Starting on home ice
Islanders begin third round Friday against Armada
The Charlottetown Islanders will start the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League semifinal Friday at home against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Game time is 7 p.m.
The matchup was finalized Tuesday when the Armada defeated the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 7-1 and the Chicoutimi Saguenéens knocked off the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 4-3 in overtime. Both quarter-finals went to Game 7.
Chicoutimi, which entered the playoffs as the eighth seed, will play the top-ranked Saint John Sea Dogs in the other semifinal. Fourth-ranked Charlottetown gets an Armada squad that finished fifth in the standings.
Charlottetown, which has never been to the league semifinal, will be without left-winger Adam Marsh for the first two games of the series as he serves a suspension.
Game 2 is Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Eastlink Centre before the series shifts to Blainville, Que., for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Blainville-Boisbriand 7 Acadie-Bathurst 1
The Armada won its third straight game on Tuesday after falling behind 3-1 in their series with Acadie-Bathurst. Blainville-Boisbriand gave up one goal in each of its last three games with the Titan.
Alex Barre-Boulet (3-1) and Joel Teasdale (2-2) each had four-point nights on Tuesday for the Armada while PierreLuc Dubois, a former Cape Breton Screaming Eagles forward who the Columbus Blue Jackets drafted third overall last year, had three assists.
Samuel Montembeault, who played with Islanders goalie Mason McDonald as part of Team Canada during the 2016 world junior championship in Finland, made 24 saves for the win.
The Islanders won both games with the Armada this season. Charlottetown won 3-0 on the road on Feb. 24 and 3-0 at home on March 4 in one of its best games of the season.
Islanders goalie Mark Grametbauer, who started his major junior career with the Armada, made 34 and 23 saves, respectively, to record both shutouts.
Chicoutimi 4 Rouyn-Noranda 3 OT
Chicoutimi defenceman Olivier Galipeau tied the game with a shorthanded goal with 1:11 remaining and then scored the winner 4:22 into overtime.
Kelly Klima scored two in the win while Julio Billia stopped 29 shots for the victory.
The Huskies (43-18-2-5) were the second seed for the playoffs because they won the East Division.
The Shawinigan Cataractes, the third seed after winning the West Division, were eliminated in the first round.
Rouyn-Noranda defeated Shawinigan in the league final in 2016.