Defeated the day before by a score of 4 to 2, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies obtained their revenge against the Quebec Remparts on Saturday by winning 4 to 0 at the Videotron Center.
However, even if he seemed rather disappointed with the play of his team in the victory on Friday, the coach of the Red Devils, Éric Veilleux, was more conciliatory. In his opinion, this weekend should serve as a lesson.
• Also read: The Remparts take on the Huskies to start the year
“We played a better match. Defensively, we gave less than yesterday at five against five. The momentum changed in the third period, he argued. Are we satisfied with the weekend? Not really. The last three days, including our practice day, are not necessarily to be forgotten, but we will have to learn from it all.”
A few moments earlier, veteran Xavier Lebel had spoken of an “unacceptable” performance marked by a “lack of effort”.
“I can’t say why. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a good practice before the weekend and that played a trick on us. As we still won yesterday, we didn’t come out strong today. We did not learn from our mistakes and we lost,” he explained.
Plouffe traded
Furthermore, the players learned a few hours before the game that their general manager, Simon Gagné, had traded forward Nathan Plouffe to the Cape Breton Eagles in exchange for a fifth round pick in 2025.
While he refused to talk about “nervousness” in the locker room, Lebel acknowledged that “certain players” were more “disturbed” by the final stage of the transaction period which will end Monday in the QMJHL.
“I still think that morale is very good in the team, even if we lost a player today. It’s a loss, but we have to play anyway,” he added.
The “real” Huskies
Among the visitors, who will complete a series of three games in as many days on Sunday by visiting the Océanic in Rimouski, coach Steve Hartley appreciated the response of his team the day after Friday’s defeat.
“We were much more incisive. We wanted to be the first on the puck, play behind their defenders and force them to pivot. I think we did a better forecheck. It was a very good road game! Even though we had worked yesterday, I thought we had done poorly. This evening, we saw our real team,” he observed.
As for the shutout, it went to goaltender Zach Pelletier. The latter was making his first start in the Pack uniform after being acquired from the Gatineau Olympics just before Christmas in return for a 3rd round pick in 2025.
“It’s really fun! It wasn’t easy before the holidays. The guys played really well and made it easy for me. When they hit two posts in quick succession [en troisième période]I told myself that I would succeed in getting it. I was confident!” said the man who made 25 saves to obtain this first career shutout while the Remparts organization had ironically invited its fans to dress in white for the day.
