CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Cedric Desruisseaux picked a good day to have his best game as a Charlottetown Islander.
The 19-year-old Victoriaville, Que., native had a season-high three points and helped get a puck out in the final minute while protecting a lead as the Islanders defeated the Baie-Comeau Drakkar 5-3. The effort came in front of 3,500 screaming students as part of the team’s second annual school day game.
“That was impressive,” Desruisseaux said, noting he had not played in an atmosphere like that for a game in November before. “The kids are very loud.”
We hit 107 dB at the Eastlink Centre. #islandersHKY pic.twitter.com/q2WG3LEdKE
— Darrell Theriault (@Darrell54) November 20, 2019
Kids cheered and sang along to songs like “Sweet Caroline”, “We Will Rock You”, “YMCA” and “Cotton Eye Joe”. One person measured the noise at one point reaching 115 decibels. Many of the students visited the concessions stands as the 10 a.m. Quebec Major Junior Hockey League got going. They missed Brett Budgell and Liam Peyton scoring to give the home side a 2-0 lead five minutes in.
The most popular guy at the rink is Mr. Stapleton with the in-house video camera pic.twitter.com/DsJkpChcWL
— Guardian Sports (@SportsGuardian) November 20, 2019
“We talked about . . . let’s try to use the full building to our advantage – get them into it early,” head coach Jim Hulton said.
“I thought we had a really, really good start, and it pushed us through to the win because we got pushed pretty hard today.
“That’s probably the fastest team we’ve seen.”
Noah Laaouan made it 3-1 five minutes into the second period by potting a rebound on a power play.
Desruisseaux then capitalized on a misplayed puck by former Islanders goalie Dakota Lund-Cornish. He scored his fourth of the season and before the goal was announced Xavier Bernard was sprung coming out of the penalty box and made no mistake, pushing the lead to four and chasing Lund-Cornish.
“That was my Christmas (present) early,” Desruisseaux said. “I just had to . . . make sure I hit the net.”
He said it made up for some of the plays earlier in the year when the puck wasn't going in.
“At the start of the season, I had a couple of posts, big saves and that was tough on my confidence,” he said. “At some point, I just hit a restart.”
Desruisseaux’s three-point game represents the point total from his 11 games in October.
Desruisseaux was part of the return from last year’s deal with Drummondville that sent captain Pierre-Olivier (P.O.) Joseph to the Voltigeurs.
A lot was expected of the former first-round pick, but the start of the season didn’t go as he hoped.
“I had not been helping the team win,” Desruisseaux said. “Today it felt great to help the team, and that was a huge performance from everyone.”
While the Islanders led by a couple of goals, Welsh kept the lead intact by making a few tough saves on highly skilled players.
In the final minute, after the Drakkar pulled within two and called a timeout, Welsh kicked out the pad on a Nathan Légaré shot from the slot to preserve the victory.
“I was just trying to stay calm and play my game,” Welsh said. “I treat every situation like it’s a one-goal game.”
Welsh was named the first star, and Hulton said it was well-warranted.
“No disrespect, but if we switch goalies, we lose that game. Our goalie was really, really good and their goalie had an off-day,” he said.
“This is two games in a row Matt has stepped up,” he added. “He’s been a difference-maker. He was the Matt Welsh that we knew we were going to have to lean on through this stretch.”
The Islanders now head out onto the road for games against league-leading Sherbrooke on Saturday, Quebec on Sunday and Rimouski on Tuesday.
Highlight reel
A look at the statistics from Wednesday’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game between the Charlottetown Islanders and Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
Outcome
Baie-Comeau – 3.
Charlottetown – 5.
Goals
Baie-Comeau – Nathan Légaré, Gabriel Proulx and Thomas Ethier.
Charlottetown – Brett Budgell, Liam Peyton, Noah Laaouan, Cédric Desruisseaux and Xavier Bernard.
Assists
Baie-Comeau – Christopher Merisier-Ortiz, Valentin Demchenkp and Drew Elliott.
Charlottetown – Cédric Desruisseaux 2, Kevin Gursoy, Justin Gill and Noah Laaouan.
Goalies
Baie-Comeau – Dakota Lund-Cornish, 15 saves on 20 shots in 29:59; Lucas Fitzpatrick, 15 saves on 15 shots.
Charlottetown – Matthew Welsh, 37 saves on 40 shots.
Power play
Baie-Comeau – 0-for-2.
Charlottetown – 1-for-3.
