Team Bourque emerged victorious from its first game of the 2024 QMJHL Cup with a 9-1 triumph over Team Marchand on Thursday evening at the Centre d’excellence Sports Rousseau in Boisbriand.
In the victory, Team Bourque forward Victor Morissette-Richer led his team with two goals and an assist, supporting goaltender Alexis Cloutier’s 16 saves. For Team Marchand, forward Gavin Smith was the only player to find the back of the net on a pass from Jace Evans.
Morissette-Richer opened the scoring just three minutes into the first period after receiving a pass from forward Zack Miller and unleashing his shot from the slot. Team Bourque then added five more goals. The second one was scored by defenseman Alexandre Taillefer, who pulled off a spectacular deke to put the puck past goaltender Jordan Rittenberg. Mathieu Perron, Victor Morrissette, Zachary Roussy and Samuel Boyer were the other goal scorers in the first period.
Team Bourque maintained its lead by exploiting its speed in the second period, making it 7-0 when Chad Lygitsakos found the back of the net. Then, at 11 minutes and 25 seconds, forward Gavin Smith scored Team Marchand’s only goal of the game when he beat Cloutier. Team Bourque added two more goals from Emil Leroux and Elliot Deslisle to take a 9-1 lead after 40 minutes.
No goals were scored in the third and final period. In the end, Team Bourque capitalized on its only power play opportunity of the game, while Team Marchand failed to score on its three opportunities with an extra skater.
Team Bourque will look for a second consecutive win tomorrow when it faces Team Brière at 12:00 pm ET. Team Marchand, meanwhile, will be looking for its first win against Team Savard at 2:45 pm ET.
