Jayden Tillman and Damien Leduc scored within 59 seconds of each other early in the third period, and Team Gaudreau defeated Team Girard 5-1 on Friday night at the Centre Gervais Auto in Shawinigan to advance to the 2026 QMJHL Cup Final.
Team Gaudreau finished atop the round-robin standings with two wins and one overtime loss. They will face Team Beauvillier in the final at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, a team they defeated 4-1 earlier on Friday.
With both teams playing their second game of the day, legs were a bit heavier, and it took some time for the action to pick up. Gabriel Coache-Luqman capitalized on a point shot during a power play to score the first goal of the game for Team Gaudreau.
Team Girard responded in the second half of the second period. Justin Gagnon, who has had an excellent QMJHL Cup so far, used his big frame to cut in from the wing and beat George-Nektarios Panagakos with a powerful shot.
The push by Tillman and Leduc early in the third period seemed to boost Team Girard’s confidence, however. Tillman first gave his team a 2-1 lead, capitalizing on a pass from Pierre-Antoine Chartrand-Bongono following a scramble behind the net.
Olivier Lafrenière was penalized on the same play for tripping, and Philippe Paquette’s players capitalized on the power play thanks to the excellent duo of Samuel Nowlan and Leduc. Nowlan drove to the net before finding the Châteauguay Grenadiers forward to make it 3-1, which seemed to knock the wind out of their opponents’ sails.
Team Gaudreau delivered the final blow to the Whites late in the third. Cole Toms finished off a pass from Tillman to make it 4-1 with 5:32 remaining, before Chartrand-Bongono picked up a rebound off a shot by Chase Cleary to seal it.
Chartrand-Bongono and Tillman each recorded a goal and an assist, while Williams tallied two assists in the game.
The offense was dominant for the round-robin leaders. Chartrand-Bongono and Éliot Faucher both finished tied for second in tournament scoring with four points each, while Leduc, Aslan Tremblay, and Nowlan each had three.
For the Whites, Nathan Riendeau also had four points, while Gagnon had three in as many games.
Marc-Olivier Samson’s team will take the ice at the Centre Gervais Auto at 11 a.m. on Saturday for the consolation final against Équipe Benoît.
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Game Stats: CLICK HERE
