CAMPBELLTON, N.B. – Less than 24 hours after suffering a rather embarrassing setback at home, the Edmundston Blizzard rolled up their sleeves and set to work tearing apart the Campbellton Tigers’ defense on Sunday afternoon in the main town of Restigouche County. The Blizzard looked like the team of old, hammering the opposing goalie with 51 shots to win easily 8-3.
Darien Thomson became the sixth player on the team to register at least five points in a game twice when he scored two goals (15th and 16th) and three assists. William Labranche also impressed with his 16th and 17th goals of the season, in addition to two assists. Meanwhile, Émile Fournier scored twice (9th and 10th) and added an assist. Éliott Guenette (7th, 1a) and Charles-Éric Tremblay (7th, game-winner) also found the back of the net behind goaltender Samuel Quimper.
Justin Trottier (3a), Alexis Chénard (2a), and Mathieu Boucher (2a) contributed to the Blizzard’s offense (13-10-1-2 = 29 points), which now sits alone in third place in the very tight Eastlink North division. The Blizzard is now just one point behind the Grand Falls Rapids (14-12-2-0 = 30 pts) in second place. However, Edmundston has two games in hand on their Northwest rivals. The Blizzard also has its sights set on first place, currently held by the Chaleur Lightning (16-9-0-1 = 33 pts), which is four points ahead.
In Sunday’s game, the Tigers’ response came from Alex Lavoie (7th), Logan Mallaley (6th), and Thierry Demers (4th), the latter on a penalty shot early in the second period.
The home team fired 25 shots at goalie Cédric Massé, who had an excellent afternoon en route to his 12th win, a high among MHL goalies this season.
Unsurprisingly, the three Blizzard players with two goals each earned the stars, namely Thomson (1st), Fournier (2nd) and Labranche (3rd).
The Blizzard, already halfway through its schedule (26 games out of 52), will play its next game against the division leaders, the Chaleur Lightning, on Friday, December 5 (7 p.m.) at the K.C. Irving Centre in Bathurst. The next day (Saturday, December 6, 7:30 p.m.), the Blizzard will host the Valley Wildcats (6-20-0-0).
NOTES – The five players who have scored at least five points twice in a game while wearing the Blizzard uniform are Gabriel Vanier, Brock McLeod, Tristan Fortin, Félix Bédard, and Philippe Collette… Brock McLeod had 7-point and 6-point games in 2019-2020… With 51 shots, the Blizzard surpassed the 50-shot mark in a game for the second time this season. The first time was against the same Tigers on October 12 in Campbellton… William Labranche’s streak of scoring at least one goal now stands at five. The record is nine (Olivier Coulombe and Émile Fournier)… With 17 goals in 18 games, Labranche leads the MHL with a .944 goal-per-game average.
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Photo
Forward Darien Thomson registered five points in Sunday’s game, a feat he also achieved in the season opener on September 13 at the Jean-Daigle Centre. Photo archives Nui Lapyingyong
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Source: Hugues Chiasson, communications – Edmundston Blizzard (506) 253-7741