QMJHL for the annual CIBC Canada-russia series to play against the Russian Selects. This will be the Phoenix netminder’s second straight year on the All-star team. Last season the St. Louis Blues’ prospect stopped 19-of-20 shots in a 4-1 victory for the QMJHL Allstars.