MORRISBURG – Entering the weekend with only two games remaining in their season, and sitting in seventh place, the Morrisburg Lions needed a win against rivals, the North Dundas Rockets Saturday night (January 25).
The Lions hit the scoreboard first, late in the opening period. Newcomer defenceman Liam Berry-Lavallee set up Callum Stevenson to give the Lions a 1-0 lead, which team took into the second period.
The Rockets tied the game midway though the second period on a goal by Noah Penney. Lions’ captain Ben Lapier (from Lukas Rozon and Justin Cyr) put the Lions head 2-1 minutes later. The Rockets went on a goal blitz scoring four unanswered goals to round out the period. Morrisburg trailed North Dundas 5-2 heading into the third period.
For the first 10 minutes of the third period, the Lions could not get much past the Rockets’ blue line. Frequent turnovers kept the Lions on the back foot. Late in the period, Morrisburg rallied. Cyr and Lapier teed-up Rozon for a point blank shot, putting the Lions back into the game. A power-play two minutes later resulted in Cyr chipping out the puck to Rozon, who centered it from the left side and on the stick of Lapier to make it a one goal game. Morrisburg still trailed 5-4.
A tussle in the Rockets’ end saw an unsportsmanlike penalty to North Dundas goalie Matthew Saari, while Stevenson went into the box for Morrisburg. Playing four-on-four hockey had the Lions’ comeback chances stall. Back to full strength in the final two minutes, Morrisburg pulled goalie Hunter Sanger – a recent addition to the team formerly with the South Grenville Rangers. Playing six-on-five hockey, the Lions kept firing shots at the Rockets’ goalie. A melee in front of goal in the last seconds of the game had Saari in trouble again for Unsportsmanlike Conduct and roughing, and three more players – two for Morrisburg, one for North Dundas tagged for roughing.
The Lions lost 5-4, and had to rely on other teams to stay in seventh place this weekend.
The Cumberland Castors moved into a points-tie with Morrisburg, each have 23 points. Morrisburg has one more win than Cumberland, but the Castors have two games in hand. The Castors beat the Almonte Inferno Saturday night, which helped Morrisburg as Almonte sit seven points behind with three games in hand.
A consolation for the Lions team is that both Cumberland and Almonte have tough matches on their schedule next weekend while Morrisburg rests. Cumberland faces first place Gatineau while Almonte faces second place Westport January 31. Almonte plays North Dundas and Cumberland plays St. Isidore February 2.
The Lions will close out the regular season taking on the last place South Grenville Rangers on February 8 at home. Puck drop for that game is 7:15 p.m.
Whether the Lions finish in seventh or eighth place has yet to be determined.
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