Seaway athletes,

During a visit to the Morrisburg arena Friday night, the St. Lawrence Division’s second place Casselman Vikings (tied for second with the Hawks) discovered the Morrisburg Lions aren’t pushovers.

Although the Vikings did eventually pick up a 5-4 win, they first had to play 60 minutes of regulation time hockey and five minutes of overtime before they were able to put it away in a shoot out.

It was a big game for the Lions and an exciting game for Lions fans as they watched their Lions hang tough against the powerful Vikings who have lost only three games in 15 starts this season.

“Let’s face it. To get a point against Casselman is an accomplishment, even though I thought we really should have won,” said Lions coach Thom Racine. “I thought we played well. Outshooting the Vikings (40-37) is a rare feat and with some luck around the net it might have been a different story.”

The Vikings were first on the scoreboard with an Adam Wensink goal just 1:24 into the game.

That held until late in the frame when Michael Poapst, assisted by March Antoine, evened it off at 1-1.

The Lions couldn’t hold them off, and the Vikings were able to slip one more past goaltender Mikael Dion, on their power play at 15:14 of the period.

Just 4:39 into the second period the Lions again levelled the playing field this time with a goal from Taylor Wilson assisted by Zach Sequin and Ryan Dunbar.

That held until 18:37 of the second when the Vikings collected another power-play goal to again push ahead as the period ended.

Joel Adam pushed the Viking advantage to 4-2 with an unassisted counter at 8:50 of the third period, but it wasn’t over yet.

The Lions came back and came back strong.

Clark Veenstra (from Taylor Wilson and Ryan Ward) pulled it to within one at 11:05 and then at 15:55 Michael Poapst and Taylor Wilson set up Zach Sequin for the tying marker.

The 4-4 tie held throughout the overtime, although the Lions had their chances thanks to a pair of Casselman penalties that gave them a five on three power play. The Lions were unable to capitalize on the extra man advantage and the 4-4 tie was finally broken in a shootout.

Alex Steingruber, Michael Poapst and Ryan Ward were all unsuccessful against Vikings goaltender Phillippe Quesnel.

Coming up this week the Lions travel to Casselman to taken on the Vikings at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 3. 

On Friday night, November 4 they host the Winchester Hawks. 

“If we bring the same intensity to these upcoming weekend games, I like our chances at stealing some more points,” says Racine.

[…]

The South

Dundas Bantam B Rep Lions collected the East Division Championshipon home ice last Thursday,

March 12, with a 4-1 victory over the Cornwall Colts. The win gave the Lions the

East Division Championship series four points to two.

The regular season first place Lions had all they could handle against the Colts who finished the year with just nine wins and four ties for 22 points and the division’s fifth place standing.

The Lions were 17-3-4 over the regular season to win first place. They earned a first-round playoff bye and then defeated South Stormont in the semi-finals in three games (4-1 win, 5-5 tie, 3-0 win).

The Colts defeated NGS (second place in the regular season) in semi-final play to advance to the

championship against the Lions. The Lions got off to a slow start in the championship series losing the opening game Saturday, March 7, on home ice, 4-1.

They regrouped in Cornwall to stay alive in the series witha 5-1 win March 8, and thenbrought their game home to claimthe championship on ThursdayMarch 12, with the 4-1 win.

Game three in Morrisburg gotstarted with a scoreless first period.The Lions opened the scoringat 4:53 of the second period on agoal by Travis McInnis (assistedby Justin Shay), but that didn’tlast long as the Colts chargedback for a goal at 7:12 to tie it.

The Lions turned it up a coupleof notches in the third to count threeunanswered goals for the 4-1 win.Dean Lapier connected forwhat would be the winner at 9:54with help from Caleb Jaquemetand at 12:07 Justin Shay (assistedby Jonah Bennis and Travis Mc-Innis) stretched it to 3-1.

Lucas Bennis (from AdamLapier and Jaquemet) counted theLions final goal with 4:55 left onthe clock.

The Lions had a dismal showingin the March 7 series opener in Morrisburg. After a scoreless

first period, the Colts took a 2-0 lead before Kasper Furo put the

Lions on the scoreboard in the second period.Dean Lapier and Travis McInnisprovided the assists.

The third period belonged to the Colts who struck for two unanswered goals for the 4-1 win.

The Lions regrouped for game two in Cornwall, on March 8, tocome up with a 5-1 victory and stretch the four-point series to the third game.

Again there was no scoring inthe first period. Lucas Bennis (from Oakley Beavers) put the Lions on the scoreboard, 4:58 into the second period, but the Colts charged back one minute later to tie it.

With two minutes remainingin the second, Jonah Bennis gave the Lions a 2-1 lead.

The Lions momentum continued and resulted in three unanswered third period goals and the 5-1 win.

Scoring were Caleb Jaquemet (from Shay), Oakley Beavers (from Lucas Bennis and AdamLapier), and Shay (from Beavers and Lapier).

Next up for the Lions is theUpper Canada Minor Hockey League’s five-points championship series against the South

Grenville Rangers. Game one will be played in Prescott, Sunday,March 22 beginning at 6 p.m.Game two will be back in Morrisburg on Monday, March 23, startingat 8 p.m.

The Rangers were first in thewest division regular season, with17 wins, just one loss and four

ties They defeated Perth to winthe West Division championship and advance to the UCMHL finalagainst the Lions.

[…]

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