Novice B Lions back in win column

 

It wasn’t a great start for the Morrisburg Junior B Lions who opened their 2013/14 season on the weekend with a pair of losses to the Alexandria Glens and the Winchester Hawks.

The Lions were on the road Friday night to Alexandria where they were handed a 5-3 loss by the Glens, and then back home on Morrisburg ice Saturday night, where they were ousted by the visiting Hawks 7-3.

Nineteen-year-old Brandon Chilton got his debut with the Lions in Alexandria where he gave up five goals on 57 shots. He was back in net on Saturday night against the Hawks, this time giving up seven goals on 36 shots.

“With 11 first year players playing their first game, we had a lot of excitement and a lot of nerves,” says Lions GM, Kevin Casselman. “The game was going well until well into the third period when a five-minute cross checking penalty set them up for two power-play goals.”

Friday night in Alexandria, the Glens went up 1-0 in the first period, but the Lions rallied early in the second with counters from Christian Leger (4:07 from Michael Paquette and Chris Person) and Eric Evans (8:43 from Dallas Blacksmith and Brandon Mullin).

Before the period had ended however, the Glens recovered with two of their own to carry a 3-2 advantage into the third.

David Sirois pushed the Glens lead to two goals at 7:47 of the third and Leo MacLean made it 5-2 at 11:09. Both goals were scored on the Glens power play.

Brandon Mullin scored his first goal of the season at 15:16 of the third period but that was it.

The Glens held on for the 5-3 win.

The Lions kicked off their home season, Saturday night in Morrisburg. 

First to the ice were the new owners Dale Lewis, Rick Gilmer, Gary Brownlee and Kevin Casselman. They were joined by South Dundas Mayor Steven Byvelds, and team captains Taylor Eamon of the Lions and Josh Stubbings of the Hawks for the official puck drop to kick off the 2013/14 hockey season.

The fans were treated to a good first period of hockey which ended in a 1-1 tie.

Michael Paquette counted the first home ice goal of the season at 15:23 of the first period with help from Eric Evans and Brandon Mullin.

The Lions lead lasted just over a minute when Kyle McDonald struck for the Hawks to even it.

Less than one minute into the second period, Mullin slipped the Lions second goal past Hawks goaltender Brandon Lowrey, but again it didn’t last long.

The Hawks rushed back for three unanswered counters for a 4-2 advantage, before the Lions got them stopped with an Eric Evans goal (17:24 from Paquette and Taylor Eamon).

Thirty-four seconds later Josh Stubbings counted, to give the Hawks a 5-3 advantage heading into the third period.

The Hawks took charge of the third period with two unanswered goals for the 7-3 win.

Casselman says team management was pleased with the response to the new Saturday night home game time slot. “We pooled some of the crowd for feed back and all was very positive.”

“Our young group will be exciting to watch as we develop. They are working hard and with that work ethic, they can only further improve and develop as a team.”

The Lions have just one game coming up this weekend. That is this Sunday, September 22 when the Char-Lan Rebels are in town for a 2:30 p.m. start.

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After a tough, four-game opening round playoff series against the North Leeds Rideaus, the South Dundas Bantam C2 House Lions are finding themselves in a tough semi-final series against the regular season first place Athens Aeros.

That series is tied at a game apiece with the Lions winning the opener 6-2 and losing game two in Morrisburg on Sunday, March 1, 2-1.

Game three is on the road tonight, Wednesday, March 4 and if a fourth game is necessary, it will be back in Morrisburg on Thursday.

The regular season saw the Athens Aeros and Kemptville 2s finish even with 35 points. Third place went to South Grenville, while the North Leeds Rideaus were fourth with 20. The Lions were next with 16 points on eight wins and Smith Falls finished last in the six team West Division with eight points.

For the playoff setup, Athens and Kemptville sat out a round-one bye, while North Leeds and the Lions squared off and South Grenville and Smith Falls met, both in four point series.

The quarter-final series wins put South Dundas against Athens and South Grenville against the Kemptville 2s.

The winners of each series will advance to the West Division Championship.

The Lions and the Rideaus opened their quarter-final series on Morrisburg ice on Tuesday, February 17, and played to a 3-3 draw. The Rideaus led 2-1 after the second period, and the Lions charged back in the third for two goals to the Rideaus one to keep it even.

Thomas Rae had two goals for the Lions with Kendrew Byers assisting on the first and Will Dejong adding his help on the second. It was Dejong’s unassisted goal at 9:05 of the third period that tied the game 3-3.

The Lions were on the road to Westport, for game two on Saturday, February 21. The Rideaus won this one, 5-3.

They led 2-1 after the first period, and then mounted a three goal second period on their way to the two-point, 5-3 win.

The Lions got a pair of goals from Brody Smail, the first assisted by Trinity Hanes at 12:14 of the first period and the second, unassisted, just 36 seconds into the second period.

Aden Casselman collected the Lions third goal early in the third period with  Kendrew Byers assisting.

Game three was back on Morrisburg ice, Monday February 23, and the Lions stayed alive with a very convincing 9-1 win. They scored three goals in each period.

Lions goaltender Brett Froats gave up the lone goal of the game in the last second of the first period to the Rideaus Kohle McCulloch.

Brody Smail scored  four times for the Lions and added two assists, while Max Garlough counted twice and helped out on three others. Singles goals were scored by Trinity Hanes, Thomas Rae and Hunters Wells. Hanes, added three assists to her game performance.

Noah Keeler had a big game with four assists, while Maddi Hummel helped out on two goals.

The Lions hit the ice flying in game four in Westport on Wednesday, February 25. They went up 3-0 in the first period on goals from Brody Smail (from Max Garlough), Kendrew Byers (unassisted) and Trinity Hanes (from Max Garlough).

The Rideaus managed just one against Brett Froats early in the second period from Bryce Wilson.

The Lions counted two more in the third period from Brody Smail, unassisted and Hanes, from Julenea Barnhartd and Maddi Hummel for the 5-1 win.

The win gave the Lions the series, five points to three, and earned them a spot in the West Division semi-final against first place Athens.

[…]

 

Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry skating, and oh yeah Merry Christmas too! 

As you can tell it’s Christmas month at M.D.S.C and to get in the mood we’re playing Christmas songs all month. This may seem odd since Christmas still seems very far away, but there are only 12 days until the big guy comes!  

However, Santa wants to check up on our Canskaters, so he’ll be at the rink in just five days, on the 19th, for all our Monday and Saturday Canskaters!  If you really want to get in the Christmas spirit remember to wear red and green to the rink on the 17th.

Christmas may be all that’s on your mind right now, but for many of our Starskaters, competitions  and test days all they are worrying about.  There is a competition  on the 21st and 22nd of January in Prescott and one on the 28th in Arnprior. 

In Morrisburg, on the 27th of January, we have a low test day, and on the 20th of January in Athens, we have a high test day. 

Finally, just a reminder for our skaters that skating is cancelled form the 24 of December to the 2nd of January.  Canskaters don’t come back until the 9th of January, but the Starskaters are back on the 4th. 

Be sure to stop by the arena to find out when public skating is available during the holidays so you can keep your skates active. Happy New Year! Remember Skate Great and have fun.

Kate

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