Record Staff
Sherbrooke
The Sherbrooke Phoenix continued the pre-season preparations picking up two more victories in exhibition games against the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
The victories improve the Phoenix’s exhibition record to 3-1 as the second week of training camp came to an end.
On Friday, the Phoenix jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished control beating the Voltigeurs 7-1.
In only his second game with Sherbrooke, 20-year-old left winger Guillaume Gauthier picked up a hat trick, including the first of the game at 6:34 in the first period. The Phoenix would go on to add two more that period, the second point from Julien Pelletier and the last from captain Carl Neill. Gauthier picked up his second goal of the night on a power play early seven minutes into the second period to give Sherbrooke a 4-0 lead.
Drummondville finally got on the board with their own unassisted power play goal when Alex Barré-Boulet found the back of the net. The Phoenix took control back in the period picking up two more goals off the sticks of Vincent Deslauriers and Mikael Sabourin. A final goal from Gauthier with less than seven minutes in the third finished the scoring.
Evan Fitzpatrick was in goal for the Phoenix, allowing one power play goal in 21 shots.
Joe Fleschler picked up the loss for Drummondville, playing 40 minutes in net and allowing six goals on 20 shots. Anthony Dumont-Bouchard, who allowed one goal on five shots, replaced the starting goalie in the final period
The return game in Sherbrooke on Saturday was a much closer affair and it was not until the third period that Phoenix secured the 5-2 victory.
It looked as though the first period would end scoreless until Sherbrooke’s Julien Pelletier found the back of the net at 18:47. The Pheonix came out the intermission strong as Guillaume Gauthier doubled their lead just over a minute into the second period.
However, the Voltigeurs came back strong scoring two goals later in the period as Michael Carcone slipped on past Fitzpatrick at 6:24 and Alex Barré-Boulet knocked in his one late period goal at 18:28. Both teams headed into the second intermission with the game tied 2-2.
The third period would be all one sided traffic as Sherbrooke captain Neill notched one goal and alternate captain Daniel Audette nabbed two of his own. Audette put together a team leading seven-point weekend, adding three assists on Friday and two assists in this game in addition to his two-goal performance.
Evan Fitzpatrick had another solid night in net, giving up two goals on 35 shots in 60 minutes. Drummondville’s Anthony Dumont-Bouchard played the entire game in net facing 44 shots.
The Phoenix have one exhibition game against the Val-d’Or Foreurs (1-4) on Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Sports Palace.
They open their regular season on Sept. 11 at home against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.