Cats edge Juniors
Published Monday October 13th, 2008
Nicola Riopel shuts the door as Moncton beats Montreal 1-0
Zero is becoming a big number for Moncton Wildcats goaltender Nicola Riopel.
The third-year veteran notched his fourth career shutout, including his second this season, to help his club to a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Juniors in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action yesterday in front of 3,924 fans at the Moncton Coliseum.
The Wildcats needed Riopel to be perfect in this tight-checking contest and he answered the call with a stellar 29-save performance to outduel Jean-François Berube of the Juniors in a goaltenders battle. Riopel made a clutch save in the dying seconds of the third period.
"This game was basically a mirror of his season up to now," said Wildcats goaltending coach Frantz Bergevin-Jean in reference to Riopel, who improved his league-leading stats to a 1.54 goals-against average, .942 save percentage and 8-1 record.
"He's very solid technically, very solid in his execution and when he needs to come up big for us he does. You saw that today. He prepares extremely well for games and you can see it in the way he plays with confidence. This was a good goaltenders battle today and he responded to the challenge."
Moncton, 8-0-2-0, is second in the Atlantic Division and tied for second overall in the QMJHL. It's two points behind the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, 10-2-0-0, for top spot in both the Atlantic and overall league standings.
The Wildcats will open a three-game road trip against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre.
The Wildcats, No. 3 in the Canadian Hockey League rankings, are the only club in the QMJHL that hasn't yet suffered a regulation time loss. With the win they snapped a two-game losing streak - both overtime setbacks - and improved to 5-0-2-0 at home.
Moncton is No. 1 defensively in the QMJHL and lowered its team goals-against average to 1.77. It's only happened twice that the club has allowed more than two goals against in a game.
Ted Stephens scored the lone goal of the game, cashing in on the power play at 5:22 of the first period. Daniel Pettersson's pass to the front of the net deflected off a couple of skates, the goaltender lost sight of the puck and Stephens tapped in the loose puck at the side of the goalmouth.
On the power play, Moncton was 1-for-5 and Montreal was 0-for-6. The Juniors had all three power plays awarded in the third period, including an opportunity in the final three minutes, but the Wildcats league-leading penalty killing unit persevered.
Final shots on goal were 34-29 for Moncton.
"It was obviously a goaltenders battle today with big saves at both ends," said Wildcats left winger Matt Brown. "Riopel was there for us like he has been all season and all the guys had to really pull together to get this win. It was a hard-fought game with no room for error.
"Our penalty kill came up big again so that's the other key factor. All the guys are pulling in the same direction on the penalty kill. We're sticking to the systems and working hard. It's nice to know we can win a tight low-scoring game if that's the way it's going."
Moncton trailed 14-11 in shots in the first period and capitalized on its first power play to make it 1-0 at 5:22. The Wildcats have now outscored opponents 13-6 in the first period this season.
Moncton owned a 16-6 shots edge in the second period and had golden chances to extend its lead. Brown took a shot that missed the net while on a breakaway just past the midway mark of the frame.
The Wildcats were also awarded a two-man advantage for two minutes in the second period, but couldn't cash in.
Montreal held a 9-7 shots edge and had all three power plays awarded in the third period. The club was completing a four-game, five-day road trip in which it went 1-3-0-0.
"It was a tight-checking game that was really a goaltenders battle," said Wildcats defenceman Simon Jodoin. "I think we did a good job making the simple plays in our zone and Riopel was solid once again. He's a veteran goalie who we know we can always count on.
"Both clubs did a good job of closing down the play and it was tough to get anything going. We scored the early goal and everyone did their job to make it stand up as the winner. Sometimes you have to win low-scoring games in the playoffs so it's good for our confidence to prove that we can get the job done."
Montreal, 6-6-0-0 is tied for first in the Western Division.
"I liked our intensity considering it was our fourth game in five days on the road," said Juniors head coach Pascal Vincent. "I think we performed well given the circumstances, but our goal scorers have to get the job done.
"We had our scoring chances today, but we came up empty again. It's the third time we've been shut out in four games on this trip."
Moncton head coach Danny Flynn offered an assessment.
"I think both teams played a real solid two-way game," he said. "I saw lots of good things from our team. Our goaltending was excellent, I thought defensively we really limited their number of odd-man attacks and we won the battle of special teams which turned out to be the difference in the game.
"It was their fourth game in five days. They played it close to the vest and didn't open the game up which was smart by them. They made it a close-checking, grinding type game, but to our credit we didn't get frustrated. We grinded it out with them and limited their chances."
In other news, Moncton assigned rookie left winger Julien Tremblay, 17, to the Quebec midget AAA ranks. The Wildcats also sent home left winger Jesse Biduke, which now leaves them with their allowed quota of three 20-year-olds.
"Tremblay needs to get more ice time than we can give him here in order to continue his development," said Flynn. "He's a good prospect, but he needs to play and he'll get more opportunity where he's going.
"With Biduke, we're hoping to work out a trade for him this week. A couple of teams have expressed an interest in him."
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
