QUEBEC CITY — It was, for much of the night, a dominant, suffocating performance by the Oshawa Generals in their return to the MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament.
For much of the night, that is.
The OHL champions, despite the overall strength of their effort against the Quebec league champions from Rimouski, did make enough uncharacteristic errors to make it a close hockey game, including a massive one in the final seconds that almost extended the game for both teams.
With their best defenders, notably Cole Cassels, Josh Brown and Dakota Mermis, on the ice with seconds to play, the Generals looked to be in control with a one-goal lead, particularly since a too-many-men penalty against the Oceanic had meant pulling their goalie would only bring them to even-strength for the deciding moments.
But with Cassels, the conqueror of Connor McDavid, focusing on one side of the ice along Brown and Mermis, none of them saw Rimouski’s leading scorer, Alexis Loiseau, come charging down the middle of the ice, wide-open. Loiseau took a pass, shifted to his left and fired, looking for a goal to send the game into overtime.
Oshawa goalie Ken Appleby was sliding to his right but in control just enough to get the left side of his chest on the puck, which then ricocheted over the net and stayed out.
That made it a 4-3 final in favour of Oshawa. Whew.
It was the second very entertaining game in the 97th tournament after Quebec and Kelowna had started the Memorial Cup competition in fine style on Friday.
For the Generals, there was much to like about their game, particularly the way they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and were all over the Oceanic, who went with Phillippe Desrosiers in net after his terrific performance in a Game 7, double-OT triumph over the Remparts in the QMJHL final.
But in a 44-second span, Rimouski tied the game with two goals before the first intermission, a startling turnaround after they’d managed only two shots on Appleby in the opening 15 minutes.
After Oshawa jumped ahead again 3-2 on a Stephen Derocher slapshot off a clean faceoff win by Cassels, Rimouski tied the game early in the third with 6-foot-7 Generals winger Hunter Smith, a Calgary Flames prospect, off for tripping 200 feet from his own net.
The goal by Winnipeg draftee Jan Kostalek was largely created by the hustle of Frederik Gauthier, the Maple Leaf first rounder. Gauthier lost the puck in the Oshawa zone, but then hustled all the way back to strip Generals winger Michael McCarron inside the Rimouski zone and start the play back towards the Oshawa end.
Ultimately, Kostalek ripped a shot past Appleby to make it 3-3. But then Smith used his size to full advantage, manhandling Rimouski defenceman Simon Bourque to fight his way to a rebound and shovel it past Desrosiers for what turned out to be the game-winner.
"If we had lost the game I probably would have taken it right on my shoulders," said Smith afterwards.
Appleby’s last ditch save on Loiseau protected the victory, leaving the Generals at 1-0 in the tournament heading into Sunday afternoon’s contest against Quebec, also 1-0 after beating the Rockets 4-3 on opening night at historic Le Colisee.
The historic backdrop to this one, of course, is that it was Generals star Eric Lindros who, 24 years ago, refused to play for the Nordiques in this famous rink. The Oshawa team bus features a large picture of Lindros, and that may add another layer to the usual hostility as the host Remparts look to move to 2-0.
For this year’s Generals team, getting the first win protects a team against the nightmare scenario of not even making it to the tiebreaker game on Thursday.
"It certainly allows you to be a little calmer," said Oshawa head coach D.J. Smith. "You lose that first one and you start to squeeze the stick a bit tighter. It gets harder and harder each game because people are becoming more desperate.
Rimouski coach Serge Beausoleil, naturally, wasn’t happy with the result against the Generals or the way his team played while being outshot 37-22.
"We needed better puck management," he said. "You can’t make 50 turnovers against Oshawa."
Rimouski takes on Kelowna Monday night.