Lightning strikes New Blue

On Sunday, November 16, the South Dundas Atom B Lions picked up right where they left off from their November 8, 5-2 win over Brockville 2 Braves, this time with an 8-0 shutout victory over the Brockville 1s.

The Lions controlled the game right from puck drop, with the starting lineup of Quade Mullin, Cam Shaver, Monty Dejong, Jack McCann, and Alek Larocque hemming the Braves in their zone for the opening shift.

The highlight was when Mullin finished a pretty passing play from Dejong and Shaver just 50 seconds in for a 1-0 Lions lead.

Then it was Dryden Buter who hammered home a rebound from Stefan Kronstal’s point shot to put the Lions up by two. 

The play was started by Buter when he passed the puck back to defenceman Kronstal and then had the smarts to go to the net.

It took the Lions power play just four seconds to capitalize on a Braves hooking penalty with 4:08 left in the first period.

Then Spencer Barclay won the face off cleanly to his right winger Sam Connors, who one timed it past Braves goaltender Tyler Serson for a 3-0 Lions lead. 

Dejong made it 4-0 with 1:20 left in the first period after taking a feed from Mullin.

Barclay had the lone marker of the second, at 7:52, assisted by Connors, which enabled the Lions to carry a 5-0 advantage into the third.

At the midway mark of the third period, Dejong chipped the puck past a pinching Braves defenceman, then skated the length of the ice where he beat Serson high on the glove side to make it 6-0.  

Sean Nicolaassen put the Lions up 7-0, unassisted, and Buter was rewarded with 4:24 left on the clock on a play initiated by an Owen Patterson wrist shot into heavy traffic.

Once again, the Lions limited the Brockville 1s scoring chances with some great team defence.  

Goaltender Mateo Lacroix made the saves whenever he was called upon and was able to get his first career Atom shutout.  

Zach Scarbeau made a key play with just over a minute remaining to help preserve the shutout when he beat a Brave to a loose puck and fired it safely out of his zone without taking an icing call.

The win gives the Lions a record of 4 wins and 3 losses.  It also has them second in the East Division.

The Lions will practice twice this week before hosting division rival, North Dundas here Saturday November 22nd as part of Lions Day.

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A Josh Maley goal for the hosting Athens Aeros here Sunday night with just 2:24 left in the game, sent the Morrisburg Junior B Lions home with a tough 4-3 loss. 

The Lions who are in last place in the St. Lawrence Division and the Aeros who hold the same spot in their Rideau Division were evenly matched throughout the game. The Lions put up 25 shots against Aeros goaltender Alex Daley and the Aeros produced 31 shots against Lions goaltender John Gilmer.

The Lions held a slight 2-1 edge after the first period, and the game was tied after two.

It was the Maley goal at 17:36 of the third period that was the difference.

Parker Grant opened the Aeros scoring at 4:13 of the first period, but the Lions came charging back with a Justin Lefebvre goal (from Cole Fowler) at 9:10 to even it.

Dallas Blacksmith struck (with help from Landon Veenstra and Eric Evans) at 15:38 of the first period to put the Lions ahead, 2-1, going into the second period.

Play was tight for the first 14 minutes of the second period, and then the Aeros came on strong to first tie it with a Nathan Foster goal at 14:06 and, then, 25 seconds later go ahead, 3-2, with a Ty Hannaford goal.

The Lions evened it on their power play at 16:56, with Evans getting the goal which set up by Dallas Blacksmith and Michael Paquette.

Third period action saw no results in the scoring department until Maley counted what would turn out to be the winner for the Aeros at 17:36.

The Lions sat out 22 minutes in penalties on seven infractions, and the Aeros were assessed five infractions for a total of 10 penalty minutes. The Lions were successful in one of three power-play opportunities while the Aeros did not score on their power play in six opportunities. 

Coming up, the Lions are on the road to play the Char-Lan Rebels on Saturday night, December 20. Then on Sunday, December 21 they will host the Akwesasne Wolves. Game time is 2:30 p.m.

The Wolves are in fourth place in the St. Lawrence Division with 23 points, while Char-Lan is fifth with 17 points. The Lions have 14 points.

The Casselman Vikings have pulled well away from the rest of the St. Lawrence division with 45 points, while the Alexandria Glens are in second spot with 27 points and the Winchester Hawks are right on their heels with 26. 

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The South Dundas Bantam B Rep Lions charged back from an opening game 5-1 loss, with a 4-0 win here Monday night to even the UCMHL championship series against the South Grenville Rangers at two points apiece.

The championship series is a five point affair. Game three goes to Prescott tonight, Wednesday, March 25 (6 p.m.) and the series returns to Morrisburg, Thursday night, March 26 at 8 p.m.

The Lions had a tough start in Prescott, Sunday. They held the Rangers to a 1-1 first period tie, but that was it. The Rangers struck for three unanswered goals in the second period to carry a formidable 4-1 advantage into the third period, as they headed for the opening game 5-1 victory. 

Austin Selleck, Simon Watt, Jack Doris, Riley Hildebrandt and Tanner Thomson provided the Ranger goals.

Justin Shay collected the lone Lions goal assisted by affiliate Caleb Jaquemet and Grants Wells.

In front of a big crowd Monday night in Morrisburg, the Lions went to work on the 4-0 victory, with Sam Waytowich having a big game in net.

After a scoreless first period, Lucas Bennis stepped up in the second for a pair of counters for a 2-0, Lions lead. On the first goal, Grant Wells started a great passing play from behind the Rangers net to Kasper Furo who made a quick pass to Bennis out front.

Bennis scored the Lions second goal, unassisted, after fighting for possession of a rebound behind the Rangers net.

The Rangers turned it up to apply the pressure late in the second period, but big saves from Waytowich allowed the Lions to hold on to the comfortable two goal lead.

Lucas Bennis got the Lions third goal started midway into the third period with a pass to Oakley Beavers.  Beavers slid the puck to Dean Lapier whose blast from the top of the face off circle beat Rangers goaltender Tyler Watkins cleanly for a 3-0 Lions lead.

The fourth and final Lions goal was scored by Jonah Bennis, from Connor Dumoulin and Justin Shay, with 6:38 left in the game.

While that was the end of the scoring, it wasn’t the end of the excitement, as the Lions drew a minor penalty with more than four minutes left in the game.

That resulted in the South Grenville coach pulling Watkins for a two man advantage. The move was not successful but it did make Waytowich work a little harder for his shutout.

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