By Ryan Lum, Staff Contributor
A couple of botched leads, several close calls and a game misconduct later, Quebec will be heading to tomorrow’s gold medal final.
Despite being out-shot 33 – 24, Quebec managed to stave off enough Alberta onslaughts to take the game to a shootout, where Quebec has yet to lose. The game winning goal went to Ste.-Marth sur le Lac’s Guillaume Gauthier, who managed to snap a shot over the glove of Alberta goalie Eric Comrie.
Although Quebec maintained at least a one goal lead for most of the game, Alberta struck first when Johnathon Merkley snapped a shot past goalie Alexandre Bélanger less than a minute after the opening puck drop.
A spirited counter from the Quebec offense led to several odd man rushes, finally resulting in an Anthony De Luca 2-on-1 red herring snipe which completely fooled Comrie.
After a retaliation penalty from Alberta’s Greg Chase landed him in the box for 6 minutes, Quebec capitalized on a point shot with eyes from Justin Vanier-Guénette, who scored nearly the exact same power-play goal eight minutes later off a minor penalty being served for an ejected Nelson Gadoury, making it 3 – 1 at the end of the first.
Alberta came into the second with much more offensive pressure, making Quebec resort to obstruction. Resulting penalties put the onus on goaltender Bélanger, but he stood tall, making key saves and receiving some help from the backing irons.
However, his prowess was not enough to withstand nearly two minutes of two-man disadvantage, allowing forward Torrin White to slip a shot through his legs. Then, with just thirty seconds left, forward Cole Ully snapped a would-be curve ball high over Bélanger’s shoulder to close the period tied at three.
The third was a back and forth game that suited both team’s speedy forwards, and the pace forced hands. Near the ten minute mark, a fanned clearing attempt from Alberta defender Josh Morrissey gave linemates Anthony Duclair and De Luca a give-and-go opportunity with eons on each end, allowing De Luca to hand the puck to a yawning cage.
Three minutes later, Quebec got itself into another two-man down scenario, allowing the speedy Cole Benson to find a hole in the defense and make good on time alone with Bélanger.
Tied at four after 60 minutes, overtime was a 10 minute, nearly whistleless game of four aside featuring heroic rushes, marathon-esque backchecks and superb goaltending. Claiming no victor after the sudden death, the best-of-three shootout saw Bélanger stone Morgan Klimchuk and Merkley and be redeemed through the goals of Jonathan Drouin and Gauthier.
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