Returning to the match thanks to its special teams, the Gothics of Amiens faced more realistic Brûleurs de loups and saw, after a good performance, their adventure in the Coupe de France end in the quarter-finals (4-2 ).
Largely outplayed in the championship against the Brûleurs de loups in the two championship matches played (5-0) and (1-6) this season, the Gothiques d’Amiens this time gave the Isérois a hard time. With the return of Bergeron and Brittain lined up in defense, Kozun was not on the scoresheet and gave way to Duroc.
The Gothics of Amiens would surely have preferred a different start to the match. They quickly lost Larinmaa, forced to give up his place after just four minutes of play. The Finn gave his place to Djemel in the trio with Tessier and Maïa. A few moments later, Svanenbergs missed a big breakaway opportunity in front of Pintaric (4’11). The first Grenoble alert was repelled by Fouquerel, who was then powerless on a puck which was lying at the far post and converted by Koudri (1-0, 4’43). The Amiens came close to being penalized after losing a puck in Djemel’s offensive zone, but Beauchemin stumbled on the Samarian goalkeeper. Not really calm, the defensive errors kept coming and Treille did not take advantage of another loss of the puck. Completely forgotten by the Gothiques rearguard, Hardy scored the second goal for Isérois on a bright pass from Boivin (2-0, 8’58). Trailing by two goals, Amiens had some interesting situations, but neither Matima, who lacked opportunism, nor Maïa and Djemel took advantage of the opposing puck losses.
Magovac, unfortunate scorer
The match started again at a frantic pace and Dair and Svanenbergs were respectively defeated by Fouquerel and Pintaric who engaged in a real goalkeeper duel. The Amiens Gothiques came back into the match thanks to its special teams. On the first advantage of the match, Gibert recovered the puck in his stick after a bad throw from Hilderman in the puck of his teammate Farnier and slipped it skillfully between the legs of Pintaric (2-1, 25’43). The former Nantes player was close to a double after a slip from Grossetete, but the Grenoble goalkeeper pushed back. Again in powerplay after a second indiscipline from Beauchemin, Magovac, just in front of the blue, sent a powerful throw which Gibert deflected, thus deceiving Pintaric (2-2, 29’53). The Brûleurs de loups were quick to regain the advantage thanks to Koudri, who found the net of Fouquerel for the second time in the match (3-2, 31’32). On a big Amiens sequence, Pintaric was impassable, notably with a double save on Bergeron’s throw then Tessier’s rebound. For his part, Fouquerel kept his momentum and kept his team alive with a point-blank shot from Leclerc.
At a slightly slower pace than the other two periods, the two teams put a little less intensity into what they did. Following a high recovery, Dair and Deschamps went on a counter-attack, the first serving the second in front of Fouquerel’s cage, but the BDL attacker was well hampered by Djemel’s defensive return. After this false rhythm, which lasted around ten minutes, the match got carried away, the puck went from one goal to another. Fouquerel had to intervene in front of Leclerc and Deschamps, Pintaric on Djemel’s long throw. In a strong position with their goal in advance and the clock ticking in their favor, the Brûleurs de loups managed their lead and deprived the Gothics of the puck. In the last minute, Magovac came close to being the hero by snatching the equalizer on a long shot, an unfortunate hero, since on the counter, while Amiens was in an empty cage, the Slovenian defender deflected the puck into his own goal (4-2, 59’39). The Brûleurs de loups thus climbed into the last four and eliminated, like last year at the semi-final stage, the Gothiques d’Amiens, with more difficulty this time. This Friday, December 20, the two teams meet for the 28th day of the Magnus League.
Coupe de France, 1/4 final
Grenoble – Amiens: 4-2 (2-0)(1-2)(1-0)
Goals for Grenoble: Adel Koudri (1-0, 4’43) assists Treille and Hardy; Kyle Hardy (2-0, 8’58) assists Boivin and Mallet; Adel Koudri (3-2, 31’32) assists Binner and Treille; Nicolas Deschamps (4-2, 59’39).
Goals for Amiens: Gauthier Gibert (2-1, 25’43) SN; Gauthier Gibert (2-2, 29’53) assists Magovac and Matima SN.
César Willot
Photo credit: Kevin Devigne – Gazettesports.fr (archive)
