EDMUNDSTON, Nouveau-Brunswick – The Edmundston Blizzard has just shown all the teams of the Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL) that it is to be taken seriously.
Sunday afternoon, at the Jean-Daigle Centre, the Edmundston squat beat the Miramichi Timberwolves,humiliating them 8 to 1 in front of 2,136 spectators.
Jérémy Duguay (3rd star) was the spark plug for the Blizzard, with two goals and two assists. In fact, it was Duguay’s first four-point game in four MHL seasons.
Jérémy Fortin (2nd star) and Mitchell McLeod, with one goal and two assists each, Alex Arsenault (1g, 1a), Tim Porter, Jesse Chamberlain and Jean-Philippe Boudreau (first in MHL career) also scored for the Blizzard (9-10-0-1) who collected a third decisive win in a row.
Goaltender Thomas Boucher earned the win in front of the Blizzard goal. He repelled 34 of 35 shots aimed at him. With several spectacular saves, he drew applause from the crowd and also earned the game’s first star. The young goalie from Lévis, Quebec, joined the team just five days ago. And he held the Blizzard fort in games Thursday, Friday and Sunday, claiming victory each time with outstanding performances.
In the Timberwolves camp (6-6-3-1), Reese Allen, with his first career goal in the MHL, deprived Thomas Boucher of a shutout.
Blizzard players fired 43 shots against Ryan Knight and Kenzie MacPhail.
The exceptional duo of Daryk Dubé-Plouffe and Jacob Santerre were deprived of a point for only the second time in 16 games this season. Dubé-Plouffe, the MHL’s top goals and points leader, threatened Boucher a few times, but the latter resisted brilliantly.
In three games, Boucher conceded only four goals to opposing teams while his Blizzard teammates solidly supported him on offense with 22 goals.
The Blizzard reclaimed third place in the Eastlink North division. With 19 points, Edmundston leads Grand Falls (18 points), Miramichi (16 points) and Fredericton (16 points). Only Summerside (24 points) and Campbellton (21 points) are ahead of them in the division standings.
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Photo
Goaltender Thomas Boucher gets ready to catch the puck on this sequence during Sunday’s game against the Miramichi Timberwolves at the Jean-Daigle Centre.
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Contact: Hugues Chiasson, vice-president communications – The Edmundston Blizzard; (506) 740-0623 – cell phone