QMJHL
Francis Pare continued setting the pace for top spot in the QMJHL points race, but it wasn’t enough to propel his Sangueneens past the Lewiston Maineiacs Saturday.
Pare scored a goal in Chicoutimi’s (24-18-1-3) 5-2 loss to take sole position of the overall lead, a point ahead of Saint John’s Christopher DiDomenico. Pare has 33 goals and 35 assists in 45 games.
Pare opened the scoring and the teams traded goals in the first period, with the score going into the intermission tied at two. The second period was scoreless, but the Mainieacs exploded for three third period goals en route to the victory.
Stefano Giliati scored a pair of third period goals for the Mainieacs (24-17-2-2), while Jakub Bundil, Danick Paquette and Michael Ward also counted.
Bryan Wilson got the other goal for Chicoutimi.
Elsewhere in the QMJHL, it was: Rimouski 5 St. John’s 4; Halifax 6 Shawinigan 3; Val-d’Or 6 P.E.I. 5 (OT) and Gatineau 3 Baie-Comeau 2 (SO).
Jonathan Bernier made 34 saves for the Maineiacs, while Bobby Nadeau turned away 25 shots for the Sangueneens.
Oceanic 5 Fog Devils 4
At St. John’s, N.L., Jordan Caron scored a pair and added an assist as the Oceanic edged the Fog Devils.
Maxime Gratchev, Mathieu Asselin and Philippe Cornet also counted for Rimouski (18-29-1-0).
Nick Layton scored a pair for St. John’s (20-22-1-3), while Henrick Lavoie and Pat O’Keefe counted singles.
Jean-Christophe Blanchard made 31 saves for the Oceanic, while Timo Pielmeier allowed three goals on nine shots before being replaced by Jake Allen who made 15 saves.
Mooseheads 6 Cataractes 3
At Halifax, Ryan Hillier scored a hat trick and added an assist to pace the Mooseheads to a victory over the Cataractes.
Peter-James Corsi, Yuri Cheremetiev and Bryce Swan also counted for Halifax (27-12-0-4).
David Taylor got a goal and two assists for Shawinigan (21-19-0-3), while Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll and Nicholas Petersen chipped in with singles.
Pier-Olivier Pelletier made 23 saves for the Mooseheads, while Kevin Maletto turned away 25 shots for the Cataractes.
Foreurs 6 Rocket 5 (OT)
At Val-d’Or, Que., Shawn Morton-Boutin scored the overtime winner halfway through the extra frame as the Foreurs edged the Rocket.
Jonathan Hazen opened the scoring for the Foreurs (20-23-2-2), but the Rocket came out flying in the second period scoring five goals. Matthew Lachaine and Bradley Gallant scored the first two, and Geoff Walker got a natural hat trick to round out the scoring for P.E.I. (21-18-2-1).
But in the third period the Foreurs fought back to send the game to overtime on the back of Hanzen’s second goal, as well as markers by Marc-Andre Cote, Samuel Richard and Maxime Levesque.
Raffaele D’Orso made 19 saves for the Foreurs, while Marc-Antoine Gelinas turned away 41 shots for the Rocket.
Olympiques 3 Drakkar 2 (SO)
At Baie-Comeau, Que., Paul Byron scored the shootout winner as the Olympiques edged the Drakkar.
Matthew Pistilli and Alexandre Quesnel scored in regulation Gatineau (29-14-2-2).
Pierre-Luc Lessard and Matt Marquardt replied for Baie-Comeau (29-12-1-4).
Ryan Mior made 31 saves for the Olympiques, while Marco Cousineau turned away 26 shots for the Drakkar.
Source: QMJHL: Sangueneens fall to Maineiacs
