Friday, April 25, 2025

Wildcats up 2-0 on Huskies; Oceanic win opener

MONCTON - The Moncton Wildcats are two wins away from the Gilles Courteau Trophy final.

The Wildcats took a 2-0 series lead over the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies with a 2-1 win on Friday night at Avenir Centre. Moncton won the first game, 5-3, on Thursday.

It was a fairly evenly played game on Friday and saw just one penalty called the entire night. The Huskies led 1-0 entering the third but goals from Natan Grenier and Preston Lounsbury less than a minute apart early in the third period pushed the Wildcats in front.

For Grenier, a first-round pick of Saint John in the 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft, that was his third goal in 11 playoff games after recording just two in 64 regular season games.
Goaltender Rudy Guimond, who did not play in Thursday's Game 1, made 28 saves in the win. Guimond was good but didn't have to be as good as Mathis Rousseau the night before. Moncton was much better defensively in this game.

The series now shifts to Rouyn-Noranda for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. 

The other QMJHL semifinal playoff series got underway on Friday with the Rimouski Oceanic defeating the Shawinigan Cataractes 5-1. Former Sea Dogs forward Eriks Mateiko remained out of the Oceanic lineup with an injury.

Former Sea Dogs forward Vince Elie scored Shawinigan's lone goal, which made it a 2-1 game late in the first period.
Game 2 of this series takes place Sunday afternoon in Rimouski.

Some other Friday night news and notes...

  • Drew Elliott scored yet again as the Tulsa Oilers defeated the Kansas City Mavericks 4-1 in ECHL playoff action. Elliott now has four goals in five playoff games. Kansas City leads the series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Monday.
  • At the world under-18s in Texas, Travis Crickard's Team Canada defeated Latvia 7-1 to improve to 2-0 in the tournament. Canada's next game is Sunday against Finland.
  • The OHL conference finals got underway Friday with the London Knights defeating the Kitchener Rangers 5-2 and the Oshawa Generals beating the Barrie Colts 3-1.
  • The WHL conference finals also got underway with Medicine Hat Tigers facing the Lethbridge Hurricanes and the Spokane Chiefs taking on the Portland Winterhawks.
  • This is simply crazy.
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