The Morrisburg Lions welcomed the Bytown Royals to the Morrisburg Arena on Sat., Feb. 10, in the NCJHL. The Lions’ rookie forward Alec St. Gelais had a great game notching a hat trick as the Lions took the game 6-4 in a penalty-filled game. St. Gelais is second in team scoring with 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in 28 games this season. O’Donohue photo
Jeff Moore
Record Staff
MORRISBURG – The Morrisburg Lions were supposed to play two games this past weekend but the game in St. Isidore against the Eagles was cancelled due to poor road conditions.
Lions 6 Royals 4: The Lions welcomed the Bytown Royals to the Morrisburg Arena on Sat., Feb. 10, in the NCJHL. The Lions went into the game in ninth place just two points ahead of the South Grenville Rangers and nine points behind the Vankleek Hill Cougars. The Royals sat in the basement with just two wins on the season.
The Royals opened the scoring at 2:30 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead on the power play. The Lions tied the game when Brandon Cameron scored a short-handed goal from Spencer Heldens at 3:45.
The Lions took their first lead of the game when Brian Landry scored a power play goal at 14:05 from Jordan Smail. The Lions took the 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Royals tied the game at 3:05 of the second period on the power play and took their second lead of the game at 7:54.
The Lions tied the game at 11:51 when Alec St. Gelais scored an unassisted short-handed goal to make it 3-3. The Royals retook the lead again at 14:51 but with 58 seconds remaining in the middle frame St. Gelais scored his second of the game from Zach Leblanc and Bailey Norman.
The Lions took their second lead of the game with just 35 seconds showing on the clock as St. Gelais scored his third consecutive goal from Brian Landry and took the 5-4 lead into the second intermission.
The Lions’ defence held on and with around 45 seconds remaining the Royals pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker but it was the Lions’ Leblanc who found the wide open net at the far end of the rink from Landry with just 29 seconds remaining. The Lions took the game 6-4 moving four points ahead of the South Grenville Rangers in 10th place.
Up next: Fri., Feb. 16, 8:30 p.m, Lions vs. Jets, Larry Robinson Arena, Metcalfe; Sat., Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m., Lions vs. South Grenville Rangers, Morrisburg Arena; Sun. Feb. 18, 8 p.m., Lions vs. Cumberland Bandits, Navan Arena. NCJHL Playoffs 2018: First Round, Series B: Tues., Feb. 20, 8:30 p.m., Lions vs. Vankleek Hill Cougars, Morrisburg Arena; Wed., Feb. 21, 8 p.m., Lions vs. Cougars, Vankleek Hill.
