Jr. Lions collect overtime win from first place Vikings

 

The Morrisburg Junior B Lions are hanging tough with the big guys, but they continue to be plagued by a player shortage.

Saturday night, the Lions were on the road to Westport to take on the Rideau Division’s first place Rideaus and, after holding a 4-2 lead late in the second period, they ended up on the wrong side of a 6-4 count.

Although he expected to ice a full team Saturday night, such was not the case for a very discouraged coach Thom Racine.

“Lance Hodgson was hurt Friday night and couldn’t play, and we had a couple more who had exams on Tuesday, so they couldn’t play…which I don’t get.”

“For two periods we were in control of the game. We had a good talk after the second period, and then we started the third period and couldn’t get the puck out of our own end.”

To make matters worse, Racine says the Lions got on the wrong side of the referee when they complained about a missed call.

“One of our kids was cross checked from behind and when he retaliated he drew a penalty. We argued and got a bench minor.”

From then on Racine says, “I guess he decided we were acting like idiots.”

In the third period, the Lions drew  five minor penalties, a four minute spearing penalty, two game misconducts and a game ejection. The Rideaus drew two minors.

In addition, Racine learned the next day that two Lions were suspended (and will miss this Friday night’s game) for infractions during the game warm-up, one for a missing chin strap and the other a neck guard infraction.

Fortunately, the weekend wasn’t all bad news for the Lions.

Friday night on home ice, they posted a must-win 7-2 victory against the Akwesasne Wolves.

The Lions went up 1-0 late in the first period on a Michel Lefebvre goal from Sylvester Bzdyl.

But then in the second period, the Wolves came charging back with a pair and suddenly it was a whole new ball game.

“I called a time out when they went up 2-1.”

Racine says the Lions knew how important the game was for the Wolves, and they knew they were going to come out with every they had.

Following the talk, the Lions got their act together and finally Chris Rutley (from Zach Seguin and Ryan Dunbar) tied it with what Racine described as a “fluky goal.”

The icing on the cake came from Ryan Ward with the Lions short-handed in the last minute of the frame.

“On a two on one, Chris Rutley laid a beauty of a pass on Wardo’s (Ryan Ward) stick and he deflected it into the net.”

That put the Lions up 3-2 with two seconds left in the second period and clearly changed the Wolves’ momentum.

“They just didn’t respond in the third period.”

The Lions held the one goal advantage until the final 10 minutes of the third when they counted another four goals for the 7-2 win.

The goals were scored by Marc Antoine Kamel from Brayden Girard, Alex Steingruber from Sylvester Bzdyl, Clarke Veenstra from Chris Rutley and Michael Paquette and Bzdyl from Steingruber and Michael Keenan.

The Lions sat out six minor penalties and were assessed a 10 minute misconduct. The Wolves drew four minor penalties.

Saturday night in Westport, the game was tied 1-1 after one period with Ryan Ward (from Lefebvre and Sam Hodgson) providing the Lions’ first goal.

The Rideaus went up 2-1, just 40 seconds into the second period but 12 seconds later Bzdyl (from Ward and Lefebvre) answered to keep it even.

Then a pair of power-play goals allowed the Lions to go ahead, 4-2.

Lefebvre started it (from Ward and Bzdyl) and Bzdyl made it 4-2 with the assist going to goaltender Mikael Dion.

The Rideaus cut the Lions advantage to one in the last minute of the second period.

Then just over a minute into the third, Dustin Sinclair scored while the Rideaus were shorthanded to tie the game 4-4

They collected the winning goal  at 4:21, and the insurance market at 15:44. Both goals were scored on the Rideaus power play.

Mikael Dion was in net for both of the Lions weekend games. According to the stats he faced 57 Rideaus shots, while the Lions managed just 26 against opposing goaltender James Davis.

“Mikael played really well. He just didn’t get any support in the end,” said Racine.

The split in their weekend games prevented the Lions from making any headway against the fourth-place CharLan Rebels.

The Rebels also split their games, losing to Casselman, 15-4 and defeating Gananoque, 4-3.

Coming up this Friday night, December 23, the Gananoque Islanders are in town for an 8:30 p.m. game.

The Lions are scheduled to play a make up game in Prescott on Tuesday night, December 27.

Their next home game is not until Friday, January 6 against the Char-Lan Rebels.

On Saturday, January 7 they will open the 2012 Rideau-St. Lawrence Showcase Event with a 9:30 a.m. game against South Grenville. The Winchester Hawks are hosting this year’s showcase. 

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The South Dundas “Pioneer Gas” Novice B Lions started their regular season on the road last week with a tie (3-3) in Kemptville and a win in Westport (6-2). Kayne McCadden led the offense by netting five goals in the two games.

Saturday afternoon, the Lions rolled into Westport, where they defeated the North Leeds Stars 6-2. 

With the game tied 2-2 late in the second period, Joshua Broad picked up a Ben Lapier rebound and fired it home for his first goal of the season and a 3-2 Lions lead which they would not relinquish.

In the third period, Broad, standing behind his own goalie, knocked down a North Leeds shot that had beat Lions goalie Brendan Shaver and was going in the net. Broad then made an outlet pass to Owen Fetterly who went the distance to score the Lions forth goal. 

Broad followed that effort when he used his Howitzer Hockey Stick to pick up his second goal of the game for a 5-2 Lions lead. 

Capping off the Lions scoring was Nolan Henry who received a pass from Emytt Fetterly and broke in and beat Stars goalie Westwader. Cassidy Bilmer also picked up an assist on the play.

Spencer Barclay and Trent Rae continued their strong play on the Lions blue line as they turned away several Stars attackers. Defensemen Emytt Fetterly and his partner Cassidy Bilmer, who both picked up an assists in the game, also had a strong game keeping the puck alive at the offensive blue line and chasing down Stars attackers.

