The Lions’ goalie Dean Gauvreau (30) was a busy player stopping all but two shots as the Lions took the gameagainst the Cougars 5-2. Gauvreau has won five of his last six games and is one of the main reasons the Lions have gone undefeated with five games. Courtesy Brownlee photo
Jeff Moore
Record Staff
MORRISBURG – The Morrisburg Lions had three games this past weekend. The Lions travelled to the Blackburn Arena in Ottawa to take on the Blackburn Inferno on Fri., Jan. 19, in the NCJHL, and the Lions took the game 3-2.
Lions 5 Cougars 2: The Lions welcomed the Vankleek Hill Cougars to Morrisburg on Sun., Jan. 21, for a makeup game that was cancelled due to bad weather at the end of November. The Lions went into the game on a five-game unbeaten streak and moved ahead of the South Grenville Rangers after beating them in overtime the previous night (Lions 3-Rangers 2). The Lions sit four points behind the eighth-place Metcalfe Jets. The Cougars sat in seventh place just three points behind the Clarence Castors in sixth and three points ahead of the Jets in eighth.
The Cougars opened the scoring at 10:51 of the first period taking a 1-0 lead.
The Lions responded as Bailey Norman snapped one home from Jacob Kendrick at 12:32. The Cougars outshot the Lions 15-10 in the first period but the teams took a one-all draw into the first intermission. The Lions came out of the dressing room on fire as Kendrick blasted one to the back of the net from Thomas Ouderkirk at 5:38 of the second period.
The Lions made it 3-1 when Norman scored his second of the game from Kendrick and Jordan Smail on the power play at 13:40. The Lions made it 4-1 when Brian Landry pounded one home from Alec St. Gelais at 17:22 and 5-1 when Aaron Smith sniped one from Justin Rice with just 1:23 remaining in the middle frame.
The Cougars added a goal just 12 seconds later but trailed 5-2 heading into the second intermission. The two teams battled to a scoreless third period as the Lions hung on for the 5-2 victory running their unbeaten streak to five games. Picking up the win in the Lions’ goal was Dean Gauvreau.
Lions 3 Rangers 2 (OT): The Lions welcomed the South Grenville Rangers to the Morrsiburg Arena on Sat., Jan. 20, in the NCJHL. The Lions went into the game in a ninth-place tie with the Rangers after a 3-2 win over the Blackburn Inferno the previous night and put a four-game undefeated streak on the line.
Both teams sit six points behind the Metcalfe Jets in the eighth seed. The Lions opened the scoring at 3:18 of the first period as Jacob Kendrick slapped one to the back of the net from Bailey Norman taking a 1-0 lead.
The Rangers tied the game when Devon Burns scored from Brody Ranger and Tyler Manderson at 10:53. The teams took a one-all stalemate into the first intermission. The Lions retook the lead when Zach Leblanc snapped one home from Brian Landry and Josh Barnes on the power play at 5:28.
The pesky Rangers got that one back at 12:45 when Zach Hotte found the back of the net from Tyler Cayen and Can Dillon also on the power play. The teams took a two-all draw into the second intermission.
The Rangers outshot the Lions 8-5 in the third period but neither team could find the back of the net so the game headed to a four-minute four-on-four overtime period. In the extra frame, the Lions’ Kendrick became the overtime hero scoring his second of the game with just 1:04 remaining from Norman and took the game 3-2 running their undefeated streak to four games. Picking up the win in the Lions’ goal was Dean Gauvreau making 29 saves on 31 shots.
Up next: Sat., Jan. 27, 7:30 p.m., Lions vs. Clarence Castors, Morrisburg Arena.