DRUMMONDVILLE – The Drummondville Voltigeurs won the Gilles-Courteau Trophy in their history in front of their fans on Tuesday, sweeping the Baie-Comeau Drakkar after four games with a 4-3 success at the Marcel-Dionne Center.
Drummondville, which will represent the QMJHL at the Memorial Cup at the end of the month, is celebrating its success exactly fifteen years after winning its first coronation in 2009.
The Voltigeurs became the authors of the 16th sweep in the history of the circuit final in 53 editions.
They will have largely dominated the Drakkar who had nevertheless flown through the regular schedule, as well as the first three rounds of the qualifiers (12-1 record to reach the final).
For head coach Sylvain Favreau, it’s a great way to atone for the disappointment of the defeat suffered by his Halifax Mooseheads in the grand final against the Quebec Remparts in the spring of 2023.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Favreau, during the post-game celebrations on the ice. It’s a bit cliché, but I’m so proud for the guys. They worked hard all year and it’s their credit. I’m so happy for them. »
Baie-Comeau started the duel with much more confidence than in Game 3 of this final series, firing five of the first six shots on goal at Riley Mercer’s cage.
But as they had done the day before, the Voltigeurs showed themselves to be opportunistic, from their first numerical advantage situation, early in the first period.
During the penalty imposed on Angus Booth, Alexis Gendron prevented the puck from leaving Drakkar territory, before passing it to Luke Woodworth, who gave way to Ethan Gauthier for a one-timer.
Gauthier’s powerful shot – leading to his 14th goal of the current series – completely deceived the vigilance of Charles-Édward Gravel, after only 5:28 of play.
Despite a much more balanced game than the day before, as well as a gap of one goal rather than four, Jean-François Grégoire’s troop returned to the locker room empty-handed, having not been able to solve the Mercer enigma in the first twenty.
The visitors’ morale took a hit when Sam Oliver doubled Drummondville’s priority midway through the match.
Author of his eighth goal of the playoffs, Oliver completed Woodworth’s fine play at 9:30 of the middle period, which forced Gravel to compromise.
Except that the Drakkar continued to offer an effort tinged with the energy of despair in second, and eventually, his persistence was rewarded.
The door was ajar after the Voltigeurs had missed a few chances to make the score 3-0.
Defender Niks Fenenko benefited from one of the rare turnovers committed by Drummondville outside the zone to advance into the center of the slot and beat Mercer with a precise wrist shot from the glove side.
That ” timing » for a goal from Rotondi
With 20 minutes separating them from the second championship in their history, the Voltigeurs took a serious option for victory early in the last third.
Taking advantage of the confusion in the Drakkar’s defensive coverage and an imbalance in his goalkeeper, Matteo Rotondi chose a very opportune moment to score his first goal of the post-season calendar.
Rotondi took his time to aim for the top corner and restore the Voltigeurs’ two-goal priority, after only 96 seconds of action.
Seven minutes later, the knockout blow came from Oliver, whose low shot slipped between Gravel’s pads, effectively putting the match out of the Drakkar’s reach.
Moreover, the net of 21-year-old veteran Justin Gill with 1:23 remaining did not lead to a great explosion of joy from the visitors, even if Gill winked and kissed the logo on his jersey.
Never mind, the Drakkar made things interesting in a rather improbable way by scoring again, at 19:39.
There was no additional threat after this unexpected goal, the Baie-Comeau team being guilty of a clearance refused after the throw-in.
The Guy-Lafleur Trophy, awarded to the playoff MVP, was awarded to Russian defenseman Vsevolod Komarov.
Komarov, who won top honors with Quebec last year, is the second European skater to receive this honor.
The 20-year-old right-handed guard provided five goals and 10 assists for a total of 15 points in 19 playoff games.
A unique emotion for Gauthier
“It’s completely crazy,” Gauthier shared during the celebrations, which took place in the presence of his father Denis, himself a former Voltigeur. To do this, in front of my hometown, my family and my friends, it’s an incredible feeling! »
If few people favored the Voltigeurs in the final, even fewer predicted a sweep by the Drummondville team.
“For us, our job from start to finish was to approach each game the same way,” added Gauthier. Every day was a new day. I think we stayed true to that throughout the series and we were successful. »