Not pretty, but still a win for Olympiques
Gatineau team implodes during second period
It’s not a win the Gatineau Olympiques should be particularly proud of, but a third-period comeback did allow them to scratch out a 6-5 shootout win over the Shawinigan Cataractes.
Leading the Cataractes 3-1 in the second period, the Olympiques imploded, allowing four straight secondperiod goals before rebounding with two third-period goals to eventually force overtime and then the eventual shootout.
Simon Tardif- Richard scored the winner with the first shot of the shootout and Jonathan Bourcier ended the game with the Olympiques’ second goal on their third attempt.
These are the same Cataractes, however, that had just eight wins on the season coming in and had the second-worst winning percentage of any team in the Canadian Hockey League, only slightly ahead of the woeful Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League.
The Cataractes surrendered the foreseeable future last year to make a run at a Memorial Cup title they ended up winning on home ice last May. They have an excuse. The Gatineau Olympiques, not so much.
Peter Sakaris and JC Campagna had two goals each for the Cataractes (8-25-5), while Phil Pietroniro had the other. Hugo Campeau made 33 saves for the win.
Jean Simon-Deslauriers, Rock Regimbald, Derek Sheppard, Tardif-Richard and Adam Chapman scored for the Olympiques (15-203).
Sheppard put the home side up 3-1 six minutes into the third before the wheels fell off the bus as the Cataractes opened a shooting gallery.
Olympiques coach Benoît Groulx made a goaltending change to start the third, replacing Robert Steeves with Alexandre Duckett-Dufresne, who kept the Olympiques alive stopping all seven shots he faced in the period including an incredible glove save off Frederick Gaudreau on a breakaway in the dying minutes.
Groulx put Steeves back in for the shootout and he stopped both Shawinigan attempts.
Groulx pulled his netminder with 1:42 to play and the move paid off as Chapman tied the game at 19:13. FIND news, features, columns, photo galleries and more online at
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