GATINEAU SCORES FLUKE GOAL - WINS SERIES 4-3

And so it ended. The Juniors' fate was determined by a fluke goal in the second overtime period of game seven. If you haven't yet seen the devastating goal, check out this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3129ScZ8eio

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Before heading to the bench for a line change, Gatineau's captain, Hubert Labrie (seen in photo), skated over center ice and dumped the puck into the Juniors' zone. The puck proceeded to hit the end glass and took an unforseen bounce towards the Juniors' net. Montreal goalie, Jean-Francois Berube, who appeared to have his body against the side post, had the puck deflect off the back of his right side before dropping into the net.

It was the luckiest goal I've seen during the past two years of Montreal Juniors hockey.

After such a tightly fought playoff round, one that saw the Gatineau Olympiques climb back into the series after having been down three games to one, it is unfortunate that such a fluke goal ended up being the determining factor to end the series.

Fans attending the game were shocked. Most of Montreal's supporters remained frozen in their seats. Even the 50-100 Gatineau fans seemed surprised as they broke out into loud cheers and chants and celebrated their team's victory.

As bad as Gatineau's winning goal was the Montreal players can't feel too sour about it. After all, they did have three chances to close the series and failed to do so. One can only hope the returning players remember this terrible feeling and use it as motivation for next season.