Game Review: Quebec City Completes Solid Performance for a W in Season Opener

[Bonzaijoe 74]

Game one of the VHL’s 64^th season happened the other night when the Meute of Quebec city went into the house of the Seattle Bears and gave the Seattle team a rough night. Quebec went on to win the game 5-1 despite only recording four shots in the opening period of the game.

 

The first period was a defensive showdown, with Quebec City only recording 4 shots on goal, and Seattle only tossing 8 in the way of the goalie. Some might say the defense came up big, but some might say the offense was slow. Despite there only being 12 shots on goal in the period, the shot attempt counter sat at a combined 23 between the two teams after the first 20 minutes had come to an end. The only goal from the period landed in the Bears net when Veran Dragomir of the Meute missed the net twice in a row within 4 seconds, with the rebound off the boards landing right on the stick of Marvin Harding for the Meute’s mid-period tally to break the opening tie. The period featured a ton of missed shots and a surprisingly small amount of blocks despite the low shot on goal conversion happening throughout the time frame.

 

The second period was when the forwards for each side started realizing where they were supposed to be shooting the puck, as a total of 23 Shots hit the net on a listed 55 shot attempts. The conversion percentage is still low, but the volume of shots being sent in the general direction of the net was exponentially higher. The 55 shot attempts, 23 shots, and 3 goals in the period made an exciting one, but the Bears never really got their groove in this game, while they went down 3-1 as the 2^nd frame of the game was coming to a close. This period had actually eclipsed the first period in shots and attempts before the halfway point even hit. This period was filled with high paced action, and a very close, competitive game between two very competent looking hockey teams. Seattle actually notched the first goal of the second period early, to tie the game at 1 before the tie was broken at the 9:45 mark of the period by Quebec City’s Samuel Gate.

 

The third and final frame of the game needed to be a big one from Seattle. They came out of the locker room staring a 3-1 deficit in the eye and were determined to attempt to tie it up in a big fashion and pull a W out of somewhere only they knew. This attempt was stopped short by the Meute, however, as the offense was considerably powerful for Quebec City, who recorded 20 shots on goal in the period, leaving Seattle with a measly 8 in their big 20 minute attempt to tie it up. The barrage of shots coming toward Seattle goaltender Roger Sterling was too hot to handle at times. Sterling let two goals in during the third period. B. Louth and Gate’s goals put Seattle away for real for the rest of the game as they coasted to a solid 5-1 victory over the Bears in the season opener.

 

The three stars of the game were well deserved, those of which being Quebec City’s Samuel Gate, who finished the night with 2 goals and no assists, his first goal being awarded as the game winner. The second star of the game may have even been more deserved than Gate’s first star, as Veran Dragomir helped his teammates a ton, notching a team-high point total of four assists during the 60 minute contest. Dragomir played extremely well on the ice tonight, and the recognition he gets as second star is more than deserved and possibly a little underrating how powerful his performance was throughout the game. The third star was also a member of the Meute, as Marvin Harding launched one puck into the net and grabbed an apple on another play, assisting on Gate’s 2^nd goal, and Quebec City’s 5^th goal of the game.

 

All in all, this game was a solid start to the season and it showed me, as an analyst, that this Meute team is not here to mess around, and some of those guys have some hot sticks that can seriously put some pucks in that net! These two teams will meet again in game 7 of the season, which is the next time both of these teams will be playing hockey as well. They’ll both be on even rest and will have the same amount of film on each other. Will the next game be another big game from the Meute? Or can the bears get the rebound they need from this loss to take their revenge? Find out soon, as the opening night rematch is coming up!