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SYDNEY, N.S. —

What’s better than heading to the rink to watch the best junior hockey player in the world?

How about watching your team shut him down and defeat one of the hottest teams in league before a sold-out arena.

That’s exactly what happened at Centre 200 on Saturday evening when a full-house of 4,906 fans turned out to watch their Cape Breton Eagles take on Rimouski. Not only are the Océanic one of the hottest teams in the Québec Major Junior Hockey League, they also feature Alexis Lafreniere, who is the league’s top scorer, Canada’s gold-winning junior team captain and consensus number one pick for the upcoming NHL Entry draft.

Cape Breton's Shawn Element, left, keeps a close eye on Rimouski's budding superstar Alexis Lafreniere during the Eagles 4-2 win over the Océanic before a soldout Centre 200 crowd of 4,906 on Saturday evening. The Eagles shut down the QMJHL's leading scorer, while Mathias Laferriere and Egor Sokolov each recorded three points to lead Cape Breton to victory. Goalie Kevin Mandolese turned aside 33 of the 35 shots he faced to earn the win. Mike Sullivan Photo

Oh, and to make the Océanic even more of a draw, the team features Cape Breton native, league all-star and St. Louis Blues draft pick Colten Ellis.

And with a buzz in the air, the Eagles hit the ice flying. It didn’t take long for crowd favourite Egor Sokolov to lift the crowd to its collective feet as he tucked away the first goal just 73 seconds into the contest.

The hosts further delighted the partisan crowd when Mathias Laferriere scored halfway through the frame to double the Eagles lead. Sokolov would add his second of the game, and league-leading 43rd tally in the second period, while goalie Kevin Mandolese turned away wave after wave of Océanic attack, the majority of which was led by the talented Lafreniere.

But Rimouski is not one of the best teams in the country for no reason. Two goals in the first half of the third period brought the Océanic to within a goal. But Mandolese continued to play strong and held off the visitors before captain Derek Gentile put his 20th goal of the season into an empty net.

Laferriere, who had a goal and two assists, was named first star, Mandolese stopped 33 of 35 shots for second star honours, and Sokolov was named third star for his two-goal, one assist performance.

The victory improves Cape Breton’s record to 37-17-2-1 for 77 points, one behind Rimouski (35-16-4-4, 78 points), which has played two more games than the Eagles.

The Eagles hit the road later this week with games in Charlottetown on Friday against the Islanders and in Saint John on Saturday against the Sea Dogs.

sports@cbpost.com