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QMJHL Charlottetown Islanders

Offensive Outburst from the Defense Gives Islanders Victory over Eagles

November 14, 2020 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Charlottetown Islanders News Release


The hallmark of the Charlottetown Islanders is their top-4 defensemen, and two of them took centre stage tonight against Cape Breton.

Lukas Cormier and William Trudeau both had outstanding games recording two goals apiece, while rookie Sam Oliver recorded three assists as The Islanders defeated the Cape Breton Eagles 7-2 in the first half of back-to-back games.

"We were much better tonight," said Isles head coach Jim Hulton, referencing last weekend's performance by his team on the ice. "We had a tough week of practice; Tuesday and Wednesday we got back to a physical forecheck and controlling the net front and I thought we did a really good job of that on both fronts. That looked more like our trademark hockey that we want to play."

Isles goalie Colten Ellis would pick up his eighth straight victory to start his Islanders career, establish a new franchise best in that category. He'd do it in front of former Islander and previous record-holder Matthew Welsh, who was in town to watch his brother, Zach, play for the Eagles.

"It's pretty special, but I didn't do it alone," said Ellis on the record. "I owe the guys a lot of credit for that. Everyone is buying in to their roles and everything has come in nicely since the start of the season."

The Isles took the offense to Cape Breton throughout the first period, testing Eagles rookie netminder Nicolas Ruccia early and often. Eventually, Charlottetown would find paydirt; Zac Beauregard would find a loose puck behind the Eagles goal and attempt a wraparound. Ruccia would make the initial save but the rebound would find it's way to Patrick Leblanc. He'd make no mistake for his third goal on the season and second in as many games.

The Eagles would get that goal back but wouldn't hold the tie before the end of the first period. On a powerplay opportunity, Justin Gill would find a waiting William Trudeau with a cross-ice pass. He'd uncork a one-time shot that beats Ruccia cleanly for his second goal of the season.

Charlottetown would open it up in the second period with a highlight-reel goal by Lukas Cormier. The Vegas Golden Knights prospect led the charge on an end-to-end rush, beating a defender wide before going upstairs on Ruccia. For Cormier, that would be his sixth goal of the season.

Cedric Desruisseaux would get in on the fun not long after, streaking down the wing and going five-hole on Ruccia for his 15th goal of the season, extending his goal-scoring streak to 11 games. That's now tied for the third-longest such streak in modern-day QMJHL franchise history.

Trudeau's second goal would come before the end of the second period; on a broken rush into the Eagles zone, Drew Johnston would find a pinching Trudeau with a great no-look pass. Trudeau would go one-on-one with Ruccia, deking the netminder cleanly before tucking away his third goal on the season and second goal on the night.

The Eagles would add one more in the second period before the Isles put the game far out of reach in the third period thanks to Cormier's second goal of the game and Thomas Casey's tenth goal on the year, giving the Isles their tenth victory on the year.

Trudeau, Cormier, Oliver, Justin Gill (2 assists), and even Colten Ellis (2 assists) finished with multi-point games while Anthony Hamel, Brett Budgell, Keiran Gallant, Beauregard, and Johnston each picked up single assists.

The Isles and Eagles will do it all over again tomorrow night right back at the Eastlink Centre at 7:00pm Atlantic. You can catch the game once again on Eastlink Channel 610, along with at the Factory Downtown and Boston Pizza! Want to listen in on the fun? Tune in to Ocean 100's Saturday Night Hockey starting at 6:45pm!

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Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from November 14, 2020


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