TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 1 UQTR 4
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars faced a difficult night against Canadian University Cup runners up, University of Quebec Trois-Riviere as they went down 4-1 to the Patriotes in the first of two friendly games.
By Kris Smith
The opening period saw the visitors quickly find their feet and begin to pin the Stars into their own end as they piled on some early pressure.
Dundee’s defences were holding and they were not afraid to put their bodies on the line to stop the puck reaching goaltender, Jarrett Fiske but eventually in the fifth minute, the Patriotes stopped the Stars from clearing their own zone and Pierre-Olivier Roy managed to get the puck to Felix Lafrance at the back post for a tap-in.
The Taysiders responded well and began to get forward more but the rest of the first period would be a physical, end-to-end battle as both teams chased the next goal and Dundee also produced a solid penalty kill halfway through the opening stanza.
In the second period, the home team again faced an up-hill battle as they Canadians doubled their lead in the 25th minute with a powerplay goal as Charles Beaudoin was picked out by Zachary Gravel as he crashed towards the Dundee net and turned the puck past Fiske.
The Stars had a number of good chances to get off the mark but Patriotes goalie, Charles-Antoine Lavallee appeared an unbeatable force between the pipes as he stonewalled attack after attack.
Kyle Pouncy, Jake Elmer and Jonathan McBean all had opportunities to cut down the lead but after failing to capitalise, the Quebec-side extended the lead to three and punished Dundee for some slack passing.
After turning the puck over on the Patriotes blueliner, Beaudoin gained possession and broke down the ice but would be unable to slip the puck past Fife, although the onrushing Ludovic Soucy smacked home the rebound on 36 minutes.
The third period saw the Stars continue to try and battle back and with some time on the powerplay, they slowly edged out more chances but would see a video review of a potential goal by Elmer disallowed as the puck did not fully cross the line.
However, after killing off a penalty against Domenic Alberga, he sprung out from the penalty box and was played in behind by Brett Gravelle’s long pass and he buried it straight past Lavallee to reduce the lead to two.
Marc LeFebvre’s men pushed on for another goal late in the game and the Stars boss used his timeout with two minutes remaining and also emptied his goal for the extra attacker but the Patriotes would seal the victory when Conor Frenette fired into the gaping goal.
The Stars now have two days to rest and prepare for their next clash with UQTR as they return to the DIA on Sunday, but first travel to Kirkcaldy on Saturday to take on Fife Flyers.
Dundee Scratches: #10 Kielly (Travelling), #24 Moore, #36 Sabol (Travelling), #45 Kelly (Injury) & #83 O’Connor (International Duty).
UQTR Scratches: #5 Felix Larose, #16 Mathis Cloutier & #17 Jeremy Martin.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #8 Domenic Alberga
UQTR: #15 Loris Rafanomezantsoa
Goals
1st
0-1 Felix Lafrance (Pierre-Olivier Roy) 04:07
2nd:
0-2 Charles Beaudoin (Zachary Gravel) 24:52 PPG
0-3 Ludovic Soucy (Charles Beaudoin) 36:39
3rd:
1-3 Domenic Alberga (Brett Gravelle, Cole MacDonald) 51: 35
1-4 Conor Frenette (Pierre-Olivier Roy) 58:23 ENG
All images: Derek Black.
