EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick – And wham! It all happened in less than 20 minutes.
The Edmundston Blizzard scored a team record five first-period goals en route to an easy 5-2 win over the Campbellton Tigers on Thursday at the Jean-Daigle Centre.
Although the Blizzard had already experienced six-goal periods on four occasions in their history, they had never scored five in the first frame.
Captain Philippe Collette was on fire, racking up a goal and two assists in the first. It’s possible that the league will award him a third assist, which would even out the four-point team mark that belongs to Noah Gibbs, who incidentally dropped the ceremonial puck with two former Blizzard greats, Logan Johnston and Sam King.
After Collette’s goal (12th), Mathieu Pigeon (4th), Zachary Lessard (2nd), Justin Hébert (12th) and Justin Trottier (8th) took turns imitating him. The Tigers’ reply came from Félix-Antoine Laflamme (12th) and Thomas Larouche (12th). Campbellton’s record is now 12-10-2-0.
The game marked the debut of Blizzard goalkeeper Sawyer Russell, who had a quiet night in his first MHL game, receiving just 13 shots. On the other side, Nathan Mills received almost three times as many (38).
Collette earned the game’s first star. With a goal and an assist each, Pigeon and Hébert were named second and third stars respectively.
First in Canada, the Blizzard (21-3-1-0) take on the Pictou County Weeks Crushers (9-13-3-0) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Centre Jean-Daigle.
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Photo
Philippe Collette (71) fired a sharp shot into the net’s top corner for the first goal of the evening, setting the tone for the game. The second photo shows Collette’s reaction after his goal. The Blizzard won comfortably 5-2 on Thursday evening. Photos Percy Picard
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Source: Hugues Chiasson, responsable des communications – Le Blizzard d’Edmundston ; 506 740-0623 – (tél. cell.)