Americans 1 – Rocket 6 | Deluge of caps at Place Bell

(Laval) We don’t really know if Danick Martel collects hats, but on Sunday night, he had plenty of options.

He could have pulled a white, a red or a blue, so many variations that he ended up on the ice at Bell Place midway through the second period, when the Rockets forward scored his third goal of the game.

We call that a great Sunday night, and it was fueled by this performance from Martel that the Rocket were able to win the first game of this series against the Rochester Americans, by a score of 6-1.

There are times when the score does not indicate the pace of the match, but in the case at hand, it indicates it very well. The Rocket, backed by 10,043 highly vocal fans, quickly set their pace, and visiting Rochester struggled to keep up, despite scoring the opening goal.

Danick Martel couldn’t have hoped for a better night, ending the match with a grand total of four goals.

“The last time I did that, it must go back to my pee or atom years,” said the Quebec player at the end of the match. I usually get a hat-trick a year, but I didn’t this season…so it happened [dimanche soir] And it feels good! »

Martel wasted no time. After the first goal of the game, the one from the visitors and JJ Peterka, he scored a first goal, then a second. He left the third goal for the Rockets to Cédric Paquette -who completed a play full of poetry by Rafaël Harvey-Pinard- and confirmed his hat-trick at 11:23 of the second half, which caused this avalanche of blocks in Laval, where people used to reserve hats in the Fuzzy parking lot after a tribute show to Our Lady of Peace.

But Martel didn’t have enough of three goals, adding a fourth on the third-half power play. This time, the fans were content to throw two blocks on the ice.

“Of course it’s emotional and fun, because it doesn’t happen often,” he added. The disc followed me all night; I had other chances to score later and I preferred to pass the puck so as not to appear selfish! »

“Nothing could stop us”

Striker Rafaël Harvey-Pinard also noticed the same thing.

“We didn’t get the start we wanted and they took the lead, but we played our style of game and ended up going back to our identity,” he said. We were in front of the best fans in the league and it’s always fun to play in front of them. Also, I’m happy for Danick, who is a good friend. At night, I would come back for him…”

At the net for the Rockets, goalie Cayden Primeau looked great again. This time he made 28 saves on 29 shots.

In the visiting goal, Aaron Dell had to give up his net to Michael Houser after the fourth goal.

The match ended in a bit of a commotion as some members of the Rochester club tried to harass the locals, including one Nick Boka, who started running around the ice like someone with very bad intentions.

“This kid was playing every other game towards the end, so you definitely have to be careful with that,” explained coach Jean-François Houle. It’s the umpires’ job to handle this well. It’s unfortunate, but it’s part of the playoffs…”

Without a doubt, the fire is already taken. The continuation on Monday night in the same place, for game number two of the series.