Moncton continues their Gilles-Courteau Trophy defense with a game one home victory against Chicoutimi.
The Moncton Wildcats sure are experienced.
It's super rare to see a team push for back to back titles in the CHL, but that's exactly what the 'Cats are looking to do, and they leaned on their experience to take down the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in game one of the QMJHL championship series.
Here's all the action from Friday's contest.
Chicoutimi (2) - Moncton (5)
Moncton's Gabe Smith and Chicoutimi's Mavrick Lachance battle for a faceoff in the Sags' zone. (Photo: Daniel St-Louis)Thanks to a regular season push that went all the way to the final weekend of the season, the Wildcats have home-ice advantage in the QMJHL final against Chicoutimi.
They packed the Avenir Centre in game one, and used home ice to their advantage.
Just 20 seconds in, captain Caleb Desnoyers scored on a wraparound that got the fans going, and gave Moncton an early 1-0 lead.
Niko Tournas would double that lead six minutes in on the power play, and the Wildcats were really in business. Chicoutimi would get on back just past the halfway point of a busy opening frame, with Mavrick Lachance getting the visitors on the board.
Gabe Smith would give the Wildcats the two-goal lead back with another power-play goal, this one on a breakaway after a nice Desnoyers stretch pass.
The first period would end with a 3-1 advantage in favour of the home side, but it would be the Saguenéens that got one back early in the second. It was an unlikely source who provided it, with Christophe Berthelot scoring past Rudy Guimond to cut the lead to one.
From there, Moncton got into business mode, defending hard as the minutes counted down. The second period came to a close, and the third went on and on with the score remaining at 3-2 for the hosts.
Preston Lounsbury's empty netter gave Moncton a big insurance goal, and Smith padded the lead with his 16th of the playoffs, also with Chicoutimi's goal vacant.
That would be it for game one, with Moncton getting one step closer to repeating as champs. The Sags will look to get the split with a quick turnaround, as these teams are back at it Saturday for game two.
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