A clamor descends from the stands of the packed Aren'Ice in Cergy after a long 60-minute fight.
“And one, and two, and three zeros.”
The 3,000 spectators (box office closed), including the Ultras of the K stand and the Ice Aces, applaud and thank their protégés who played a remarkable match.
The Jokers of Cergy-Pontoise, in fact, produced the perfect match to overcome the Dukes of Angers (3-0) this Tuesday during the 3rd meeting of the quarter-finals of the Magnus League playoffs.
Only 7th in the regular season, the Cergypontains can dream of qualifying for the semi-finals against one of the championship favorites.
After their success (1-3) last Friday then their setback (5-2) on Saturday in Anjou, they now lead 2-1 in this best of 7 match confrontation.
The next clash this Wednesday evening at the Aren'Ice already promises.
Defensive solidity and offensive audacity
To overcome this formation which had beaten them 4 times out of 4 in the regular season, the Jokers demonstrated foolproof defensive solidity thanks to their international goalkeeper Sébastian Ylonen.
By relying offensively on a shimmering transition game.
The first minutes are electric.
Cergypontain Theo Geurif and Angevin Robin Gaborit came to blows on the ice for around thirty seconds before being excluded for 5 minutes.
Pugnacious in recovery, the Val-d'Oisiens dominate their opponent.
Phileas Perrenoux (5th), symbol of the Jokers' youth, then the Latvian Emis Gegeris (9th and 14th) come up against the Angevin goalkeeper Evan Cowley who works miracles.
Still superior to the Angevins, Cergy-Pontoise finally found the fault in the middle of the second third with an opportunistic goal from the American Gage Torrel (1-0, 28th).
Galvanized by this opening score, the Jokers knocked out the Ducs d'Angers at the start of the last round with two powerful shots from Emis Gegeris (2-0, 41st) and Raphaël Faure (3-0, 43rd).
The meeting is over.
The Val-d'Oisiens can go to bed with their duty accomplished.
We will have to set the table again this Wednesday evening (8:30 p.m.).