In their last game of the regular season, the midget espoir Tigers defeated their Lac St. Louis counterparts, the Grenadiers, 6-3 Sunday afternoon at Vincent Lecavalier Arena in Ile Bizard.
After having fought the Grenadiers to a 2-2 tie in the first period, the Tigers scored twice in the second and third periods to obtain their 25th win of the season. The Tigers finished the regular season with an incredible record of 25-2-5.
“Last night we played against them and won 12-2. So I guess we came into this game thinking we were going to do it again, that it was going to be an easy run. In the middle of the second period, we realized they actually came to play today and we were going to have to work to get the job done so we took our game and stepped it up a notch,” said Tigers assistant coach Jason Dorrington.
At 2-2 after the first, the Tigers came blazing, rapidly obtaining quality scoring chances. Chris Chaddock missed an opportunity at 4:23 when he couldn’t control captain Trevor Butler’s rebound, but a few minutes later, Daniel Sprong scored five-hole on a pass from Chris Chaddock at 8:24.
A lack of discipline cost the Grenadiers a little more than a minute later when Samuel Laberge was sent to the box for elbowing. Butler scored his team’s second power-play goal with helpers from Chris Theodore and Sprong.
The Grenadiers had a few chances in the latter part of the second period. Jean-Sébastien Cyr received a pass as he stood inches from the crease but was unable to lift the puck above goaltender Raffael Izzo at 12:14.
Two minutes later, defenseman William Martineau’s shot from the point was deflected by Laberge but Izzo made the stop. On a two-on-one with less than three minutes to go, Pascal Laberge couldn’t control Samuel Laberge’s saucer pass to convert.
Sprong dealt a severe blow to the Grenadiers’ comeback hopes in the beginning of the third period. Coming in the zone fast, his wrist shot in the top right shelf left no chance to goalie Olivier Germain-Favreau.
Massimo Luciani with his second power-play goal of the game confirmed the win at 6:37. Pascal Laberge scored about a minute later for the Grenadiers but it was too little too late.
“(Lack of) discipline cost us. But this is a team that is well-established team. They probably form the best team in the province. We managed to hold them off at 2-2, but indiscipline sunk us. However, I’m proud of the way we worked today. We sustained a good effort. The result isn’t what we wanted but the effort was there and that’s what’s important as the playoffs are coming,” said Grenadiers’ head coach Christian Cardinal.
