Val-d'Or Foreurs took to the ice for the first time of the season and came away with a 5:2 victory over Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Friday night. The QMJHL match at 20:00 local time ended with the visitors proving they can raise the tempo when they need to. And here's the thing — the Huskies, sitting fifth after three games with two wins and one loss, found themselves on the wrong side of a result that will stick with them.
The away side had not played a match before this one, zero games, zero points on the board. To be fair, that is not something you can read into too deeply. The table goes out of the window in these games, as they say, and Val-d'Or simply closed the game out after building a lead. The hosts stretched the back line early but never got out of second gear when it mattered.
Rouyn-Noranda had been in decent form recently, winning four of their last five before this evening. They beat Victoriaville 4:0, Drummondville 3:1, Gatineau 1:0 and Rimouski 5:2, losing only to Quebec 3:1. By then, you would have fancied them to carry that momentum forward. Instead, the draw brought them together early and the visitors took control.
The result does not shift either side dramatically in the standings — the Huskies remain fifth, though three points and one loss is a small sample size. Val-d'Or sit seventh after zero games and zero points, which means the season has just started and the table says nothing yet. What it does show is that newcomers can come in and compete from the start.