What would be a nightmare weekend suddenly became a nice festive one for the Trois-Rivières Lions.
Let’s start with Friday night’s game.
The night started with a nostalgic celebration of the Trois-Rivières Draveurs, the city’s Junior hockey team between 1969 and 1992. For the occasion, the Lions were wearing the Draveurs jersey.
Now, back to business. The Lions played a better game than Wednesday, losing 6-1 to the Newfoundland Growlers. This time, they lost 3-1 in a classic rivalry battle against the Growlers.
In front of 3100 plus fans, the Lions saw the Growlers quickly gain the lead with a goal from Brennan Kapcheck. The Growlers doubled the score with what happened to be the game-winning goal from Brandon Kruse. The second period only saw a lot of penalties and a big fight between James Phelan and Chris Martelet. In the third period, just after the insurance from the Growlers, the Lions tried a comeback from Anthony Beauregard’s powerplay goal, but the effort came short.
“We were more inspired tonight, and I’m glad we fought. We paid the price and didn’t make it easy for them tonight. It’s sure that ceremony or not, giving two goals by starting the game hurts. We still lacked opportunism tonight, which is not an alarming trend. As for tomorrow, we certainly want to win, and I don’t know yet who I’m going to send in front of the net, “said Marc-André Bergeron, the Lions’ head coach.
Next Stop: Saturday’s game
Let’s jump into the last game of the Lions’ home stretch. At the same time, it was game three of three against the best team in the East, the Growlers. For that occasion, it was the family day in the Colisée Vidéotron. Many kids were helping the staff, such as a mini-coach and a mini-house announcer.
The feeling inside the arena was special. It felt like a playoff game. In front of 3157 fans, the Lions attempted to beat their rivals for the second time in eight games. The Lions came full speed off the gates with a quick goal from defenseman Connor Welsh who scored his 2nd goal of the season. The Growlers did not give up and came back with a goal from the player of the weekend for them, Brandon Kruse.
The masked men wrote the story of the second period. Vrbetic (Lions) and McKay (Growlers) kept the doors shut, and both teams returned to the dressing room still nose to nose.
The first half of the third period saw both teams playing conservatively as they wanted to make fewer errors than their opponent. Finally, Vrbetic was the first to flinch after an excellent play from the Growlers’ powerplay and a goal by Simon Kubicek. The Lions didn’t waste any time as they scored the equalizer on the powerplay with a nice shot from Beauregard tipped in front by a red-hot Cedrick Lacroix. Then, with one minute remaining, Anthony Beauregard blew the roof up as he scored the game-winning goal. The fans were sent home in a party mood after captain Montminy scored the insurance goal in an empty net.
“This victory feels good. We deserved it. We had some difficulties in the second half but played a good game otherwise. Compared to Wednesday and Friday, we were opportunistic while they were less.” said coach Bergeron.
On Vrbetic’s awesome performance, the coach said it had been two weeks since Joe had played. Like it or not, this is not an ideal situation. He especially made a difference in the second period. We have a lot of chances in this commitment. I was looking forward to being at the top of the mountain during this period because it was hard to climb.”
On this home stretch, the Lions maintained a 3-2. Next for the team is a three games series against the Reading Royals.
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