Gare Joyce

Gare Joyce writes regularly on junior hockey for Sportsnet.ca. A veteran journalist, Joyce is the author of Future Greats and Heartbreaks: A Year Undercover in the Secret World of NHL Scouts, When the Lights Went Out: How One Brawl Ended Hockey's Cold War and Changed the Game and Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm. He also writes for ESPN The Magazine, espn.com and several Canadian magazines.

The host Oceanic have been getting better in each game of the Memorial Cup, including Wednesday's loss, stolen by Voltigeur goalie Marco Cousineau.

RIMOUSKI -- Patrice Cormier put on his bravest face after his team’s most heart-breaking defeat.

"That was the best game we played this year," the Oceanic centre said after his Rimouski team lost to Drummondville 3-2 in overtime in the final game of the Memorial Cup’s opening round Wednesday night.

The superlatives don’t end there. Thursday night Cormier and his teammates have to return to the Colisee for their toughest tilt, a tie-break game against the Windsor Spitfires.

Having to play back-to-back games is hard enough in this tournament but it’s harder when the front end is a physical contest that goes beyond 60 minutes. And it must be harder still when you rightly believe that you dominated play and still came out on the short end.

The numbers don’t lie. They just seem inconsistent. Drummondville 3, Rimouski 2 doesn’t square with the Voltigeurs’ 20 shots to the Oceanic’s 41 through 73 minutes of action. Likewise the logic of the three-stars selection is lost. Cormier was named the first star, while Drummondville’s shifty right winger Yannick Riendeau was the first runner-up and Voltigeur netminder Marco Cousineau was No. 3. In all likelihood something was lost in the translation because Cousineau was the defining figure -- he was even busier than the shots indicated. Every team in the post-season looks to their goaltender to steal a game. Cousineau did it when Drummondville needed it most.

Rimouski is still in the tournament but now faces the most daunting prospect in junior hockey: three games in four days against the champions of the Ontario, Quebec and Western leagues respectively. Plus 73 minutes of exertion as a tune-up.

On the upside -- yes, there is one -- Rimouski will be facing a Windsor team they defeated 5-4 on the weekend. The Spitfires earned their rep as a physical team by running over everything in their path to the Memorial Cup, yet the Oceanic out-hit Windsor in their opening-round game. The Spitfires had to have been delighted to see Drummondville and Rimouski batter each other and leave everything on the ice Wednesday night. But they probably should be mindful to keep their heads up. That was a mistake Drummondville’s defenceman Dmitry Kulikov made on consecutives shifts late in the third period when he was first sandwiched by Cormier and Jordan Caron behind Cousineau’s net and then dropped for a 10-count by Logan MacMillan in the open ice.

Rimouski thoroughly outplayed a Drummondville team that swept the Oceanic in the Quebec league playoffs, so the tournament hosts can reasonably believe that they can knock off a team they’ve already beaten here.

Cormier, a native of New Brunswick and a New Jersey draft pick, is reprising the role he played for the Canadian team at the world under-20s a few months back. There he was the hard-hitting muscle down the middle of the checking line. The ‘Nics also look to him to knock opposing blueliners backwards. The difference: With the Canadian squad any scoring from Cormier was considered a bonus, while Rimouski needs production from him.

With the game tied 1-all midway through the second period Cormier was called for a slash. That seemed to be a lucky break for him. He could just as easily have been called for a blow to Kulikov’s head on the play. It seemed a lot less lucky on the ensuing power play when Kulikov scored on a blast from the point. Rimouski was down 2-1 even though the Voltigeurs had only eight shots on goaltender Maxime Gougeon at that point.

"It was hard to watch that from the penalty box," Cormier said. "It wasn’t a good penalty. I knew I had to step up."

And he did. A few shifts into the third period Cormier’s left winger Philippe Cornet carried the puck over the Drummondville blueline and found the big centre in the slot. Cormier beat Cousineau cleanly. Throughout the game Cousineau had smiled almost tauntingly at the Oceanic players with every outrageous save. This time he could only grimace.

Rimouski could have and probably should have won the game in regulation: Shots were Rimouski 14-4 in the third. Same thing can be said of the overtime: The Oceanic carried the play to Drummondville right up to the 13th minute when Drummondville winger Gabriel Dumont crashed the net, lost a backchecking Luca Cunti and knocked the puck past Gougeon. The sections occupied with Voltigeurs fans erupted. The rest of the Colisee remained silent.

Cunti seemed utterly ruined after the game but Cormier accentuated the positive. Sort of.

"There are worse things that happen in hockey," he said.

No argument there.

You have to give the Oceanic a chance to beat Windsor because the Spitfires haven’t impressed here, not even in their 2-1 win over Kelowna. You have to give the Oceanic a chance to beat Windsor because the host team routed Drummondville everywhere but on the scoreboard. You have to give the Oceanic a chance because the Oceanic, despite not playing for 22 games before the tournament and not registering a win for a month, have been better each time out in the tournament.

If Wednesday night’s loss wasn’t the Oceanic’s best game of the season but rather just the best so far, the Spitfires have every reason to worry. A rematch between Rimouski and Drummondville in semifinal Friday? There are worse things that happen in hockey.