Quebec Remparts head coach Éric Veilleux wasn't laughing after his team's 5-2 loss to the Cape Breton Eagles on Friday night at the Videotron Center.
He was visibly dissatisfied with the performance of his charges and was taciturn after the game.
A few hours after captain Kassim Gaudet moved to the Drummondville Voltigeurs, the “Red Devils” were the first to score a goal in the 43rd second of the game.
In the Remparts driver's eyes, however, this sequence, which led to Daniel Agostino's seventh goal of the season, was one of his team's rare good sequences during the encounter.
“We started strong for one sequence and then it stopped there. That’s it!”, he analyzed dryly, adding that he “didn’t have much to say” about the meeting.
“It's rare that I feel like this during an interview after a game!” he also warned.
Veilleux quickly brushed aside the excuse of shock following the captain's departure from the team for other countries.
“No no no. Well no! He was a big figure both in terms of leadership and in physical terms, but in an ice hockey team there are twenty players on the ice. Kassim did not achieve the victories alone,” he said before the end of the game Scribe question.
VIDEO | Éric Veilleux was visibly irritated by the performance #Pinns It before #Eagle This evening. “If you see your Midget AAA kids on the ice more than the ones who spent the first half of the season with you, that's the problem!” he says. pic.twitter.com/OSf4Conzf7
— Benjamin Aubert (@BenjaminAubert) January 6, 2024
Connected players are more visible than regular ones
The man who now has more than 700 career games behind a QMJHL bench continued by taking a dig at the players who have made up the team's regular roster since the start of the season.
“If behind the bench you see your kids coming from Midget AAA on the ice more than the ones who spent the first half of the season with you, then that’s the problem!”
To that end, the Remparts' second goal was scored by one of those affiliated players during a power play in the third period, Alexandre Desmarais. The 17-year-old scored his first career goal in the QMJHL.
Olivier Houde leads the Eagles attack
On the visitors' side, the offensive was led by a player from the Greater Quebec area. Olivier Houde, from Dosquet in the Lotbinière sector, actually scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season and also provided an assist on his team's third goal.
“He has been one of our best players for some time. “He’s a veteran who plays very good hockey for us,” noted Eagles head coach Louis Robitaille.
Fast
- Loïc Goyette, acquired as part of the deal that sent Kassim Gaudet to Drummondville, played in the first trio to the left of Charles Savoie and Xavier Lebel on Friday evening.
- 11,518 spectators attended the game. This was the second to last free game for children under 12 as part of the Christmas promotion.