Voltigeurs blow out Phoenix

After big 2-1 win over Rimouski, Drummondville slams Sherbrooke to the tune of 8-0

The Drummondville Voltigeurs have been one of the hottest team’s in the QMJHL recently (8-2 in their last 10 games played), and the Sherbrooke Phoenix found out the hard way. Visiting their Highway 55 rival, Sherbrooke was dismantled by the Joe Veleno led Vols 8-0. Since arriving in Drummondville, following a trade from Saint John, Veleno has registered 15 points (2G, 13A) in 10 games. Against the Phoenix, the dynamic playmaker had a first star performance scoring twice and adding two assists against the Birds.

Penalties were a big issue for the Phoenix against the Vols. Drummondville had nine different power play opportunities, scoring on three of them. Reilly Pickard started the game for Sherbrooke allowing five goals, stopping 14of-19 shots, in 35:07 of action before being pulled for Brendan Cregan. Cregan didn’t fare much better allowing three goals, making 13-of-16 stops, to close out the game.

The weekend wasn’t all bad for the Sherbrooke. The night before their unfortunate outing against the Vols Sherbrooke hosted the No. 3 Rimouski Oceanic, and had a solid performance winning 2-1 at the Palais des Sports.

Kevin Gilbert scored his eighth goal of the season to put the Birds up 1-0 in the first period. Streaking down the right wing, Samuel Poulin spotted Gilbert unguarded in the slot with backhand pass for the goal at 12:24. Rimouski’s Alexis Lafrenière later tied the game after sneaking a shot through traffic past Pickard at 14:01 of the second period. Tied after 40 minutes, Sherbrooke captain Hugo Roy was the hero of the night in the third period. After a desperate play by Roy to hold the puck in Rimouski’s end, Roy had a quick give-and-go with Yaroslav Alexeyev to get by his defenders. After creating some space, Roy broke towards the net and fired a hard shot from the right circle upstairs on Colten Ellis for the gamewinner at 8:45 of the third. The highlight reel goal was the eighth game-winner of the Phoenix forward’s career. Pickard was solid in net stopping 28-of-29 shots for his second win as a member of the Phoenix.

Sherbrooke (19-19-6-3) will have a few days of rest before taking on the No.2 Blainville-boisbriand Armada (31-9-2-1) on the road Friday and hosting the No. 8 Quebec Remparts (25-17-3-2) on Saturday afternoon.