QMJHL Qualifiers: Olympic Quarterfinals

Tristan Lono scored three points and Gatineau defeated the St. John’s Sea Dogs 5-1 on Friday to win the first round in five games and advance to the quarterfinals of the QMJHL playoffs.

In the next round, the Olympians will face the Rowen Noranda Huskies who eliminated Shawinigan Waterfall.

Lono scored in addition to collecting two assists. He made it 2-0 by hitting goal on a pass from Montreal Canadiens shortstop Riley Kidney 2:12 into the second.

Limited to one assist, uneventful night by his standards, Kidney has 11 points since the start of the playoffs. He had at least one point in each of the five series games after finishing the regular season with 28 consecutive points.

Zachary Dean and Olympic captain Olivier Nadeau each scored a goal and an assist. Vincent Maisonneuve, Cam McDonald and Samuel Savoye scored the other goals for the Olympics, which advanced to the second round for the third consecutive season.

Eriks Matejko was the Sea Dogs’ lone scorer.

Maisonneuve opened the scoring with a single goal in the first half. Six minutes after seeing Lono double the lead early in the second half, Matejko cut St John’s lead in half.

MacDonald put Gatineau back by two goals less than a minute later with his third goal of the series and Nadeau followed it up with his fourth moments later. Savoy added some in the top of the third and Dean completed the scoring with his sixth goal of the series into an empty net.

Franceso Lapina stopped 30 shots against Olympic.

At the other end of the ring, Ventislav Shinjarov was bombarded with 48 shots. He made 43 saves.

The Huskies eliminate the defending champions

The Rowen Noranda Huskies joined the Olympics at the Quarterfinals by eliminating Shawinigan’s Waterfall in five games.

The Huskies put the finishing touches on with a 5-3 win Friday night.

Al-Shalal suffers from elimination in the first round, a year after winning the first President’s Cup in the team’s long history.

Samuel Rousseau, Daniel Borach, Louis-Philippe Fontaine, Dylan Gil and Bill Zunon scored goals for the Voltigors. Thomas Couture stopped 30 shots against Voltigeurs.

Leo Briar, Felix Lacerty (the series’ fifth overall finisher) and Angus Booth scored in the loss.

Voltigeurs won the battle for 122

Mannix Landry scored twice while Riley Mercer made 34 saves as the Drummondville Voltigoers defeated the Victoriaville Tigres 4-2.

With this win, Drummondville eliminates old rivals from Center-du-Québec. In the Quarterfinals, the Voltigeurs will face Sherbrooke Phoenix, who swept their series against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.

Nino Tomov opened the scoring early in the first period with his second off. Just 82 seconds later, Maxime Pellerin tied the power play. Raphael Bloen gave the Tigers the lead at the end of the second period.

Voltigeurs took the upper hand late in the second period. Landry found the net for the first time in the playoffs to put both teams back to square one.

Landry returned to attack early in the third period and Sam Olivier completed the scoring into an empty net. In the loss, Nathan Darvo stopped 19 of the 22 shots he faced.

Océanic completes work in Chicoutimi

Luca Viriault scored the winning goal at 13:28 of the second period and stunned Rimouski Oceanic Chicoutimi Sagoense 4-2 at the Jorge Vezina Center.

The Sags, favorites by one point in the standings, are shown at the exit door by Bas-du-Fleuve representatives.

Leading 3 to 1 in the Series, Océanic was quick to hit. Jacob Mathieu opened the scoring after less than five minutes to put his side ahead. Before the end of the engagement Alexandre Gaudio doubled his lead. William Dumoulin caught his second assist on the line.

During a massive attack early in the second half, Emmanuel Vermeet closed the gap by scoring his second qualify. Viriault, however, gave Rimousquiers a two-goal lead to give his team the lead.

Peters Pollans scored the other goal for the Sags, while Matthijs Gauthier scored the other goal for the Oceanic team. Patrick Hammerla made 23 saves in the win, while Charles-Antoine Lavallee stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced.

Only one series is still active

The Moncton Wildcats pushed the Baie-Comeau Drakkar over the brink with a 3-2 win at the Henry-Leonard Center in Baie-Comeau.

Anthony Hamill played the hero less than five minutes into the extra period. Prospect in the next amateur auction, Etienne Morin received an assist on the line, his third of the match.

Maxim Barbashev and Thomas Auger completed the scoring.

Both goalkeepers were strong in the match. Drakkar’s Olivier Ciarlo finished with 35 saves, compared to 34 for his clash with Jacob Steinman.

The logic looks respectable so far, with the Wildcats (35-29-4) taking third place in the East, versus sixth for Drakkar (30-32-6).

Moncton leads three games to two in what happens to be the only unfinished first round series as a result of Friday night’s action.

Several teams are waiting for the conclusion of this series to get to know their opponent in the second round.