Collette shines on his return; Blizzard beats Steamers 5-2

GRAND-BOUCTOUCHE, Nouveau-Brunswick – Captain Philippe Collette greeted his return to action with a brilliant performance, guiding the Edmundston Blizzard to a 5-2 triumph on Sunday over the West Kent Steamers at the J. K. Irving Centre in Grand-Bouctouche.

Combined with yesterday’s loss by the Grand Falls Rapids, the Blizzard’s victory ensures their playoff berth. The Blizzard have 15 games left in the season.

Collette collected three assists on Sunday in his native region. He assisted on goals scored by Marco Martin (2nd), Émile Fournier (28th, winning goal) and Jérémy D’Astous (18th). William Labranche (2nd and 3rd) scored the Blizzard’s first and last goals in a game that saw the Edmundston dominate 46-29 in the shots column.

Collette becomes the first Blizzard player to score at least three points in five consecutive games since Joshua Nadeau achieved the feat in 2020-2021.

Jérémy Thériault (7th) and Damon Englehutt (19th) beat Texas goaltender Austin Caley, who made his first appearance in front of the Blizzard cage. Olivier Dallaire was the Steamers’ goaltender.

Simon Olivier’s players came out like wildcats in the first half. They certainly wanted to avenge the defeat they suffered the day before. Nevertheless, it was the Steamers who opened the scoring. But Labranche brought both teams back to square one towards the end of the period. The Blizzard then scored four goals in a row to register their 29th win of the season. The victory could have been more decisive had the Blizzard been able to capitalize on the many chances that came their way.

Collette (1st), Labranche (2nd) and Englehutt (3rd) earned the stars of the game. The Steamers (21-10-3-1) are 14 points behind the Blizzard in second place in the Eastlink North division.

The Blizzard play two games next weekend. On Friday (7 p.m.), they travel to Grand Falls to take on the Rapids. The following day (7:30 p.m.), thet will host the Truro Bearcats.

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Photos
After missing the first four games of January, Philippe Collette was impressive on his return to competition. Photo archives Percy Picard

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Source: Hugues Chiasson, responsable des communications – Le Blizzard d’Edmundston; 506 740-0623 – (tél. cell.)