The Lions had grabbed a first period lead on two goals by Kayne McCadden. 

McCadden continued his strong play to start the season as he picked up pucks in his own end and would go “coast to coast” beating the Stars defenders before beating the Stars goaltender.  

The Stars tied the game with two goals from Matthew Taite in a two minute span, late in the first period and early in the second.

Lions goalie Brendan Shaver had a quiet game in the Lions’ cage.

In Kemptville last Wednesday night, McCadden netted the Lions second hat trick of the year in a 3-3 tie. 

With the Lions leading 3-2, and under two minutes left to play, the forward line of Joshua Broad, Ben Lapier and Owen Fetterly were on the ice to protect the lead. 

They carried the play in the offensive zone for over a minute with several shots on net and hard pressure down low until the puck squirted out over the blue line and the Panthers converted on a goal by Noah Penney with 19 seconds left. 

The Lions grabbed their first lead of the game with 5:05 left in the third period on a nifty move by centreman Kayne McCadden.

With Kolby Latulippe pressuring the Panthers right defenseman along the boards, he forced the puck into the middle right where McCadden was standing. 

A quick toe drag around a Panther forward, quick acceleration around the defenseman and he broke in alone a netted a shot in the top corner over the goalie glove.

The story throughout the game was the amazing goaltending of Brendan Shaver, who faced and turned away dozens of shots. Shaver received the “The Big Stick Award” for his outstanding play and his hard work.

The Panthers opened the scoring at 4:05 of the first period and the Lions responded with 55 seconds left when Emytt Fetterly kept the puck alive at the blue line getting it in deep so McCadden could pick it up and score his first of the game.

In the second period, the Panthers went up 2-1, before McCadden netted another when yet again a puck went over the net and goalie from behind the goal line and ended up in front before being knocked home. Nolan Henry picked up the lone assist on play.

The South Dundas “Pioneer Gas” Lions open their regular season home schedule Saturday, October 15th at 7 p.m.

[…]

 

Last week the Morrisburg Curling Club had three ladies’ teams in a Cornwall   bonspiel. 

Our first, composed of Ruth Kelly, Anita Cooper, Cheryl Thompson and Kathy Hardy, played in the early draw. Their opponents were Alexandria in the morning and Brockville in the afternoon. The ice took some getting used to, but they played well, unfortunately coming up short in both matches, against the curlers who finished first and second overall in the bonspiel.

Our other quartet in the early draw included Alice Thompson, Susan McIntosh, Betty Locke and Sharon Van Allen. They dropped their first match to Vankleek Hill, but won handily against Maxville. While they didn’t finish in the top two for the day, Betty and Sharon won prizes.

Greta McGann, Joanne Baker and Paula and Claire Locke were in the late draw. Their morning game was against Brownsburg. It was a good match, but the other team pulled out the win. In the afternoon, their opponents were from Brockville, and they fell to our local curlers.

Richmond hosted a bonspiel two days later. Alice Thompson, Susan McIntosh, Betty Locke and Sharon Van Allen lost their morning match to Pembroke, and they beat a Navy team in the afternoon. By the way, Barb Truscotte of Carleton Place scored a rare eight-ender at the bonspiel (not against our ladies!)

Three teams of senior men invaded the Prescott club last week and took three strong wins against their hosts. Our local heroes were Wally McDonald, Neil Williams, Bud Perry and Bob Youmelle, Martin Schneckenburger, Ron Beaupre, Doug Jarvis and Al Gowanlock, and Jack Barkley, Ted Herriman, Earl Jeacle and Eric Johnson. As always, apologies to any spares not mentioned, as some invariably fill in for busy local seniors. Well done, fellows!

On November 17, Morrisburg will be hosting the Gamble Cup mixed competition, with two teams from each of Russell, Metcalfe and Winchester doing battle with our local champions. 

Two teams are already interested in competing on our behalf, but if others would like to be considered, please sign up on the sheet on the bulletin board at the bottom of the stairs. Mahlon Locke will work out playoff times if needed. He is also looking for volunteers for that day, and the sign-up sheet is located at the bar.

Susan McIntosh will be running her popular two-person bonspiel Sunday. We hope to see full draws for that one. The early draw begins at 9 a.m., and the late draw starts at 10. 

Susan says her husband Dave is making his famous chilli, and we’re sure there will be other food items to complement that delicacy. The entry fee is $15, and there are cash prizes for the winners in each of the three divisions in each draw. Sign up before the spaces are all filled! Good curling!

Curling Notes:

•Denis Thibault was a member of the championship team, the Morrell foursome, in our first bonspiel of the year. Sorry for the error, Denis. Keep up the good work! 

•We have the stick bonspiel at the club this week, and the same day, three daytime men’s teams will be in Cornwall for another friendly bonspiel. 

We’ll report next week. 

•On Nov. 27 and 28, Jack Barkley, Sue McIntosh, Andy Patenaude and Betty Locke will be in Maxville, competing in the Ontario Senior games, and two Scottish men’s teams are coming to our club on Tuesday, January 15.

•The competitive women’s invitational bonspiel in Kemptville last weekend featured top teams, and Rachel Homan from the Ottawa Curling Club won top honours. We can likely expect to see her as Ontario’s representative again in the Tournament of Hearts.

•Some of our ladies expect to announce their entry into the Crystal Heart Bonspiel in several Ottawa rinks, February 7-10. We have had several teams entered in this classic in the past, the largest for women in the province. Sixty-four rinks are allowed in the open division, and 32 in the seniors’ competition. We wish new and repeat entries all the best as they plan for this huge event.    

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