CARDINAL – The Morrisburg Lions are one win away from advancing to the second round of the NCJHL playoffs after defeating the South Grenville Rangers 5-3 February 26.
The Rangers drew first halfway through the first period when Jacob Servage (from Blake Byrnes and Keenan Cunningham) found his way past Lions’ goalie Dawson Irving. But a power play goal by Lions’ captain Wade Moak (from Owen Mahoney) levelled the game with 24 seconds remaining in the period.
South Grenville regained the lead four minutes into the second period. Servage and Jacob McGonegal set up Zach Frazer for the one-timer resulting in a 2-1 lead for the Rangers.
Five minutes later, Morrisburg’s Owen Fetterly and Ethan Mahoney set up Owen Mahoney for the equalizing goal. That tie lasted seven minutes before Noelan Spink set up Cole MacCrimmon for the go-ahead-goal for the Lions, Morrisburg led South Grenville 3-2 after 40 minutes.
Early in the third period, Owen Mahoney (from Ethan Mahoney) scored the first of two insurance goals for the Lions, making it a 4-2 game. Moak set up the Mahoney twins to complete Owen’s hat trick with 8:25 remaining in the game. South Grenville countered with 4:08 left on the clock when Noah Penney (from Connor VanLuit and Aidan Bailey) cut Morrisburg’s lead to two goals. A late push by South Grenville was thwarted by a solid defensive effort by Morrisburg. Lions win 5-3.
Irving picked up his second consecutive playoff-win between the pipes for Morrisburg.
The Lions were one-for-five on the power play and were two-for-two on the penalty kill in the game. Morrisburg earned only four penalty minutes in the game, the lowest number of minutes for the team in the 2021-22 season.
Morrisburg’s 5-3 defeat of South Grenville puts the Lions one game away from punching their ticket to the second round of the National Capital Junior Hockey League playoffs. If they win it will be the first time the team has advanced past the first round of the playoffs since moving to the league in 2015.
The river rivalry series moves to the Morrisburg Arena Sunday afternoon (February 27). Puck drop is at 2:15 p.m.
