Sep 19 Juniors' Homecoming Thwarted By Quebec Ramparts Who Defeat Montreal 3-2

It was all pomp and circumstance yet with a modern twist at Verdun Auditorium on Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd as the Montreal Junior met their already arch rival Quebec Ramparts in their first home game in franchise history.

From the pre-game on ice lighting and graphics show, to the local PA system blaring an upbeat, rallying build up until the Juniors took the ice, all in attendance knew that Junior Hockey was back in Montreal, and with a bang.

Although many fans in the seats were sporting Ramparts Jerseys and the cheers initially were even  both teams took the ice, as the game bore on, it was clear that the Montreal Juniors were going to win fans one game at a time.

The first  period was not as rock 'em sock 'em as one would have expected from the Juniors, but rather a methodical feeling out of their opponents as well as their home digs. While Montreal did seem to have puck possession for most of the period, it was Quebec, however that got on the scoreboard first. After both teams were unable to capitalize on  one chance each on the power-play, Jean-Simon Allard took advantage of hesitant play on the part of goaltender Jean-François Bérubé who didn't or couldn't corral a puck lobbed at him by Mathieu Loisel and Allard just pounced on it and found the back of the net, past a helpless Bérubé.

It would take approximately 6 minutes and a Quebec Penalty for Montreal to even the score. After failing to tally on a 5 on 3, the Juniors were just ending a penalty kill of their own and starting yet another stint on the man advantage when Chris Thorne skated the puck over the blue line leaving a drop pass for Guillaume Asselin who promptly fund Thorne behind the Ramparts net. Thorne found Benjamin Rubin who made a nifty stick-handling play to beat Jonathan Roy.

Although the Juniors out-shot Quebec 14-10 in the period, they were not able to sustain much pressure on a seemingly shaky Jonathan Roy who was having control issues of his own, however Jean-François Bérubé had definitely recovered from his 1st period brain cramp and kept the Juniors in a tie game perhaps making one of his most important saves in the dying seconds of the 2nd on a 2 on 1 break by Quebec, gloving down in spectacular fashion the hard accurate shot of the stick of the Rampart right winger.

There's a saying that if you don't want to get burned, you don't play with fire, while Samuel Grenache was off for 2 minutes, the Ramparts do what they do rather often in the Q and that is score on the power-play. Jonathan-Audy Marchessault was fed a seeing eye pass from just off of Bérubé's right by Jean Simon Allard and as quickly as that, at 8:05 of the 3rd it was Quebec up 2-1.

Jonathan Roy should thank his defenders for blocking most of Montreal's shots in the game as well as a crossbar and a goalpost that the Junior's struck in a comeback bid in the third, however that comeback was short lived when Pier-Antoine Dion went off for roughing at 15:43 and David Foucher was called for delay of game shortly thereafter and the Ramparts showed the Juniors how to score on a 5 on 3. The in house announcer did not have a chance to announce the goal scored by Sébastien Trudeau after a well practiced puck moving play on the PP by Quebec, when Montreal, on an odd man rush, tired to make a game of it when Mathieu Lavoie slapped a rising shot top shelf past Jonathan Roy at 18:04. With both teams playing 4 aside after off setting penalties, the Juniors mounted one last rush, however Jonathan Roy, for the first time all evening, did not give up a rebound. The Juniors homecoming was not that of fairytale endings as it was the Ramparts who would live happily ever after on this night.

The Juniors will not have much time to regroup as they face off tomorrow afternoon against the Rouyn Noranda Huskies at 4:30 PM. Although the season is still young, they will eventually have to work on special teams if they are to improve their record going forward, in particular, the power play that went 1 for 7 tonight despite that missed 5 on 3 opportunity.

Game's 3 stars

3 : Jonathan Roy (Qc)

2 : Jean-François Bérubé (Mtl)

1 : Jean Simon Allard (Qc)

Shots per period

Powerplays

Tags: Jean Francois Berube \ Jonathan Roy \ LHJMQ \ Montreal juniors \ QMJHL \ Quebec Ramparts \ Verdun Auditorium