PHOTO BY SCOTT VANKOUGHNETT
The dream season for the Drummondville Voltigeurs has ended after a crushing loss to the Windsor Spitfires 3-2 in overtime Friday night in the Memorial Cup semi-finals.
Adam Henrique banged home the winning goal for the Spitfires, who were finally able to crack Voltigeurs goalie Marco Cousineau, who had another stellar game stopping over 50 shots.
Henrique was surprised but relieved that the team was able to finally solve Cousineau.
“It was a sigh of relief it went in, it was a big goal,” he said. “We knew we’d have to do that [shoot a lot] tonight to come out on top.”
Windsor scored two quick goals to end the first period up 2-0.
Taylor Hall opened the scoring, converting a nice give-and-go with Marc Cundari at the 4:13 mark, and defenceman Ben Shutron gave the Spitfires a two-goal lead, scoring his first of the tournament with only 1:58 left in the period.
“We were ready,” said Henrique. “We’ve gotten better every game at the tournament and tonight was on of our best efforts.”
Samson Mahbod clawed the Voltigeurs back into the game early in the first period, banging in a loose rebound off Andrew Engelage to make it 2-1 Windsor.
Both teams traded blows throughout the second, with a lot of after the whistle chipiness and a few powerplays aside.
Drummondville capitalized on one of their powerplay opportunities towards the end of the period, with Yannick Riendeau, who received a great pass from Dmitry Kulikov, firing it home to tie the game two apiece.
Windsor dominated from there, but it was Cousineau who kept the Voltigeurs in the game, giving them a chance to win.
It was all for not however, as Henrique popped in his first of the tournament, sending the Spitfires to the finals against the Kelowna Rockets.
Windsor defenceman Ryan Ellis was asked how they expect to prepare for Sunday afternoon’s final.
“We’re going to have a day off, and come to the rink briefly,” he said. “But the rest is really important, the cold tubs, all that sort of stuff has a lot to do with how we’re going to play.”
He will also be facing his World Junior teammate Tyler Myers again, and he knows it’s going to be a battle. “He’s got big reach, and is good skater for a big man,” said Ellis.
“He’s very talented offensively and defensively, but we just need to work as hard as we can, and hopefully some of our guys can outwork them.”
Be sure to check out the live blogging of Sunday’s final beginning at 4 pm.
For more on this game check out my blog.
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