Maine Hockey Journal

Lewiston wins the slug fest

Lewiston, ME– The 2,010 fans that made it to the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on the eve of Thanksgiving saw a slug fest. The Maineiacs stuffed the net like a turkey as they went on to a 9-3 victory.

“Right when we got out for the National Anthem, we saw the crowd behind us the whole way, that really helped,” said Maxime Gratchev. He was named the first star of the game with two goals and three assists.

25 seconds into the contest, Tommy Gauthier went off for roughing and Shawinigan also got a bench minor. Mathew Pistilli served the minor. On the man advantage, Lewiston rang the iron. Danick Paquette camped himself in front of the net. He almost stuffed home a rebound.

The Maineiacs went back on the powerplay when Simon Lacroix sat for two minutes at the 4:17 mark. Shawinigan had a nice short handed chance when Pierrick Martel stole the puck. He got a shot on Peter Delmas. Denis Reul went to the box for two minutes at the 6:55 mark. Delmas made a flurry of saves on the penalty kill.

Just before the ten minute mark, Etienne Brodeur let a slap shot go and it found the back of the cage. Garrett Clarke and Billy Lacasse tallied assists. With 3:42 remaining Danick Paquette went off for tripping. After Shawinigan fired shot after shot Delmas, former Maineiac David Taylor went to the sin bin with 2:03 left in the stanza.

On the shorten powerplay, Danick Paquette snapped one home with 56 seconds left. Maxime Gratchev and Patrick Cusack got the helpers. Billy Lacasse and Marc Bourgeois went off with 11 seconds in the first.

Lewiston held the Cataractes under ten shots in the first period. “We can tip our cap to the system and the guys following the system. We also have a lot of real good skaters that also helps out,” said Maineiacs’ Head Coach Ed Harding.

The Cataractes struck on their two man advantage, Philippe Paradis found the back of the net. The goal came 53 seconds into the frame. Pierre-Alexandre Vandall got the lone helper. Lewiston killed the remaining 53 seconds on the 5-4 on 4 powerplay.

Michael Ward went behind the goal line and flipped out in front of the Shawinigan net and Lacasse batted it in. The goal came at the 9:43 mark. Maxime Gratchev was fed a pass in the slot and put it past Timo Pielmeier. Marc Bourgeois and Michael Chaput grabbed the helpers.

Gratchev said his game hasn’t changed since the beginning of the year. “It hasn’t changed much; I am trying to take the puck to the net to create scoring opportunities for my teammates. The team has been improving in every situation and that allows me to put the points on the board.”

Ed Harding thinks Gratchev likes to be on the point on the powerplay. “He relishes the idea playing the point on the powerplay in the umbrella. I think it helped him move the puck a little better too. The big thing for him is being unselfish and moving the puck. It’s all the things that the New York Islanders and I have talked about,” said Harding.

Maineiacs had the Cataractes defense bottle up and had a couple scoring opportunities. Pielmeier made himself look big and kept the deficit to three. Paquette had an open net but he lost his balance.

With 23 seconds left Pierre-Olivier Morin got his third goal of year. He let a slap shot off at the right circle dot. Ward got his second assist of the night and Reul picked up his first. Tommy Tremblay and Pierrick Marte got minors at the 20 minute mark.

Eric Bouchard went to the box at the 1:10 mark that gave Lewiston a 5 on 3 powerplay. Marc Bougeois got a ten minute misconduct. Lewiston couldn’t take advantage with three Cataractes players on the ice. On the 5 on 4 powerplay, Patrick Cusack finally put the biscuit home after a couple hacks by Lewiston. Gratchev and Ward reach get their third point of the night at the 2:43 mark.

Maxime Gratchev made it 7-1 at the 4:43 mark. He held onto the puck as Gabriel Girard committed early. Gratchev roofed the puck at the 4:43 mark. It was the only even strength goal in the period.

20 seconds after the goal, a tornado tag team match took place as Danick Paquette and Maxime Gratchev dropped the gloves for Lewiston and Antoine Houde-Caron and Adam Bourque-Leblanc were the opponents. Gratchev was the only player not to get a fighting major instead an interference call. Houde-Caron got a ten minute misconduct. Paquette appeared to be shaken up after the fight.

Eric Gelinas went to the box at the 4:52 mark, Matthew Pistilli got a powerplay tally at the 6:04 mark. Nicholas Petersen got the lone assist.

At the ten minute mark, Tommy Gauthier got an interference penalty. 48 seconds into the penalty Michael Chaput got an interference penalty as he ran into the goalie. Ashton Bernard drilled Delmas after the whistle and got a roughing call with 6:21 remaining. Garrett Clarke also got a roughing call. 26 seconds later, Delmas got drilled again. Michael Bournival got a five minute major for charging. Paradis and Reul got matching roughing calls.

Lewiston had a 5 on 3 powerplay for 1:33. 21 seconds into the powerplay Shawinigan got called for more penalties. Mathieu Milsé got a double minor and Cusack got a minor penalty. Pierre-Oliver Morin made it 8-2 from nice tic-tac passing from Bourgeois and Eric Gelinas. The goal came with 4:09 remaining. Steeven Jacques made it 9-2 on the powerplay. Gratchev and Clarke got the helpers with 2:06 left in the contest.

Filip Janosik got a tripping penalty with 46 seconds left. Clarke got a ten minute misconduct. With 39 seconds in the contest, Mathieu Milsé scored on the powerplay with a blast. Bernard got a game misconduct.

Peter Delmas made 24 saves in the victory. Timo Pielmeier turned away 30 shots on 35 chances. Gabriel Girard turned away 12 shots. Lewiston was 4/11 with the man advantage and Shawinigan was 3 for 8 on the powerplay. The three stars were:

3. Pierre-Olivier Morin (Lewiston)

2. Michael Ward (Lewiston)

1. Max Gratchev (Lewiston)

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