Leopards capture regional title

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

It was mission accomplished Saturday at the Dollard Des Ormeaux Civic Centre for the bantam A Lakeshore Leopards.

The Leopards, one of seven West Island A or B clubs participating in Lac St. Louis Hockey Association regional-title matches at either the civic centre or Raymond Bourque Arena in St. Laurent took advantage of a sluggish effort turned in by the Montreal West Knights squads for the first two and a half periods to come away with a 3-1 victory. The win seemed almost too easy for the Leopards, in stark contrast for sure to their drama-filled 2-1 semifinal overtime win a week before over the Hudson/Rigaud/St. Lazare Huskies at the Civic Centre.

“In the end, our guys wanted this game,” said Leopards head coach Frank Burke. “This could be the last game ever for some of them. Who knows if some will even play midget hockey or win another regional title?”

James Certosini gave the Leopards a 1-0 lead at 6:19 of the first period, beating Knights goaltender Stephen Letko from in front off a wonderful pass from Alexander Antipas. Charles Vlasic made it 2-0 Leopards with a power-play marker on a bullet shot from the point at 7:52 of the second before Antipas scored a little over five minutes later to up the lead to three at the end of two.

With eight minutes left to play in the third, Scott Watson finally scored for the Knights on the power play to narrow the gap to two. Watson’s goal seemed to spark a fire in the Knights, but it was too little too late and the Leopards held on to celebrate.

Puck Note: Other local teams to capture regional titles on Saturday included the novice A Lakeshore Tigers, atom A Lakeshore Cougars and atom B Ile Bizard Faucons.쇓