Isles Late Heroics Take Down the Armada
Published on November 6, 2021 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Charlottetown Islanders News Release
After following a tightly fought loss to the Sherbrooke PhÅ"nix last night, the Islanders turned their sights now to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Now sitting at 1-1 on the three-game Quebec road trip to this point, the Islanders needed to get hungry against the Armada if they hoped to get back into the win column. Still without big man Ben Boyd, Charlottetown needed a physical spark to emerge into their lineup. Turn now to Sam Bowness, Drew Elliott, and Xavier Simoneau who have all shown their willingness to get gritty through the start of this long road trip. 16-year-old Bowness scored his first career QMJHL goal last night giving his scoring game some confidence to go along with his physical style of play, and Drew Elliott has delivered a goal in each road game thus far and is looking to stay hot.
Xavier Simoneau as well showed that as much as he can score, he doesn't mind dropping the mitts every once in a while to throw out some heat. With Oliver Satny and his league's second-best GAA average getting the call for this one, the Isles were ready to come out hot and come off the French leg of this road trip with four out of six possible points.
The first period came out of the gates hot with nearly six full minutes of play before a whistle after puck drop. The first whistle saw the Armada's Miguel Touringy being sent to the box on an interference call. It only took the Islanders a mere seven seconds before a loose puck in the crease found its way onto Jakub Brabenec's stick for him to bury it into the wide-open net! Assisting on Brabenec's fourth goal of the season were Xavier Simoneau and Lukas Cormier. Next up it was the workhorse himself who extended the Isles lead to 2-0 before the end of the frame. Drew Elliott created a screen in front of Gravel where he was able to get his stick on a Xavier Simoneau shot and redirect it into the back of the net. Elliott has now scored in every game of the road trip thus far this being his fifth on the campaign. Helping hands were Xavier Simoneau and Lukas Cormier again.
Shots through 20 minutes favored the Isles 14-4.
It was the Armada who came out hungry in the second period as it only took 2:40 into the frame before coach Bruce Richardson got a spark out of his offense. Anri Ravinskis was able to get one past Goobie to bring his team to within a score early in the second frame. Assists went to Markus Suchy and Felix Poulin. It was Blainville's star defensemen keeping his unreal streak alive in this one. Miguel Touringy was playing this evening off of back-to-back hat trick games, a rare sequence of events for a blue-liner. Touringy was able to get in tight from the point on the powerplay to blast one blocker side on Satny and tie this game up before the intermission came. This goal marked Miguel's seventh goal in three games. Assisting on the goal were Zachary Roy and Simon Pinard.
Shots heading into the final frame were in favor of Charlottetown 26-13.
Blainville came out nearly just as hot in the final frame when rookie defensemen Philippe Fauchon netted his first career QMJHL goal through traffic from the point. The goal put the Armada ahead 3-2 early in the third, assists on the tally went to Antoine Roy and Beck Majdell. The Islanders weren't about to let this one slip away however, it was Xavier Simoneau saying not so fast when he deked in and sniped one over the left shoulder of Gravel to tie this one up. It's also worth noting that in this game Simoneau recorded points 249, 250, and 251 of his QMJHL career. Xavier had the boys all fired up going into the final five minutes of this one.
It seems like I've been praising Drew Elliott all day but why not with the way this man is on a mission. Island native Keiran Gallant drove hard behind the net with the puck before spotting his teammate open in front. Gallant slid the puck over to Elliott and Drew did what the Isles needed him to do snapping it off the bar and in, surprising Gravel on the glove side, and giving the Isles the go-ahead goal and game-winner with just 23 seconds left.
The Islanders were able to get on the bus to come home with smiles on their faces as they captured four of a possible six games on this Quebec road trip. Final shots were in favor of the Isles 35-20.
Three Stars of the Game:
Xavier Simoneau(CHA)- Goal, 2 assists, including his 250th QMJHL point.
Charles-Edward Gravel(BLB)- 31 saves.
Drew Elliott(CHA)- 2 Goals including the game-winner.
Charlottetown is next in action Saturday, November 13th, when they head over to the Centre 200 in Cape Breton to take on the Eagles. Puck drop is set for 7 pm.
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from November 6, 2021
- Burns Scores Two in 4-3 Loss in Drummondville - Saint John Sea Dogs
- Isles Late Heroics Take Down the Armada - Charlottetown Islanders
- Eagles Finish Road Trip with Loss in Shawinigan - Cape Breton Eagles
- Game Preview: November 6 vs Blainville-Boisbriand - Charlottetown Islanders
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