Grenoble was scared but Grenoble had no choice. To continue to believe in an unprecedented treble in the 21st century in the Coupe de France, the Brûleurs de loups had to get rid of the Gothics of Amiens, who had come to Isère to sell their skin dearly. The Amiens were able to pull off a real blow at Polesud and they gave a real thrill to the 3,953 spectators who came to watch this decisive match.
Because Grenoble had started the game perfectly, quickly leading 2-0 thanks to Koudri (4’43) and Hardy (8’58), who came to recover a fine pass from Christophe Boivin at the foot of Fouquerel’s right post during the first third . Everything was going well, perhaps too well for Per Hanberg’s men, who had several opportunities to increase the score as the game progressed.
>>> The program and results of the Coupe de France
Amiens efficient in powerplay, Koudri puts on a show
In the second third, the Grenoblois returned to the ice a little timid, unlike the Amiens, determined to hurt the Grenoble defense at all costs. François Beauchemin was penalized twice and each time, Mario Richer’s players punished the Grenoblois. Gibert first (25’43) reduced the gap and the same Gibert, from afar this time, surprised Pintaric, masked (29’53), after only fifteen seconds of numerical superiority.
Tied again, the Grenoblois found their vertical game to call on Clément Fouquerel. All the lines regained juice and intensity to regain the upper hand over the Picards. Koudri, again, freed Polesud thanks to an eccentric shot into Fouquerel’s top corner, too short to stop the puck (31’32). At 3-2, Grenoble regained the upper hand and Koudri was very close to a hat-trick (37’48). Fouquerel pulled off a huge save to annoy the Grenoble attacker.
In the third period, the two teams did not let up one step, everything was decided in the last minute. Amiens, who had released his goalkeeper to be in numerical superiority, was very close to deceiving Pintaric with only 15 seconds left to play. On the counter, Deschamps rushes to the other side, straightens the puck which hits an Amiens defender and which goes into the empty goal. Grenoble is in the semi-final!
