Sep 14 Montreal Juniors .500 On The Road Defeating Shawinigan 6-4

In a complete 180 from their last outing, the Montreal Juniors skated into Shawinigan and did to the Cataracte what the Ramparts did to them two nights before; they won with a 3rd period flurry of goals.

The power-play clicked, the goal-tending was better and the team shared in the scoring with 9 of the 17 players figuring in the scoring, yet some were still able to set themselves apart with a multi point game as the Juniors went on to defeat the Cataracte 6-4.

The two teams exchanged goals in the first two periods with Tommy Gauthier scoring  for Shawinigan on the power-play at 2:47 and Benjamin Rubin responded for Montreal at 9:17. While Montreal only took one penalty in this period, the Cataracte were able to convert, while it appeared that it was business as usual for Montreal going 0-3 in the first with their opportunities.

It didn't take long for the Juniors to get the go-ahead goal as Pier-Antoine Dion scored his first of the season at 1:19 of the second. The Juniors looked as though they would head into the third up one goal, however, nothing is a given in this fast paced game. At 17:10 Dave Labrecque tied it up for Shawinigan with his second of the season, setting the tone for the third.

Before the time the 3rd period hit the 11 minute mark, the Juniors had gone up by 3 as the Cataracte began getting into penalty trouble and the previously impotent power-play found new life as  Nick Layton potted his second of the season and Pier-Antoine Dion getting his second of the night. Pat O'keefe assisted on Layton's goal and got one of his own, a power-play goal during Shawinigan's 1st of 5 penalties of the period. Shawinigan appeared to be set to mount a comeback when they scored two quick goals with Gabriel Lemieux and Philippe Paradis scoring within a 1:11 span. The Juniors, however, managed to put the game out of reach when they put one into the empty net as the Cataracte pulled goalie Gabriel Girard, who faced 37 shots, in lieu of the extra attacker.

Nick Layton scored a goal and had 3 assists, Pier-Antoine Dion scored 2 goals and 1 assist and 16 year old Guillaume Asselin tallied 3 assists as the Juniors are now 1-1 after this short road trip. This win should reinforce any shortcomings the team may have felt they had during their first game in club history against the Ramparts last Friday. Now they can head home knowing the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory. Nothing is sweeter, however, then a victory at home and they will get that opportunity this Saturday evening at 7:30 PM at Verdun Auditorium where they will face off against the Ramparts in search of redemption except this time the crowd will  be on their side.

Tags: Guillaume Asselin \ LHJMQ \ Montreal juniors \ Nick Lyton \ Pier-Antoine Dion \ QMJHL \ Shawinigan Cataracte \ Verdun Auditorium