Not Her Loss

While she hasn't secured a spot on the team just yet, the goaltender to the right is making an impact at the Gatineau Olympiques camp in a big way. That's Ève Gascon in between the pipes from this past week's QMJHL preseason action, and she has yet to look out of place against major junior male players. A week ago, I wrote about how she earned this opportunity with the QMJHL team, and she's proving that Gatineau was wise to take a chance on her as she's played exceptionally well in the limited time she's been given.

Before we start handing her the keys to the arena, though, let's look at her performances from the past week. After all, my opinion of how she played may have differed greatly from other, wiser people in the game of hockey, so it's good to get several reputable sources to weigh in on how Gascon has fared. Let's dig into these games.

On August 19, Gascon took to the Olympiques net wearing #30 as the starter. Both teams were playing their second preseason game and players were still competing for roster spots, so there was some uptempo play. Gascon may have impressed a number of people because she denied 13 Blainville-Boisbriand Armada shots in the opening frame, including a two-minute power-play, to help Gatineau earn a 1-0 lead through twenty minutes. Needless to say, Gascon looked sharp in her first action of the season.

As you likely know, teams will swap goalies in the middle period so both netminders get action, and the Olympiques did that at the 9:14 mark of the second period. Moments before that whistle, Blainville-Boisbriand scored on Gascon while on the power-play as she surrendered her first QMJHL goal-against to Alexis Bourque at 8:21 of the second period. As she skated off the ice following the goalie swap, Gascon and the Olympiques were tied 1-1 with Gascon having stopped 19 of 20 shots she faced.

When the final horn sounded on this game, the Armada had scored four times on the other Olympiques netminder to earn a 5-1 win. Gascon's debut, it seems, impressed a vast number of people.

Gascon told reporters after the game, "I was more excited than stressed. I know I can play here, I showed it in training. It goes well. I was excited to make the first stop. Once it was done, I was confident."

Olympiques head coach and general manager Louis Robitaille added, "At the end of the first period, she made two or three big stops on the penalty kill. Overall it was a great performance. For the rest, we will see from day to day. She can only be satisfied with her performance."

Clearly, Gascon impressed the guy who brought her into camp with her performance, but one game does not make a career. Let's jump ahead to tonight where Gascon was dressed once again, but wearing #37 in her second game with the Olympiques. She began the game on the bench while Rémi Poirier got the start against the Drummondville Voltigeurs, and she would join the action at the 9:31 mark of the second period with Drummondville leading 2-0. This score will be key in a few moments.

Gatineau would score four minutes after the goalie change to make it 2-1, but Gascon would surrender a power-play goal at 17:35 of the middle frame to Daniel Agostino to put the Voltigeurs up 3-1. Gatineau would get one back before the horn ended the period, and we'd move to the third period with Drummondville up 3-2.

There were no additional goals scored in the final frame byu either side as both Gascon and Drummondville's Riley Mercer did their jobs well in keeping scorers from denting twine. At the final horn, Drummondville had captured the 3-2 victory, but it was the stats line that caught my attention because of one letter. Here's that stat line.

According to the QMJHL, Ève Gascon recorded the loss for Gatineau tonight despite her entering the game while trailing 2-0 and Gatineau never tying the game up. The rules of hockey state that a goalie who replaces the starter can't be the goalie of record unless his or her team ties the game or takes the lead before losing the game. In other words, Rémi Poirier should be the goalie of record in this one because of the hole that Gatineau was in when he was replaced - a hole, might I remind you, from which they never recovered.

That statistical error aside, Gascon's performances in the two games likely warrants her a longer look if Gatineau is truly aiming to have the best goaltending they can this season. Here are the stats of the seen goalies in Gatineau camp as cuts likely loom this week with the Olympiques needed to pare down this list. And, by the way, I fixed the stats error on this image.

It seems pretty clear that the one goalie who has played the most - Ève Gascon - while putting up the second-best GAA and the third-best save percentage while only surrendering two goals on the power-play when Gatineau was playing down a man should likely be asked to stick around once cuts are made. Call me crazy, but I told you that she earned the opportunity with Gatineau, and she seems determined to prove to everyone that this is about talent and skill and not some publicity stunt or PR move by the team.

The key here is that Gascon likely will not play with the Olympiques this season even if she was named their starter. She has a full scholarship to the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and I suspect she'll take that opportunity to not only further her hockey career by playing for one of the best Division-1 programs in the US, but to get an education at an excellent school. I should remind everyone that it's not out of the realm of possibilities that Gatineau tries to convince her to stick around, but I sense that the opportunity for a free education while playing women's hockey for the first time at any level will be a challenge that Gascon won't turn down.

Based on her play in Gatineau in the preseason, though, one has to wonder how she'd do at the QMJHL level for a full season. She's certainly earned that speculation based upon how she's played for the Olympiques thus far.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!