A crowd this size has never been seen since the great concerts of the New Kids on the Block and Good Charlotte attracted thousands of spectators. But the Auditorium welcomed visitors by the hundreds last Saturday night. Verdun residents and their families came to closely watch the team of Pascal Vincent; or rather, they came to watch Patrick Roy and his team. The Remparts are so popular in the Old Capital that several supporters made the trip from Quebec to Montreal to watch their team play against the “bad” boys of Montreal. When he arrived in Verdun, Patrick Roy was welcomed by a pack of reporters in the Auditorium’s parking lot. The former Canadian goalie said he was “pleased to be back in Montreal in major junior hockey.”
Some of those who attended this first match of the Junior were players of the Canadian team - Guillaume Latendresse and Maxim Lapierre – who were seated in the VIP box of the Auditorium. Satisfied with the day’s training session in Pierrefonds, the two players were visibly in great shape and recalled the times they were with the Junior team in the company of the Commissioner of the Junior League, Gilles Courteau.
On the whole, the match revealed the excellent work of the two goalies, Jean-François Bérubé of the Junior de Montréal and Jonathan Roy, Patrick’s son who was net goalie for the Remparts.
Chief trainer Pascal Vincent did not mince words when he spoke of “stupid penalties” imposed on his team, penalties which forced his players to play for several minutes lagging behind the Remparts in terms of points. No doubt they took advantage of this to earn more points. The final minutes of the match were marked by the momentary withdrawal of the Junior’s goalie to even the score with the Remparts. The last minutes of the third period showed that the men of Pascal Vincent were able to give their maximum.
The Junior de Montréal suffered a third defeat in Sunday’s four matches, scoring 4-2 in a match against the Huskies of Rouyn-Noranda. About 1674 visitors went through the turnstile in this second match of the season. That’s a smaller number than the first time, but it was a predictable situation according to observers who were not expecting any magic as easily as with the Remparts, given the rivalry.
“We need a more intense focus”, said Junior chief trainer Pascal Vincent who did a post-mortem assessment of the last two defeats.
“It is true that we’re suffering from the absence of five key players who are presently in the LNH training camps”, Pascal Vincent explained. He is counting on having Esposito , Allen, Brennan, and Adam back.
It was a few seconds before the end of the third period that Gabriel Lévesque scored the victory point while the Huskies took advantage of their number superiority. It resembled the match the night before regarding penalties.
The Junior de Montréal will need more energy and concentration to win their next match at the Auditorium on Friday, September 26 at 19h30 against the Sea Dogs of Saint-Jean. The match will start at 19h30. Come early, as there are just a few good seats left.
