Lions to be remembered as hard workers

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

One of the most ironic and disheartening consequences of any team in any sport after it drops a championship series is it tends to fade into oblivion.

Perhaps a few years from now, though, local amateur puck observers will look back at the 2006-07 Quebec Midget AAA Hockey League Lac St. Louis Lions and remember a club that not only put together a solid regular season and tremendous playoff run, but finally put to rest the disappointment, turmoil and seemingly lost hope that had enveloped it only a few years ago.

If not for a mid-season slump that began with the exit of goaltender Matt Dopud just before Christmas and was accentuated by a brutal schedule that included spending over a month on the road, the Lions’ regular season record of 27 wins, 16 losses and one overtime defeat could have been much better. But it was the post season that stood out. Head coach Danny Dupont’s troops won three straight series, including dramatic game seven victories against the Collège Charles-Lemoyne Riverains and Laurentides Vikings before seemingly running out of gas, losing four games to one against a more rested Séminaire Saint-François Blizzard side in the Jimmy Ferrari Cup final.

“In the end they (the Blizzard) were a better team,” Dupont said. “They were deep. Only one guy from their region played junior hockey. We had 11 guys from our region off playing prep school or junior. Still, I am really proud of my guys. They worked until the end, and never gave up.”

From a Lions’ individual standpoint, there were many pleasant playoff stories to speak of, none better than the one scripted by forward Francis Drolet, who finished with 12 goals and 13 assists, including three game winners, tying a league record set in 1977 by former Lion and ex-NHL Buffalo Sabres and Quebec Nordiques performer Jean-François Sauvé. Forward Louis Leblanc was marvelous as well scoring 14 goals, second most in the playoffs behind the Blizzard’s David Moisan.

For his part, Dupont has expressed an interest in returning next year to coach a team that on paper only could include Leblanc, goaltenders Alexandre Peck and Michael Codina-Lucia, defencemen Danny Biega, Alan Klebanskyj and Adam Strumas along with forward Mathieu Gingras. However, Leblanc and Biega will not likely return. However, Dupont seemed optimistic between four and six of the remaining aforementioned players could possibly be wearing Lions’ jerseys next season.