LEWISTON – The falling teddy bears were the only thing soft about Friday night’s game.

Those, and perhaps Pierre-Luc Faubert’s hands.

Faubert potted two goals -his 18th and 19th of the season – and 16-year-old rookie Peter Delmas made 27 saves to lead the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 4-2 win over the Val d’Or Foreurs in a heavyweight battle of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s division-leading teams at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“We talked before the game about having more depth than Val d’Or,” said Maineiacs’ assistant coach Ed Harding. “We came out and finished all of our checks and I think in the third period they were a bit tired.”

The win is Lewiston’s second in a row and 15th in its last 18 games.

“The two conference leaders going at each other, we wanted to win that game big time,” said Faubert. “We came out strong. We have a tendency to come out stronger in big games.”

Delmas, in just his third home start of the season, played well throughout the game, but his best saves came early on, when the teams were within a goal of each other. One in particular had a lasting effect on the young goalie, when he snagged the puck out of the air on a near-perfect shot by 20-year-old sniper Mathieu Roy

“I remember that shot,” said Delmas. “I came out really far and saw the shot and got it with my glove. It gets you into a game when you can do that.”

Danick Hudon-Paquette and Faubert each had goals in a rough-and-tumble opening frame to put the Maineiacs ahead 2-1.

Paquette collected his goal at 9:00 on a rebound chance to the left of Vincent, triggering an avalanche of stuffed animals on “Teddy Toss Night.”

“To finally get my first goal at home was special,” said Paquette. “To do it on teddy bear night made it more fun. It was a garbage goal, but it still counts and it helped give the team a lift.”

Faubert finished a 2-on-0 break as both he and Eric Castonguay blew by the pair of defenders and played pass across the top of the crease to catch Vincent out of position.

“The defensemen, we caught them flat-footed,” said Castonguay. “They didn’t know whether to pinch or play back. Faubert was wide open for the goal”

Stefan Chaput scored at 4:07 of the second period on a tip-in goal, and after Alexandre Leduc again drew the Foreurs to within one at 5:26, Faubert netted his second on a power play set from the right post as he, too, tipped a shot from the point past Vincent.

“That was a nice shot by Crete on the power play,” said Faubert. “I was just trying to block the goalie and got the stick on it.”

“We can’t make that many turnovers in a game against Lewiston,” said Val d’Or coach Eric Lavigne. “We made too many mistakes and gave them goals.”

The Maineiacs played what Harding called a “near-perfect period.”

“We gave up two odd-man rushes, so we have some things we can do better,” said Harding. “But we got the puck in deep and we didn’t have to try to be too fancy.”

Lewiston plays its final game before the league’s holiday break tonight at the Colisee against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.


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