Mar 31 Juniors Sweep Mooseheads in Round 1

The Montreal Juniors have swept the Mooseheads in Halifax with a 4-2 victory in round 1 play of the 2011 QMJHL playoffs.

Montreal’s Trevor Parkes scored his second of the playoffs in the first period but three minutes later, Halifax forward Konrad Abeltshauser replied for his team with his third of the series, sending the teams back to the dressing rooms tied at one.

In the ensuing 2^nd frame, Juniors forward Jérémy Gouchie scored his second of the playoffs, before seeing Gabriel Desjardins reply for the Mooseheads with his first of the postseason.

The backbreaker for the Mooseheads was in the latter stages of the 2^nd period, while shorthanded, Louis Leblanc notched his fourth of the playoffs on a breakaway that put his team ahead for good. Philippe Lefebvre cemented Montreal’s victory by scoring his second of the playoffs at 14:51 of the third.

Juniors goalie Jean-François Bérubé turned aside 32 of the 34 shots he faced, while at the other end of the ice, Frédéric Piché stopped 37 of the 41 pucks fired his way.

Nicholas Chouinard (MTL), Gabriel Desjardins (HAL) and Jérémy Gouchie (MTL) were respectively named first, second and third stars of the game.

The Juniors will now have a 8-9 day rest as they await the results of the other playoff series to discover who they will face in the second round.

Many pundits are not surprised at the result of this series and the consensus is that Montreal were just too strong for the 15^th ranked Mooseheads. With key forward Viktor Hertzberg out of the line-up with a concussion, It will be very telling to see what the Juniors are made of with this next round matchup.

Tags: 2011 \ Halifax \ Jean-Francois Berube \ Jérémy Gouchie \ LHJMQ \ Louis Leblanc \ Montreal juniors \ Mooseheads \ Nicolas Chouinard \ playoffs \ QMJHL \ swept