Regals play tough in Quebec

Overtime loss keeps Alberton-based team out of ch’ship final

A team from Gatineau, Que., dealt the Western Regals’ midget AAA hockey team its first loss of the 2018-19 season.

It came in overtime on Sunday in the semifinal game of the 21-team Drummondville international midget tournament. “A tough one to take in overtime, for sure,” Western acting coach Joey Dumville said of the outcome, but he admitted he was very pleased with the effort the only Atlantic Canadian team in the tournament put in.

“It was a good learning experience for the kids, and I think it motivates them for the march into the playoffs,” Dumville commented.

Close games

The Regals, who are 19-0 (won-lost) in P.E.I. Midget AAA Hockey League play, started off the tournament with a pair of games against Vipers Dollard des Ormeaux, winning the opener 3-1 and scoring two goals in the final 23 seconds of their second game to get a 4-3 win. Chase Gaudette, from Kalim Des Roches, had scored with 23 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game, and Des Roches, from Gaudette, gave the Regals the win with a second remaining.

The Regals scored a 4-1 win in their third outing after the HRS Elites had opened up a 1-0 lead. Team captain James Doyle was the hero in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Doyle, who was set up by Gaudette, scored his team’s only regulation-time goal, and he iced a 2-1 win with a suddendeath goal during a shootout after overtime in their game against Cyclones Joliette Crabtree solved nothing.

The Cyclones went into the tournament ranked third in Quebec.

Des Roches and Gaudette also scored in the shootout to keep the teams tied.

A save by Regals goaltender Aiden Williams on a Quebec shooter subsequently allowed the Regals to advance to the semifinals, where the Regals took a 2-1 lead after one period before falling 3-2 to Gatineau in overtime.

Gatineau would go on to beat host Drummondville in a shootout in the championship final. Williams and Cole Gallant alternated in goal for the Regals throughout the tournament.

JOEY DUMVILLE PHOTO Team captain James Doyle scored in a shootout to give the Western Regals a 2-1 quarter-final win over the third-ranked team in Quebec during the Drummondville international midget hockey tournament on Saturday.