Mark Barberio of the Moncton Wildcats takes out Brandon Street of the P.E.I. Rocket along the boards during Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Wednesday night at the Civic Centre. (Guardian photo by Brian McInnis)
Islanders play roles Doyle scores for the Rocket; Gormley, Cameron connect on game-winner for the Wildcats
CHARLES REID The Guardian
Islanders played major parts in the Moncton Wildcats’ 3-2 win over the P.E.I. Rocket on Wednesday at the Civic Centre, but on opposite ends of the scoreboard.
Charlottetown native Chris Doyle recorded the Rocket goals, but a roughing penalty by Summerside’s Brendan Wright with six minutes remaining in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game that tied it 2-2 cancelled that.
Namely because Murray River’s Brandon Gormley tallied the winning goal, set up by Clyde River’s Randy Cameron, just over 90 seconds into Moncton’s third power play of the night.
“It was a crucial time in the game. You can’t be taking penalties,” said a dejected Wright after the game as the 18-year-old unwound tape from his hands. “(I was) just trying to finish my check. The guy was a little smaller than me and my hands were a little high. So I got the roughing.”
Gormley, a 16-year-old defenceman, saw it as a big goal, but for different reasons.
“It was a huge goal. Our power play was kind of struggling,” said Gormley, the QMJHL’s first overall pick in 2008. “I was pretty happy to bury it.”
Still, before and after Wright’s penalty, P.E.I. had its chances.
Before the call, P.E.I. didn’t connect on a nearly four-minute power play, which included a five-on-three advantage.
And after Gormley’s goal, Moncton goalie Nicola Riopel stopped point-blank shots by Doyle, Jeremiah Coon-Come and Benjamin Casavant in the final two minutes.
P.E.I. drops to 0-4 against the Wildcats this season with the last three games decided by one goal, including two overtime shootouts.
And things looked headed there again Wednesday as a free-flowing, near penalty-free first period ended in a 1-1 tie, thanks to a tip-in by Moncton’s Pierre-Marc Lessard at 4:08 and a deflection by Doyle seven minutes later.
Though just two penalties were called in the second period, Doyle upped the score to 2-1 with a power-play wrister from atop the right faceoff cirle.
But Moncton revved up its attack in the third period after being outplayed for the first two frames, taking advantage of a Michael Snow injury.
As the Rocket defenceman skated off the ice, P.E.I. was down a man until Jordon Southorn could replace him.
In those few seconds, Moncton’s Scott Brannon pounced on a lost puck in Rocket goalie Bobby Nadeau’s crease and tied the game 2-2 at 3:32.
Then almost 12 minutes later came Gormley’s fifth goal of his rookie season.
For Wright’s part, he said he can’t change the past but he will learn from it as the Rocket plays road games Friday in Rimouski and Sunday in Moncton.
“(Just have to) forget about it,” he said, “and play like it never happened.”
P.E.I. outshot Moncton 30-22 and went 1-for-4 on the power play.
Moncton was 1-for-3 with the extra man.
Nadeau dropped to 10-14 while Riopel upped his record to 18-3.
(creid@theguardian.pe.ca)
****
Rocket-Wildcats hockey game at a glance:
n The Outcome - Moncton 3 P.E.I. 2.
n The Goalscorers - Moncton: Pierre-Marc Lessard (9), Scott Brannon (13), Brandon Gormley (5); P.E.I.: Chris Doyle 2 (14).
n The Assists: Moncton: Simon Jodoin (9), David Savard (10), Zach Sill (8), Randy Cameron (18), Mark Barberio (14); P.E.I.: Ben Duffy (10), Mathieu Tousignant (17), Matthew Lachaine (11).
n Attendance - 2,073.
n Next Up - The Rocket (11-13-1-4) travel to Rimouski (17-10) on Friday and Moncton (20-2-2-1) on Sunday for a two-game, mini road trip. Game times are 8:30 p.m. AT and 4 p.m., respectively.
n They said it - “It’s always nice to put on a show. We showed a lot of character coming back in the third period. Our team can really build on that ” - Murray River’s Brandon Gormley on scoring the winning goal.
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petr from pei writes: Good to see another Eastern boy do well-16 and loads of talent! Sad to see the 1800ish empty seats last night though...the pei rocket should look at 15.50 per ticket...better off at 10 or 11 and fill up some of those empty seats!
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The Banker from PEI writes: They announced 2500 in attendance...no way in heck there was 2500 in the stands! Great fast game though..way to go Brandon!
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LoyalRocketFan from Pei writes: Mr. Banker you obviously need your hearing checked because the announcement said 2070 in attendance. The Rocket did bring a good game and probally would of had it only the Reffin sucked once again. When a man is down those things on their hands are called whistles they should learn how to use them. The Rocket played a great game and it was a fast and penalty free first period. My family and I enjoy the games it's not always about winning but yes it is nice. It's the love of the game.
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The Clerk from PEI writes: Actually the Attendance was annouced at 2003, this is not how many was there, but includes how many tickets were sold and gave away for the game, Real Number was about 1800
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